JuJu Watkins has shown great caliber with her impressive skills and record-breaking style, turning herself into a standout player this season. Her recent performance against Colorado was an absolute stunner. She scored 42 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists, carrying USC to an 87-81 win over the Buffaloes. Her season’s average has been 28.1 points, 7 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game.

However, JuJu did turn some pointing on herself with her intentional fouls during the game, which attracted some unpleasant reactions from the fans.

JuJu Watkins’ striking shot

Trojans’ recent matchup against the Buffaloes is becoming a bittersweet experience for the fabulous freshman. During the 3rd quarter, JuJu accidentally committed an intentional foul as she hit Jaylyn Sherrod in the chops. Just when Sherrod got hit, Watkins froze then and there on the official’s whistle.

It happened when JuJu was trying to make a 3-pointer. However, Sherrod blocking her shot made the rookie change the course of action, and being in a flow of moment she ended up placing her forearm on Sherrod’s mouth. As a result, Sherrod ended up bleeding with her mouthpiece sticking out while walking toward the bench.

After the incident was reviewed by the officials, Colorado got two free throws and also got possession of the ball. Witnessing the swing of events the crowd started booing as they didn’t like the call made by the officials. The incident turned the 42-point spotlight from JuJu, placing her in an unsportsmanlike behavior. “She should’ve been kicked out,” a fan said.

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Amid the fan fury, the court incident proved to be more than just a flash feud. And it started way before that game.

Addressing the origins

On January 21st, Colorado defeated USC in a close 63-59 score. But there was a whole different situation going on with JuJu Watkins and Jaylyn Sherrod.

That day the Trojans tasted dust for several reasons, one of them being JuJu Watkins fouled out with only 5:50 left in the game. The rookie was benched with the rest of the team trying to push into a tight game.

What exactly happened in the game was the ball had just landed in JuJu’s hands and she was turning around to make a run for a shot. Just then, in between, Sherrod stood so close to JuJu that she fell, while the terrific Trojan was turning around. It looked like JuJu pushed her down, however, it was Sherrod pulling off street-smart moves that attracted that foul.

As a result, the refs called it a charge, however, it wasn’t, as by definition in order for a charge (a player control foul, to use technical jargon) to exist, the defender must allow the receiver of a pass to come down on both feet and possession of the ball. More so, the defender cannot undercut or crowd the receiver of the pass.

First of all, from the moment the pass was made to JuJu till the point where she was fouled out of the game was altogether a flawed sequence. It was not a good gameplay by Sherrod because she didn’t let JuJu land with possession. Moreover, the refs should have called out on Sherrod and not JuJu.

Sherrod’s street-smart mentality calculated the risk-reward ratio when she took a real chance of fouling JuJu out of the play. As a result, there is a lot to learn from that and also to ponder again whether it was right for the fans to snap out at JuJu for such a move.