USC women’s basketball might be the best 11-8 team in college basketball history. Of those 8 losses, 6 have come against ranked teams, with 5 of those ranked losses coming against teams ranked No. 13 or higher.
But that’s the nature of competing in the modern Big Ten. There’s so much women’s basketball talent throughout the conference — and you can’t be the best without beating the best. The ranked wins were plentiful when JuJu Watkins was in the lineup.
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Another opportunity
To have a chance to make noise in postseason play, the Trojans need to more consistently beat the best teams in the country. The Trojans have three ranked wins, but ever since the second game of the season versus No. 9 NC State, USC has struggled to knock of one of the true giants of the sport.
They’ll get a shot to try and climb the mountaintop again this weekend vs No. 7 Michigan. Picked as one of the favorites to win the Big Ten preseason, the Wolverines are loaded with talent. Can USC defy the odds?
Here are five things to watch as a USC aims to secure its second top 10 victory of the season vs No. 7 Michigan:
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Can all three of USC’s stars keep up the offense?
Watching the Trojans suffer another close loss to No. 13 Michigan State was disappointing, but there was one very welcome sight to cling to even amidst the disappointing result. Jazzy Davidson, Kara Dunn and Kennedy Smith all played well offensively in the same game.
Dunn led the Trojans with 23 points on 10-18 shooting, her sixth consecutive game leading the Trojans in scoring and fifth consecutive game scoring 20+ points. Davidson added 21 points on 8-16 shooting and Smith contributed 15 points on 7-13 shooting.
That is the first time all three players have scored 15+ points and shot 50% or better from the field in the same game. After Smith’s sophomore shooting slump to open the season, Davidson’s freshman growing pains and Dunn’s process of feeling out how to become more aggressive in this Trojan offense, it feels like all three players have finally found an offensive groove at the same time.
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It was still imperfect: Davidson shot 1-7 on three pointers for example. But if the Trojans can get at least this kind of production from all three of their stars moving forward, they will have a lot better chance to win lots of games.
Will Kennedy Smith ramp up her minutes?
Kennedy Smith has played only 2 games (Purdue, Michigan State) since returning from a lower leg injury that she suffered against UCLA. Smith played only 24 minutes against the Boilermakers and 29 minutes against the Spartans. One of USC’s most important starters, Smith was consistently playing 35+ minutes before her injury, especially in big games.
Continue to keep an eye on her conditioning, and if Lindsay Gottlieb starts to ramp up her minutes again. USC needs her defense on the floor as much as possible, and if her offense is turning a corner like it seems that it is, that’s all the more reason to put her on the floor.
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Can USC play balanced defense?
Michigan State beat USC because the Spartans have scoring depth. All 5 of Michigan State’s starters scored 7+ points, and 4 of the 5 scored in double figures.
Michigan has an offense that’s built to replicate that performance against USC. The Wolverines have 5 players averaging 8+ points and 4 of the 5 are averaging double figure scoring.
Ideally, everyone on the floor for the Trojans would hold the Michigan player they are defending to a poor shooting night. But, even if that can’t be the case, USC needs to strategically put its best defenders (Davidson, Smith) in good matchups to put pressure on the right Michigan players to carry the load scoring-wise. In short, if you can’t stop all 5 scorers, at least stop the right 2-3. A lot is riding on Lindsay Gottlieb’s scouting report.
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Can USC get some bench scoring?
Michigan State obviously had scoring depth. But for the Trojans against the Spartans, outside of Smith, Davidson and Dunn, USC scored 9 points total on 2-10 shooting.
When those three are shooting so well, they obviously should be taking most of the shots. But the nature of basketball is that even players who are not scorers first need to make an open shot here and there. Can the Trojans take some pressure off their three superstars with timely supplemental scoring?
Will USC keep up the rebounding momentum?
At the beginning of the season, rebounding was a huge struggle for USC. The Trojans had one of their best games on the boards of the entire season against Michigan State, out rebounding the Spartans 42-33. It was a team rebounding effort: Vivian Iwuchukwu, Kennedy Smith, Kara Dunn and Dayana Mendes each had 6 boards.
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If the Trojans can be relentless on the boards, that would help to make up for the size disadvantage that they have against other teams.
In general, USC is facing a giant on Sunday, and it will be must-see TV for fans of women’s basketball.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC women’s basketball vs Michigan at Crisler Center on Sunday
