JuJu Watkins drops historic 51-point game to lead USC past No. 4 Stanford
JuJu Watkins scored more points in a game than any USC basketball player ever has to help the Trojans to a 67-58 win over No. 4 Stanford on the road on Friday.
The star freshman produced 51 points in less than 34 minutes. She hit 14 of her 26 shots from the field, made six of her 11 attempts from 3, and knocked down 17 of her 19 free throws. Watkins drew 16 fouls on the night while also contributing 11 rebounds, two assists, and four steals.
According to ESPN, Watkins became the first Division I player in the last 25 seasons to score 50 points against an AP top-five team. Watkins scored more than three-quarters of USC’s points in the game (51 of 67, or 76%) to mark the highest percentage by any D1 player over the last 25 years.
“Tonight, we saw something I’ve never seen before in my life,” head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said after the game. “The most significant thing is that [Watkins] is coming off our team’s toughest loss of the year and a performance she wasn’t happy with. Her demeanor, from the second that game ended against Washington until now, is what sets her apart, to me, more than these numbers.
“What is so special about her is everything inside, and that came out today in a way that, if you love basketball, I don’t know how you don’t love this.”
Watkins’ performance also set a record for the most points scored by a freshman since Delaware’s Elena Delle Donne scored 54 in February of 2010.
She scored 25 of USC’s 31 first-half points to keep the Trojans level with the Cardinal after 20 minutes.
The first-year guard from L.A. is averaging 27.2 points a game this season to rank second in the country. She trails only Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark, who is averaging 32.1 points a game.
Watkins is on pace for the highest-scoring season by a freshman player since at least the 2009-10 season. Delle Donne averaged 26.7 points per game during her freshman since in 2009-10. Clark averaged 26.6 as a freshman during the 2020-21 campaign. No other player has averaged more than 25 a game as a freshman during the same span.
Every bucket from JuJu Watkins’ record-breaking outing at Stanford 👀 pic.twitter.com/AhbyuNmpg4
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) February 3, 2024