USC Trojans star player JuJu Watkins once again dominated the court as she and her team wiped the floor with the Elon Phoenix, in a massive win earlier this week. However, with JuJu injured near the end of the game, radio host Robin Lundberg questioned why her team still keep her out despite having a blowout game.
In his Youtube video, Lundberg speculated on the strategy of Trojans head coach Lindsay Gottlieb for always having JuJu Watkins play, despite the game being a dominating win for their team. Could it be to help Watkins enhance teammate chemistry, or to “pad” her stats in an attempt to surpass Caitlin Clark?
“Maybe she just wants to see more of her team together,” Lundberg said on his video. “Or, perhaps more plausibly, Juju Watkins is eventually going to try to pass Caitlin Clark as the all-time leading scorer in NCAA basketball history, and she’s going to have to pad some stats at the end of games in order to do that, or in order to keep her point total up.”
Caitlin Clark, who used to play for the Iowa Hawkeyes, made history in college basketball when she became the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I basketball history. Her record surpassed not only that of women’s basketball but also men’s.
Clark managed to amass a total of 3,951 career points. She also made records for the most points in a single season, at 1,234 points. She also made the record for the most career three-pointers at 548, and most three-pointers in a season at 201.
takes a question at the podium during the 2024 Big Ten Womens Basketball media day at Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Melissa Tamez-Imagn Images
Watkins, who is only in her sophomore year, still has a lot of games needed to attempt to break these records. JuJu Watkins still has two years to try to break Caitlin Clark’s record, if that is even her goal.
JuJu Watkins Playing in Dominant Win: “Why is She Still in The Game?”
Near the end of their game against Elon, JuJu Watkins rolled her ankle. It was nothing serious, but she eventually got up and limped to the locker room, and did not come back to the game.
With this injury in mind, Lundberg wondered: why would the Trojans keep her in the game, at the risk of an injury, when they are obviously winning it no matter what?
“Nevertheless, JuJu appeared to roll her ankle and looked to be in some pain,” the radio host added. “It didn’t seem too serious to me, but it led to natural questions of, why is she still in the game when your team is up fifty?”
JuJu Watkins so far is averaging 24.7 points per game, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.7 assists.
For more sports content:
Follow us @HardwoodHeroics for your NBA and college basketball reading fix. You can reach out to Dan Agulto through email at papadanph@gmail.com. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest sports news, click here!
Dan has been active in sports since 2016 and has worked behind the scenes as a scriptwriter for basketball, volleyball, and other sports. At a time, Dan has also been working as a sports commentator for CBA Pilipinas. During the pandemic, he has also been actively writing betting articles for CashBet and BetNow.
