With their team operating with a 22-point lead just before the end of the first quarter, most players would think of playing it safe and keeping possession until the buzzer sounds. But then again, most players are not JuJu Watkins. Showing no signs of rust after spending 588 days on the sidelines due to a devastating injury, Watkins, 2025’s Naismith Women’s College Player of the Year, picked up where she left off, dropping a double-double in her second game back. As she made a buzzer-beater at the end of the first quarter against Utah, even Nike couldn’t resist hyping up their star college athlete.

“Ju Got it,” read the comment by Nike Basketball on an IG post by espnw that shared a clip of Watkins’ buzzer-beater, which garnered over 160,000 views in a few hours.

The sequence happened when Watkins got the ball with just over four seconds remaining in the first quarter. She dribbled past a couple of Utah defenders, performed a 360° spin, and ultimately took the shot from a few feet behind the line from the middle, nailing the three. This gave USC a 36-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Watkins led the charts for USC, scoring 32 points, 16 rebounds, and six assists, leading the Trojans to a 118-40 blowout victory. USC converted 60% of their shots from the field, making 48 of 80 shots. They were a little less efficient from beyond the arc, making nine of 24 shots, registering a 3P% of 37.5.

This marks a second successive game in which Watkins has scored in double digits. In the season opener against UNLV, Watkins scored 21 points and five rebounds. Seeing her get consistent minutes would be a sigh of relief for many fans.

Watkins suffered a right ACL tear during a transition layup attempt during a second-round 2025 NCAA Tournament game against Mississippi State. Displaying an inability to bear weight on the joint, she was assisted off the playing surface. A subsequent surgical repair several weeks later required a rehabilitation timeline that rendered her medically unavailable for the entire 2025-26 season. Before that, Watkins averaged 23.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game in the 2024-25 season.

In Sunday’s game against Utah, Lindsay Gottlieb’s side was dominant on both ends of the floor, grabbing a staggering 56 rebounds. The lead at one point was as high as 80 points. USC also did not give Utah too many chances, registering only seven turnovers compared to the latter’s 18.

Looking at the strong start that USC has made this season, and the fact that Watkins is back in the lineup, WNBA Hall of Famer Candace Parker made a bold prediction for Watkins’ team.

“It would be so simple to take number one or number two. I’m a renegade; I don’t like picking with everybody, so I’m gonna pick USC… Juju has her eyes set on a national championship to be one of the greats. That’s what you got to do. You got to win. So I got Southern California,” Parker said on the Post Moves podcast.

The Trojans boast a steady yet lethal perimeter unit. JuJu Watkins returns at full strength to reclaim her spot. She is flanked by sophomore sensation Jazzy Davidson, who led the team last season, and elite defensive anchor Kennedy Smith. Adding the nation’s No. 1 recruit, freshman Saniyah Hall, gives USC three former No. 1 overall recruits sharing the floor.

Last year, opponents heavily focused on guarding Davidson. This season, the floor is better spaced. With so many elite creators, including sharpshooting threat Ryann Bennett, opponents can no longer afford to double-team Watkins or Davidson without immediately giving up open looks. Their offensive output has skyrocketed, as evidenced by the two wins they have registered so far this season, scoring 100+ points in both.

The Trojans are also loaded with a tall presence in the interior, bringing in top international prospects like 6’5 EuroBasket U18 MVP Sara Okeke and 6’4 athletic forward Sitaya Fagan to join 6’6 center Pania Davis. This yields massive lineup flexibility.

So while it still may be too early to call for any predictions, USC fans will only hope that JuJu Watkins can remain fit until the end of the season.