From the moment she arrived, USC placed immense expectations on Jazzy Davidson. The program gave her a long list of expectations. Scoring, rebounds, assists, steals, almost everything. And she has delivered. Davidson is currently leading the team in almost every category. She has soldiered through ups and downs, but after her heroics against Ohio State proved insufficient, emotion finally gave way. 

Jazzy Davidson looked in her element against Ohio State. She ended up scoring a career-high 32 points, including 6 three-pointers, before fouling out with 1.1 seconds left. The freshman also had 6 rebounds and 4 assists.  Unfortunately for the star, that effort was not enough as USC went down 88-83, dropping to 17-10 overall and 9-7 in the Big Ten. After the game, Davidson couldn’t hold back her tears while answering the press. 

“Jazzy looks like you’re a little more right now. What are you just kind of feeling after that one?” Asked a reporter. “I just think that we’re all competitors and we all want to win, and…Sorry….” Davidson paused, wiping off her tears before continuing, “Yeah. I just Yeah. I mean, it’s just a hard loss, but it’s fine. We’ll learn from it.”

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To make matters worse, it wasn’t like USC was dominated for the entire game. They led 42% of the time and even led by 7 points at one point. Davidson received little support by comparison. Kennedy Smith chipped in with 18 points, and Dayana Mendes had 13 from the bench. However, Ohio had all 5 starters in double digits in addition to Jaloni Cambridge’s 33 points. The narrow defeat wasn’t just about one night, it echoed the challenges USC has faced all year.

Along with being the most offensive player on the team, she is the best defensive player as well, with a defensive box plus minus of 6. Her usage rate of 28.5% is 7.1% more than the next most played player with significant minutes. Doing all that with little results is overwhelming for a freshman. However, she has no option but to move forward. Despite the loss, the coach insisted that this game would ultimately help them. 

Lindsey Gottlieb Points Out Silver Lining for USC After Ohio Loss

Ohio State started the game with some heat. They suffocated Jazzy Davidson and Co. with press defense, forcing three Trojan turnovers in the first two minutes. It was a sign of what was to come as USC committed 25 turnovers that the Buckeyes turned into 31 points. Going away to the Buckeyes, the stadium was filled to the brim with 8,144 fans pressuring USC on each step. And they crumbled. According to Gottlieb, this was a great preview for their NCAA tournament hopes. 

“You get the opportunity to play a top 10 team on the road, in February, to get yourself ready for all the basketball that’s coming. And I think this will serve us really well,” Gottlieb said. “I told them this is an atmosphere like, we’re likely to be in the NCAA tournament. So there we’re grateful for all the things it brings us.”

With this loss, they failed to enter the Top 20 in the NET rankings. A win here could have gotten them a more favorable seeding. They do get a chance to improve their prospects when they face UCLA at home on the final day. But they will need to bounce back strongly, since UCLA is an even stiffer challenge ranked at No.2 in the AP Poll.