No. 4 USC posted a 79-74 road win over No. 8 Maryland in a tough Big Ten battle on Wednesday night. JuJu Watkins and Kiki Iriafen, who have both reached double digits in all 16 games this season, led the Trojans’ offense with 21 points apiece while handing Maryland its first loss of the season.
This marked USC’s second road win against an Associated Press top-10 opponent through the 2024-25 campaign, with the first one coming against UConn on Dec. 21.
USC went 1 of 7 from the field in the first five minutes, but eventually found a better rhythm and finished the quarter on an 11-4 run. Neither team was able to completely take over, but USC went into halftime with a 35-34 lead.
The Terrapins’ deep roster helped them stick around despite their leading scorer Kaylene Smikle going 0 for 8 from the field in the first half. She bounced back after the break and reached 10 points by the 4:42 mark of the third by getting a steal from Watkins and converting a layup. That possession put her team up 46-45, injecting more energy into Maryland and the XFINITY Center crowd.
Maryland extended its lead to seven halfway though the fourth quarter. However, USC kept on pushing and freshman Kennedy Smith scored the next seven points for the Trojans to tie the game.
Things were looking dangerous for the Trojans because there was still not a clear winner with 30 seconds remaining and Shyanne Sellers managed to draw Watkins’ fifth foul. USC had to finish the game without its star player, but the rest of the Trojans got it done.
USC improved to 15-1 overall and 5-0 in the Big Ten. Meanwhile, Maryland dropped to 14-1 and 4-1 in conference play.
Here are four key takeaways from Wednesday night’s game:
USC’s Rayah Marshall came up clutch defensively
Marshall went 1 of 8 from the field and only contributed with four points and two assists on offense. However, her contributions everywhere else were one of the key reasons USC was able to get the win.
Iriafen got the Trojans a 75-72 lead with 1:30 remaining after converting a three-point play. It was only a one-possession game and the Terrapins were very much in attacking mode, but Marshall disrupted their momentum by keying back-to-back defensive stops.
She finished the night with a season-high 15 rebounds along with four blocks and two steals.
Shyanne Sellers shines bright for Maryland
Maryland didn’t get the win, but Sellers was probably the most impressive player on the floor. She led all scorers with 26 points while shooting 8 of 15 from the field and 10 of 11 from the free-throw line.
She has reached double figures in 11 consecutive games and registered 20-plus points for the second time this season and 14th time in her career.
However, her defense was also one of the biggest highlights of the game because she was making life difficult for Watkins, who entered the night as the nation’s third-leading scorer at 25.1 points per game. Although the USC star still put up 21 points, this was not her most productive night. She shot 7 of 19 from the field and went 1 of 5 from beyond the arc. Watkins also had eight turnovers before fouling out.
“I think people forget that I’m a two-way player,” Sellers said after the game. “I stepped up to the plate. I wanted to make everything difficult for (Watkins), make her take tough shots… We just wanted to make their night tough, and we did that. I think that shows our will to win and how competitive this group is. We’ve seen everything. I’ve seen Caitlin Clark, I’ve seen everybody.”
No Talia von Oelhoffen, no problem for USC
The Trojans were without starting forward Talia von Oelhoffen because of an injury. She is second on the team in assists, which might be a reason why USC only got four assists in the first half. Von Oelfhoffen is also second in steals with a total of 28 this season.
Despite her absence, the Trojans were able to adjust. Watkins and Iriafen are typically the team’s top performers, but the roster is deeper than them. Smith finished the night with 11 points — seven of those coming in that important fourth-quarter sequence. Meanwhile, Avery Howell and Kayleigh Heckel contributed 10 points each off the bench.
Trojans off to strong Big Ten start despite travel
USC was predicted to win the Big Ten, and so far the Trojans are 5-0 in conference play in their first season as members. One of the biggest challenges the team was going to face in joining the conference was traveling from Los Angeles to the opposite side of the country. The Trojans played Rutgers in New Jersey on Sunday, and stayed on the East Coast to take on Maryland.
Watkins made a joke about how cold the past few days have been, and then talked about how proud she was of her team for how they’ve handled the situation.
“It took a lot of mental, emotional and physical durability,” Watkins said. “It’s been a long couple of days. We knew Maryland was such a great team. They were undefeated for a reason, so we came in here and gave it our all. It was a tough one. We battled it out.”
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