Women's College Basketball

Despite the absence of JuJu Watkins, USC defeated Kansas State by the final score of 67-61 in the 2025 NCAA women's basketball tournament on Saturday.

With the win, the Trojans advanced to the Elite Eight for the second consecutive year.

It was an impressive performance from USC without Watkins, who suffered a torn ACL during the team's second-round win over Mississippi State on Monday.

The Trojans took a four-point lead with just over four minutes remaining in the game on a layup by Kennedy Smith, stringing together several defensive stops and scoring their final eight points of the contest on free throws to seal the win.

Fans were impressed with the shorthanded victory.

Saturday's matchup was a back-and-forth affair, with neither squad leading by more than seven points.

Smith finished with a team-high 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting, racking up three steals.

Meanwhile, freshman guard Avery Howell recorded 18 points, eight rebounds and four steals. Howell hit four three-pointers, while Kansas State connected on just five triples as a team.

The Trojans also overcame a rough shooting night from Kiki Iriafen to win. Iriafen, USC's second-leading scorer behind Watkins, ended the game with a mere seven points on 3-of-13 shooting.

The defensive intensity throughout the game from head coach Lindsay Gottlieb's team paid off, as the Wildcats committed 16 turnovers compared to just 10 assists.

USC is now set to face off against UConn for a chance to clinch a spot in the Final Four.

Paige Bueckers wanted to spread the spotlight around after UConn advanced to the Elite Eight of the 2025 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament.

UConn cruised to an 82-59 victory over Oklahoma in the Sweet Sixteen and Bueckers had a 40-point outburst in the win. While she scored at a meteoric pace, she was quick to credit her teammates in the post-game press conference.

"People see the points, but a large attribution to Sarah, Jana, Ice, the way they were screening for me," Bueckers said.

She also spoke about the team's mutual quest to keep the season alive.

"Honestly, we just wanted to keep our season going as long as possible. We all love playing together, we love playing here. We just love this program and everything it means, so we wanted to keep going as long as possible."

In addition to her monster point total, Bueckers also contributed six rebounds and an assist. She shot 16-of-27 and 6-of-8 from three-point range.

Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong had five assists and Kaitlyn Chen had four. The Huskies also had 18 steals and won the rebounding battle 43-41.

Bueckers play has been strong all season as she has averaged 19.2 points, 4.8 assists and 4.4 rebounds while leading the Huskies to a 34-3 overall record.

UConn will face either USC or Kansas State in the Elite Eight. USC is the No. 1 seed in the region while UConn is the second seed. The Huskies are seeking a berth in the Final Four for the fourth time in the last five seasons.

UConn guard Paige Bueckers outscored Oklahoma by herself (29-23) in the second half en route to leading the No. 2 seed Huskies women's basketball team to an 82-59 victory over the No. 3 seed Sooners in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament.

Bueckers finished the game with a career-high 40 points, including 19 in the fourth quarter and 29 overall in the second half.

The Sooners led 36-32 at halftime after scoring 24 second-quarter points. However, it was all Bueckers from there.

The three-time first-team All-American scored 10 points in the third quarter, when the Huskies outscored the Sooners 27-10 to take a 59-46 lead.

That set the stage for a magical and almost surreal fourth quarter, when Bueckers scored UConn's first 19 points over a 6:18 span. By the time her run was over, UConn led 78-51.

Bueckers shot 16-of-27, including 6-of-8 from three. She added six rebounds, three steals and two blocks.

Elsewhere in the box score, UConn forward Sarah Strong posted an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double with five assists, while reserve guard Ashlynn Shade added 12 points and three steals off the bench. Oklahoma guard Payton Verhulst led the Sooners with 16 points.

But the story of this game was Bueckers.

She was humble in a postgame interview with ESPN's Holly Rowe, giving much credit to her teammates for the performance.

Still, she was simply tremendous, and her historic efforts were duly noted, including by a pair of ex-Huskies in Breanna Stewart and Aaliyah Edwards.

UConn will now play the winner of the Sweet Sixteen matchup between No. 1 seed USC and No. 5 seed Kansas State. The Huskies will await that victor in an Elite Eight matchup on Monday at 9 p.m. ET in Spokane, Washington, with the winner going to the Final Four.

LSU guard Flau'jae Johnson should be available in the Elite Eight.

LSU head coach Kim Mulkey told reporters that Johnson is "good to go" for Sunday's game against UCLA after she exited the Tigers' Sweet 16 victory over NC State.

Johnson was hit in the head in LSU's 80-73 victory and was reportedly "seeing double."

Before exiting, Johnson totaled three points, five rebounds and four assists in 30 minutes. She is averaging 18.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists for the Tigers this season.

LSU has advanced to the Elite Eight for the third consecutive season and is the No. 3 seed in the Spokane Region. UCLA is the No. 1 overall seed and enters Sunday's showdown with a 33-2 record.

The matchup is set to tip off at 3 p.m. ET.

Hailey Van Lith posted 26 points and nine rebounds and Sedona Prince added 21 points and six blocks to lead the No. 2 seed TCU women's basketball team to a 71-62 win over No. 3 seed Notre Dame in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament on Saturday afternoon in Birmingham.

Notre Dame led 52-51 entering the fourth quarter, but TCU went on a 7-0 run buoyed by Prince and Van Lith, whose three capped the stretch.

The duo ended up scoring 18 of TCU's 20 fourth-quarter points (11 for Van Lith, seven for Prince).

The backbreaker was Van Lith's three with 4:11 left to put TCU up 65-57. The dagger was Van Lith's layup for a 69-60 advantage with 1:10 remaining.

As for Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish simply couldn't hit their shots in the faces of a tough TCU defense. Liatu King posted 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting and 10 rebounds to lead Notre Dame. The rest of the team combined to shoot just 14-of-60 (23.3 percent). Superstar sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo had a rare off-night, shooting just 3-of-19 for 15 points and four steals.

Afterward, an elated Van Lith celebrated with her teammates.

And with that, Van Lith became the first player in women's or men's college basketball history to lead three separate programs (Louisville, LSU, TCU) to the Elite Eight.

Naturally, fans and analysts were impressed with the efforts and accomplishments of Van Lith, who led a TCU team that was a 7.5-point underdog heading into Saturday's game.

TCU will now play the winner of No. 1 Texas and No. 5 Tennessee in the Elite Eight with a trip to the Final Four on the line.

UConn guard Paige Bueckers told reporters she was "sick to her stomach" after hearing news that USC guard JuJu Watkins suffered a season-ending torn ACL in her right knee.

"Just sick to my stomach," Bueckers said when asked about her reaction to the news.

"I didn't watch the video. I can't watch that stuff. It makes me just sick in general. Devastation obviously, you just empathize for her because I've been in that position where you have this devastating injury. She had it at a time where it's just the worst timing. You're playing for a national championship, competing, playing with your team during the season, so you just feel for her.

"But then again, you know that JuJu didn't get that great by not having a great work ethic and a motor and just a determination to conquer everything in front of her, so you know she'll dominate this journey, dominate this process, and come back even better and just use it to fuel her and grow her really."

Bueckers also said that the two have connected and that she's available as a resource for Watkins as she goes through the rehab process if need be.

Bueckers has overcome significant injuries during his career, including a tibial plateau fracture and lateral meniscus tear that cost her 19 games in 2021-22 and a torn ACL in her left knee that sidelined her for all of 2022-23.

But Bueckers overcame it all and is now averaging 19.2 points, 4.8 assists and 4.4 rebounds en route to leading the No. 2 seed Huskies, whose NCAA tournament run is ongoing in the Sweet Sixteen against Oklahoma on Saturday. She's also declared for the 2025 WNBA draft and should be the No. 1 overall pick to the Dallas Wings.

Bueckers would be a great resource for Watkins, who is a sensational talent in her own right with a bright future. The two-time unanimous first-team All-American has a long road back to the court, but she can certainly conquer it en route to finding her pre-injury form and dominating the sport once again.

USC women's basketball head coach Lindsay Gottlieb staunchly defended Mississippi State guard Chandler Prater, saying "there was no intent" for her to injure Trojans star JuJu Watkins on a play that led to her suffering a torn right ACL.

“One hundred percent no. There was no intent to injure anybody,” Gottlieb told reporters Friday, per The Athletic's Grace Raynor. “It was a physical game, but there was clearly no (ill intent). No one deserves online bullying in any realm, but certainly not a young woman in Chandler, who was trying to make a play and unfortunately our player got hurt.”

The injury occurred in the first quarter of USC's eventual 96-59 win over Mississippi State in the second round of the NCAA tournament last Tuesday. Watkins was trying to split Prater and Bulldogs guard Denim DeShields in transition en route to a bucket. Watkins and Prater got tangled up, with the defender slightly bumping the guard en route to the hoop.

Watkins fell to the floor and grabbed her right knee in pain before being helped off the court.

As noted by Sam Sklar of the Clarion Ledger, Prater has since become the victim of social media hate and backlash, to the point where she's disabled comments on recent Instagram posts. Numerous comments contain vulgar and offensive remarks.

On Friday, Gottleib made clear that USC doesn't feel Prater had any intent to hurt Watkins.

“There was nothing to me that looked like it had any intent to hurt her. That was not a USC view at all,” Gottlieb said. “We have really passionate fans and there’s a lot of love for JuJu and I understand people being sad and hurt that she’s hurt. But nobody in our camp feels like there was any type of attack on her and would not support any type of online bullying or things of that nature.

“She’s a young person that was playing basketball too, and I’m sure (she) did not want any part of a negative situation that it turned out to be.”

Prater certainly didn't look like she was trying to injure Watkins. Innocuous bumps like that happen plenty of times in basketball games. Unfortunately, a worst-case scenario occurred in the flow of a play, leading to Watkins suffering a devastating injury.

Gottleib was right to defend Prater, who is getting undeserved hate. As for Watkins, hopefully she can come back to 100 percent health as the superstar begins her rehab process.