"Too Tough" - LeBron James lauds JuJu Watkins' 38-pt outing in USC’s upset over #1 UCLA

After JuJu Watkins' standout performance against UCLA on Thursday, LeBron James was quick to voice his support for the USC standout on X, often still referred to as Twitter. Heading into the game, USC was ranked sixth, while UCLA was ranked first.

After a massive 71-60 win from the Trojans, USC now sits atop the Big Ten's women's college basketball standings with an overall record of 22-2 and a conference record of 12-1.

The game saw Watkins lead the way for the Trojans with 38 points, 11 rebounds, eight blocks and five assists while the sophomore shot 12 of 26 from the floor and 6 of 9 from beyond the arc.

LeBron James was impressed by USC's three wins in a row and made sure his support was heard. In response to former St. Vincent-St. Mary teammate Romero Travis' reaction to a 3-minute-long highlight reel of Watkins from Thursday's game, the four-time NBA champ and future Hall of Famer wrote:

"YES SHE DID!!! JUJU TOO TOUGH!!"

Following Thursday's win, Watkins and USC will be back in action on Sunday when they face off with the Washington Huskies.

JuJu Watkins talks about what LeBron James' mentorship means to her

Last year, when LeBron James' oldest son, Bronny James, was playing at USC, the four-time champ attended a number of USC games. In doing so, he ended up forming a pretty close connection with Watkins, who he started to mentor.

Although the LA star hasn't been attending USC games the way he did last season given that Bronny James is now on a two-way NBA contract and Bryce has committed to Arizona, he continues to support Watkins.

In April, during an appearance on Podcast P with Paul George, Watkins spoke about the advice she's received from James:

"Every time I see him it's always just like 'keep going' and stuff like that. I mean just what he's able to accomplish, I think he's just already inspiring to see how far he's come. For him to really take his time out of his day to come watch us play, it's amazing."

You can see the conversation beginning at the 24:45 mark of the video below.

While Watkins has already earned the support of LeBron James, and has already become a national star, she still has two more years of eligibility to get through before being eligible to declare for the WNBA Draft.