JuJu Watkins scouting report: USC's sophomore annihilates Bruins, what is her WNBA future?  

Women’s college basketball is loaded with special talents. From WNBA star Caitlin Clark and future top pick Paige Bueckers to freshman such as Sarah Strong, the stars come out nightly and take the floor. Few, if any, stars shine brighter than USC sophomore JuJu Watkins, who continues to dominate.

Watkins' Trojans knocked off an undefeated, top-ranked UCLA team 71-60 on Thursday. She tallied 38 points (12-26, 8-10 FTs), 11 rebounds, five assists, three turnovers, one steal and eight blocks. It was one of the most unbelievable prospect performances in quite some time.

She won’t enter the WNBA for quite some time, but top-level decision-makers will salivate over Watkins’ domination of the Bruins. Her scoring excellence is nothing new or surprising — Watkins ranks third in the country in scoring at 24.5 points per game on a solid 56.9% true shooting clip. She’s eviscerated defenses as a scorer since her high school days.

JuJu Watkins' defense is otherworldly

JuJu Watkins' defense reached new heights against UCLA. Watkins’s defensive production isn’t an anomaly, as she’s averaged excellent steal (3.6%) and block (5.0%) rates throughout her career.

Her nine stocks (steals + blocks) tied her career-high (six steals and three blocks vs CSUN on Nov. 12) and her eight blocks marked a new career-best mark.

USC’s top-ranked defense (according to Bart Torvik) led by Watkins suffocated an excellent UCLA offense. Her special intersection of athletic tools, size and instincts let Watkins wreck the game as an on- and off-ball defender. She routinely slid her feet to cut off drives, swatting shots at the point of attack.

Her help defense was even more impressive, peeling off of her assignment to cover the post and recover when needed. Incredible reactions and awareness combined with her quick-twitch explosion allowed her to swoop in to block and alter shots all game.

JuJu Watkins’ defensive plays came in big moments, as four of her blocks (and her one steal) came in the fourth quarter. Three of her rejections came against Lauren Betts, one of the most dangerous offensive players in the country, sinking down to block her shots in the post as a help defender.

The first clip in the video above represents Watkins’ defensive game-wrecking. She mirrored and stuck with the speedy Londynn Jones and blocked her shot, only to swoop in and reject another shot as a helper later in that same possession. Her ability to control games on the defensive end separates her from many elite offensively-slanted prospects.

JuJu Watkins' arsenal of offensive weapons rivals none

JuJu Watkins’ offense drove USC to a victory over their arch-rivals, while her scoring and creation went completely unanswered. It was the fourth-highest-scoring game of her college career and the second-highest of her sophomore season.

The Bruins couldn’t stop her from raining triples all night; Watkins finished 6-9 from the 3-point line, thriving as a shooter off of the dribble and off of the catch.

She’s a much improved 3-point shooter from last season, her efficiency up from 31.9% (10.3 attempts per 100 possessions) as a freshman to 34.6% (9.4 attempts per 100 possessions) as a sophomore.

She’s most known for her dizzying off-dribble shooting, where Watkins lulls defenders to sleep before rising up for jumpers. Watkins attempted an obscene 16 dribble jumpers vs UCLA, making five of them.

Even if JuJu Watkins isn’t always efficient on these shots, the threat of her instant creation bends defenses. She’ll drain some ridiculous shots, sizing up defenders for pull-up 3s and spinning into fadeaways in the mid-range:

Watkins isn’t a high volume or efficient off-ball shooter (25.5% on catch-and-shoot threes this season), but she converted a few 3s off of handoffs in this game. When UCLA’s defenders didn’t respect Watkins, she fired after receiving the handoff, which opened up her downhill driving game later in the contest.

When JuJu Watkins drives aggressively to the hoop with the intention to score, good outcomes tend to happen. She’s an elite finisher, making 63.8% of her shots at the rim this season and drawing tons of fouls (43.8% free-throw rate) when defenders desperately try to stop her.

It’s easy to argue that Watkins should drive even more, given her success as an interior scorer. However, her rim frequency this season is below 30%.

She attempted five shots at the rim against the Bruins, making three of them, compared to shooting 3-12 on her mid-range shots. Her speed, size, skill and touch make her nearly impossible to keep out of the paint and stop from adding points when she makes it there:

She’s a lethal downhill creator in transition, especially after she turns defense into her own offense. Watkins is always aggressive in the open floor, pushing the ball before defenses can set. Watkins had a few impressive transition takes against UCLA, scoring all by herself and tossing a beauty of an outlet pass to Kiki Iriafen:

At times, JuJu Watkins can pass up opportunities to drive in favor of tougher jumpers. On a few of her misses and turnovers vs. UCLA, Watkins elected to shoot jumpers instead of pushing open driving lanes or pushed too hard into clogged lanes. It’s ultimately a nitpick in a game as incredible as this one, but she lost out on a few points like this:

Performances like this one against UCLA will cement Watkins as a college basketball legend at this early stage in her career. It seems all but guaranteed that JuJu Watkins becomes a star at the WNBA level (even if she’ll have to compete with Hannah Hidalgo for the top spot in her class).

Thursday night’s game was one in a long line of career accomplishments past and yet to come for Watkins. We’re lucky to be able to witness her greatness.