USCs JuJu Watkins, Lindsay Gottlieb earn top Big | College News

After a stellar season that included a Big Ten common season championship, USC ahead JuJu Watkins has been named Big Ten Player of the Year and the Trojans’ Lindsay Gottlieb earned coach of the yr honors following a vote amongst league coaches and media members.

USC posted a 17-1 run via the Big Ten, with its league wins coming by an average margin of 17 factors. The Trojans capped that run with a rout of rival UCLA on Saturday to seize the Big Ten convention crown, marking the primary time the Trojans have gained a common season league title in 31 years.

Watkins was central to that dominance, establishing herself as one of faculty basketball’s preeminent stars. Watkins really averaged fewer factors (24.4) and rebounds (6.7) as a sophomore than she did as a freshman, however her effectivity on the ground improved considerably. She shot higher from each inside the arc — up from 40% to 43% — and out of doors — up from 32% to 34%. She averaged fewer turnovers and more assists, whereas additionally averaging more blocks per sport (2) than all however one different guard in faculty basketball.

In the method, Watkins grew to become one of the quickest in ladies’s basketball historical past to cross the 1,000-point mark, outpacing former Iowa star Caitlin Clark, who gained the earlier three Big Ten Player of the Year awards.

For Gottlieb, the Trojans’ run this season marked the end result of a four-year rebuild that started in 2021, when she inherited a program that hadn’t gained an NCAA event sport during the earlier 15 years. USC completed 12-16 in her first season, however hasn’t missed the NCAA event since.

This season, Gottlieb introduced in a star-studded class of transfers and top recruits to encompass Watkins, and the revamped Trojans responded with a 27-2 common season. USC’s two losses had been tied for its fewest ever within the common season, a mark matched solely by the 1982-83 Trojans, who gained the national title and are broadly thought-about to be one of the best ladies’s faculty groups of all time.

Three of USC’s different 4 starters earned Big Ten honors.

Kiki Iriafen, who transferred to USC from Stanford final spring to crew with Watkins, joined her on the All-Big Ten first crew after a season during which she averaged 18.1 factors and eight.3 rebounds per sport.

Watkins and senior Rayah Marshall had been named to the Big Ten’s All-Defensive crew, whereas freshman Kennedy Smith earned All-Freshman crew honors. Marshall and Smith additionally earned All-Big Ten honorable mentions.

UCLA heart Lauren Betts earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year honors and was named to the Big Ten All-Defensive Team, whereas fellow Bruin Janiah Barker earned Big Ten Sixth Person of the Year.

Freshman of the Year was the one main Big Ten award that didn’t go to a Southern California crew, with Ohio State’s Jaloni Cambridge and Michigan’s Olivia Olson splitting the honors.

Betts joined UCLA’s Kiki Rice on the All-Big Ten first crew. UCLA’s Londynn Jones earned league honorable point out honors.

USC will need three consecutive wins in Indianapolis so as to add Big Ten event champions to its listing of accomplishments. The Trojans start event play on Friday.