In a 'Final Four-type weekend,' two top-6 clashes put women's college basketball focus on West Coast
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rayah Marshall remembers upsetting ranked Arizona and Stanford as a freshman in an otherwise sub.-500 season and first-year Southern California coach Lindsay Gottlieb telling her: “One day this is going to be us.”
Four years later, that time is now.
Two games featuring four powerhouse teams has put the focus in women's college basketball on the West Coast this weekend.
JuJu Watkins and No. 3 USC host Hannah Hidalgo and sixth-ranked Notre Dame on Saturday in a matchup of unbeatens. The game airs on NBC leading into the Army-Notre Dame football game.
“People calling my phone, ‘Can we get tickets? Could you put me on the list?'” Marshall said. “Everybody wants a piece of the success.”
Top-ranked South Carolina (5-0) visits Lauren Betts and No. 5 UCLA (4-0) on Sunday at Pauley Pavilion on Fox Sports 1.
“It feels like a Final Four-type weekend,” Gottlieb said. “To have two such marquee games back-to-back days on a weekend is unbelievable.”
USC's Galen Center and Pauley Pavilion are expected to be packed, with several WNBA scouts in attendance.
“Everyone’s going to be tuned in so we’ve got to bring our best and have a fast start and a fast start on the defensive end,” said South Carolina's Te-Hina Paopao, a fifth-year guard from Oceanside, California.
“It feels like a homecoming game. I’ve got about 100 people coming, so I’m excited for that.”
The Notre Dame-USC game will be preceded by the debut of “On the Rise: JuJu Watkins,” a documentary series. The first two episodes air on Saturday with the other four streaming on Peacock. It follows her journey from high school to college star in her hometown of Los Angeles. Watkins is the first women's college player to star in and executive produce her own show.
“What a cool thing for women’s sports, but a cool thing for JuJu,” said Gottlieb, who attended a Los Angeles Dodgers event with Watkins last summer. “I'm walking around with her and she's as big of a star as any of the Dodger players and very recognizable. I was like, ‘Wow, she really is LA culture right now.’ That's a very cool thing to see.”
The rest of the country will get a look at the 1-2 punch of Watkins and Kiki Iriafen, who is back in her hometown after three seasons at Stanford. Watkins is averaging 21.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 3.8 steals. Iriafen is averaging 17.3 points and 7.5 rebounds.
“JuJu is excited. I see her working hard," Marshall said. "I just came into the gym last night and I saw her getting some shots up. She was drenched."
Like Watkins, Hidalgo had a terrific freshman season and early on is averaging 22.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists.
UCLA's Betts will be the focus of South Carolina's defense, as she is against every opponent. The 6-foot-7 center is averaging 21.5 points and 11.5 rebounds. She got triple-teamed by Arkansas last weekend, leaving her teammates open to score.
“Every game is going to start with, ‘What are they going to do with Lauren?’ Because nobody can guard her one-on-one,” Bruins coach Cori Close said. “The thing I'm most happy about Lauren is her steadiness through adversity. Almost every game we've had to take her out because she's had blood on her jersey because she's just getting scratched and clawed. A year ago that would have been a distraction for her.”
Both USC and UCLA opened the season in Paris, where they each beat ranked opponents. Now, the schools have a chance to do so again. Close is taking a measured approach, similar to that of her late mentor John Wooden.
“The reality for us is that this is just another step,” Close said. “It's an awesome opportunity, but it's just another step to develop championship habits, to have championship-level character, and develop that toughness and grit.”
The defending national champion Gamecocks come into Westwood with a program-record 43-game winning streak.
“We’re going to go in there confident,” coach Dawn Staley said, "like we do every game.”
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AP Sports Writer Pete Iacobelli in Clemson, South Carolina, contributed to this report.
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