Swanson: JuJu Watkins’ injury sends shockwaves through Galen Center, basketball world

• March 25, 2025

LOS ANGELES — The grimace we hadn’t seen before.

Like JuJu Watkins’ silky Euro steps and her 50-point banger and ridiculous scoring stats – 1,000 collegiate points faster than anyone in history – it was something new.

But a grimace like this, no, we hadn’t ever wanted to see. We won’t be able to unsee.

Watkins’ right knee crumpled beneath her as she drove with 4:43 to play in the first quarter of the top-seeded USC women’s basketball team’s 96-59 second-round blowout of No. 9 seed Mississippi State on Monday night at the Galen Center. Immediately, Watkins grabbed her right knee. And grimaced. It was awful. Sickening. Devastating.

“I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t rattled, seeing JuJu on the court and crying,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said.

USC’s official in-game statement was that Watkins was being evaluated by USC Keck Medicine staff and would not return to competition Monday. But the news not long after the game confirmed that she had suffered a season-ending injury.

It happened while Watkins was fast-breaking, like a jet ski bobbing along at full speed, as she does. She was in the act of pivoting toward the hoop when her knee gave way.

What rotten fortune all around, the best college player in the country – and the coolest – being ousted not by an upset but by injury. So much more upsetting, the weight of potentially losing Watkins long term.

It wouldn’t only upset the balance of a tournament and hinder the top-seeded Trojans’ pursuit of a national championship, but it could disrupt their plans for seasons to come.

Also: A blow to the ongoing ascension of the sport whose transcendent stars – recently Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese and now UConn’s Paige Bueckers, Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo, UCLA’s Lauren Betts and, of course Watkins – are making women’s hoops must-see TV, a ratings juggernaut and cultural touchstone.

Girls and boys show up to Galen Center in Watkins’ jersey, as do women and men. Some of them famous, some of them rocking a bun like Watkins does. And many, many of them wait after games for autographs, and she obliges, as she has been since she was a burgeoning star – and Gatorade National Player of the Year – at Sierra Canyon High School.

All the ads Watkins stars in that are airing during every commercial break during March Madness – for State Farm, Gatorade, Nike – will only remind us who we’re missing. And of that awful, sickening, devastating grimace.

The Trojans and their fans took out their distress on the Bulldogs, respectively bullying them on the court and booing them lustily from the stands – “they showed how ride or die they are,” forward Kiki Iriafen said of the Trojans’ very loud crowd.

Riding the emotional tidal wave, the Trojans earned a second consecutive trip to the Sweet 16, in Spokane, Washington this year, by overwhelming Mississippi State in every way – scoreboards, backboards, sonically, spiritually.

“You cannot tell me that the energy of that crowd and how angry they were with the other team, and how much fired up they were for our team, is so much about what JuJu has given to this arena, to this program, to this city,” Gottlieb said of her 19-year-old star. “And you want to give it all back.”

What else would they do but Fight On? Watkins is, of course, beloved in L.A. because she is L.A.

She’s a Watts native who had the whole country to select from and elected to stay home and work with Gottlieb to turn around a once-proud Trojans program. And she was doing it, filling the stands with new fans who believed she could bring USC a third national title in women’s basketball four decades after the great Cheryl Miller and crew delivered the first two.

Watkins isn’t only flashy and formidable, a fascinating and fantastic player, but she’s tough. She’s fearless, going all out and refusing to come out – like in USC’s 71-25 first-round victory over UNC Greensboro – because of jammed fingers or rolled ankles.

The 6-foot-2 guard didn’t dance and get giddy when the Trojans’ seeding was announced on Selection Sunday, but greeted the news stoically, all business, Mamba-like.

Without her on Monday, the Trojans’ graduate transfer Iriafan – 36 points on 16-for-22 shooting – performed like the player ESPN’s retired newsbreaker Adrian Wojnarowski billed last April as “the potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft” when he reported that the former Stanford star was joining Watkins at USC.

Freshman Avery Howell added 18 points, Kayleigh Heckel had 13, L.A. native Rayah Marshall added 12 points and four blocked shots and Watkins’ former high school rival, Etiwanda’s Kennedy Smith collected five steals and scored 10 points for a Trojans team that shot 52.2% from the floor.

“It was just rallying,” said Iriafen, a former Harvard-Westlake standout. “This is what we expect of ourselves. We expect to win.”

The show went on, and the Trojans kept dancing – great basketball in a great basketball environment proving the best salve to the devastating turn in the first quarter. “How proud I am of all of you,” Gottlieb told her team afterward. “We felt like a tidal wave tonight.”

It was an inspiring show of teamwork, but it couldn’t wash away the awful image of Watkins on the court in pain, grimacing.

​ Orange County Register 

USC women rout Mississippi State to reach Sweet 16 after losing JuJu Watkins to injury

• March 25, 2025

LOS ANGELES — In the blink of an eye, and the buckle of a knee, the cheers that had filled the Galen Center on Monday night went silent.

Concern fell over the arena, because USC star point guard JuJu Watkins had just gone down in a heap, audibly wailing as she grabbed her right knee during the first quarter of the Trojans’ NCAA Tournament second-round game against Mississippi State.

While on a fast-break, Watkins had tried to deke a pair of Bulldog defenders by quickly changing pace for her patented Euro-step, but when she planted her right leg to make the move, it gave out.

As the video board showed the replay of what later was announced as a season-ending injury, that silence yielded to boos. The jeering, seemingly, came without a clear direction. It could have been at Mississippi State’s Chandler Prater, who had fouled Watkins, or at the angst of the situation.

But, among those boos, one fan took a positive turn, bellowing, “let’s show them how deep this roster is!”

Indeed, the USC women’s basketball team fulfilled the request. With Watkins out after her fall at the 4:43 mark of the first quarter, the top-seeded Trojans (30-3) rallied together, playing an unselfish brand of basketball, with an offense that ran through senior Kiki Iriafen to dominate the Bulldogs, 96-59, and advance to the Sweet 16 in Spokane, Washington, where they will face Kansas State on Saturday.

Iriafen scored a season-high 36 points, shooting 16 for 22 from the field, while grabbing nine rebounds. Avery Howell added 18 points and was 4 for 9 from 3-point range, while Kayleigh Heckel filled the ball-handling role left by Watkins, dishing six assists and scoring 13 points.

The Trojans, who held Mississippi State (22-12) scoreless for its first eight possessions before Watkins went down, limited the Bulldogs to 20-of-64 shooting for the night, and forced 20 turnovers.

And, their fans let the Bulldogs have it, booing them every time they touched the ball after Watkins’ injury.

“You cannot tell me that the energy of that crowd and how, sort of, angry they were with the other team, and how much fire they showed for our team is so much about what JuJu has given to this arena, to this program, to the city,” USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said after the game. “You don’t get to go into the coaching manual script, and go by everything the way it’s supposed to happen.”

Pulsed by adrenaline, Gottlieb decided to gather her team as the officials reviewed the foul on Watkins. She looked each and everyone of them in the eye and said:

“We can do this, you know, we’ve got this. We need everybody.”

And her players responded.

“At the end of the day, we have to win the game,” Iriafen said. “Respectfully, nobody cares, on Mississippi State, that we lost (Watkins). So we just really rallied.”

The crowd chanted as if someone had stolen their queen, their roars galvanizing the Trojans to play in her honor, with the same passion she’s given to this city.

Kennedy Smith clapped the floor on defense and got under the Bulldogs’ ball-handlers skin. Rayah Marshall stared down opponents after each of her four blocked shots. The bench rose their left hand in the air to copy Iriafen whenever she finished a left-handed layup.

And when Marshall banked in a 3-pointer to beat the halftime buzzer, the whole squad swarmed her at midcourt. Iriafen bumped her chest, Howell enveloped her in an embrace, and Aaliyah Gayles wagged her tongue before dapping Marshall up.

“All of those shots, all of those buzzer-beaters, all of those and-ones, those are energy plays for us,” Howell said. “The bench is hype, the coaching staff’s hype, the atmosphere the entire gym – I think that it’s a huge momentum swing for us.”

In fact, the Trojans made buzzer-beating shots in the first, second and third quarters.

They played at their constant break-neck pace, they full-court pressed the Bulldogs into oblivion. They smiled, they laughed, and they talked a lot of trash.

“We weren’t extra,” Gottlieb said. “We were just us.”

Their gleeful, exuberant selves.

At the same time, that joy for USC’s clicking-on-all-cylinders dominance came with a grain of salt as Watkins’ injury remained in the back of minds – and the front of hearts – throughout Monday’s game. But her teammates did their best to create a different headline.

The Big Ten Player of the Year’s absence gave way for Iriafen to be the offensive hub.

She scored on consecutive possessions in the first half, setting up on the left elbow and driving to the basket, then countering with a mid-range jump shot after the Bulldogs took the drive away.

In the second half, she ran pick-and-rolls with Smith and Heckel, the USC bench making goggle signs over their eyes as the guards found her for finger-roll finishes. Iriafen knocked down another mid-range jumper, bobbing her head to mimic the ball bouncing off the rim and in.

“Obviously, Kiki, I think, is one of the best players in the country,” Mississippi State head coach Sam Purcell said. “We threw the whole kitchen sink, and the house. But she was just electric. And that’s what great players do. They make plays and they carry a swagger.”

By the third quarter, “Ki-Ki” chants echoed throughout the arena and the Galen Center Em-C, D.J. Mal-ski, started playing the chorus of Drake’s “In My Feelings” which goes: “Kiki, do you love me?”

Iriafen played as if she felt that way about basketball.

Her offense, USC’s defense, the Trojans’ collective enthusiasm, changed the tone of the arena on a night when emotions yo-yo’d on a string.

Instead of wallowing in the unknown of Watkins’ status, the Trojans stuck together and showed their depth, which will be crucial moving forward as they push for a National Championship without their star.

​ Orange County Register 

Angels rally past Dodgers as both teams navigate missing shortstops

• March 25, 2025

ANAHEIM — The Dodgers won the World Series in 2024, the Angels finished in last place in the American League West and there still will be an area where each will be on equal footing early in the season.

Both teams will be getting their shortstop position in order when the regular season kicks into high gear on Thursday.

The Angels will be without one of their top players in shortstop Zach Neto as he misses the early portion of the season following shoulder surgery in November. The Dodgers still are trying to get a line on their infield situation as All-Star Mookie Betts deals with an illness that is now going on two weeks.

At a position where quality depth is rare, the Dodgers and Angels both have options at shortstop. They were putting the final touches on their secondary options against each other on Monday when the Angels rallied for a 5-4 exhibition victory with three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Taylor Ward not only hit a first-inning home run for the Angels, he had the game-winning single in the ninth off of Dodgers minor leaguer Jose Rodriguez. Mike Trout also hit a home run for the Angels, while Teoscar Hernandez went deep for the Dodgers.

When the regular season resumes Thursday against the Detroit Tigers, the Dodgers will lean on Miguel Rojas at shortstop early in the season, whether or not Betts is able to play by the time the home opener arrives.

Even if Betts avoids a stint on the injured list, his early-season playing time could be sporadic. Betts’ illness dropped him from 175 pounds to 157 as of Sunday. He finally was able to eat solid foods and went through a workout at Dodger Stadium on Monday.

In Monday’s Freeway Series game, Rojas was back at shortstop for the Dodgers after going through his own recent health issues. He was slowed by an injury in the playoffs, had hernia surgery when the season ended, then overcame an infection following the procedure.

Tommy Edman was solid at shortstop in the playoffs for the Dodgers, and the duo gives Manager Dave Roberts options behind Betts.

“It’s great. There’s not many teams that can afford to lose a guy like Mookie Betts at a premium position and really not lose anything on the defensive side,” Roberts said. “We’re better (overall) with Mookie, but it’s a team that certainly can keep moving forward.”

With Neto out, the Angels appear prepared to have Kevin Newman start the season as the shortstop, although Manager Ron Washington still hasn’t made his final decision known. Newman was signed in November shortly after Neto had surgery.

A promising shortstop with the Pittsburgh Pirates when he made his debut in 2018, Newman had something of a career revival last season with the Arizona Diamondbacks when he played in 111 games.

Another shortstop option for the Angels is Tim Anderson, who was brought in on a minor-league contract and appears to have made the team to start the season. Anderson is being targeted for second base as the Angels tap into his versatility.

Anderson was an All-Star shortstop in his time with the Chicago White Sox but his production declined at the same time he was going through personal family issues. He appears ready to return to a higher level of play at age 31.

“I’ve learned it’s still in him. I’ve learned he still has drive, still believes in Tim Anderson,” Washington said. “Now he’s going to get an opportunity to bring that belief to fruition. I certainly like where he is and what he’s done to this point, but it’s only been spring training. Now that it’s getting real, we are going to see.”

The Angels will still need to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Anderson, who last played in a major league game on June 30 of last season with the Miami Marlins before he was released.

The importance of a dependable shortstop is not lost on any pitcher, like the Dodgers’ Tyler Glasnow, who gave up one run on two hits over five innings with nine strikeouts on Monday. It was Glasnow’s final outing before he makes his 2025 debut next Monday against the Atlanta Braves.

“Defense is a pitcher’s best friend and I think the confidence with everything rises knowing that offensively they’ve got your back, defensively they’ve got your back, everyone’s just in it together,” Glasnow said. “It’s a great feeling.”

​ Orange County Register 

Chase of stolen car ends at Disneyland

• March 25, 2025

A police chase of a stolen vehicle ended at a Disneyland parking structure, where the search for the suspect or suspects  was launched Monday night, March 24.

Deputies with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department first received a report around 7:50 p.m. of a stolen Chevy Camaro in the area of the Pacific Coast Highway and Ritz Carlton Drive.

The driver drove off, and deputies located it traveling on the 5 Freeway at a high speed, authorities said. Air support tracked the sports car.

Anaheim police and the California Highway Patrol later took over when the suspect pulled into the Pixar Pals parking structure at Disneyland in Anaheim around 8 p.m., according to video news provider OnScene.TV.

Police were searching the parking structure for at least one suspect, authorities said. Broadcast reports said as many as four suspects could have been involved.

The structure was temporarily closed for the search Monday night, and visitors who parked there could not immediately access their vehicles. Air support was also patrolling in search of a suspect or suspects.

Disneyland has two interconnected parking structures: Mickey & Friends and Pixar Pals.

The 10,000-space Mickey & Friends garage was the largest parking structure in the U.S. when it opened in 2000. The attached Pixar Pals garage added another 6,500 spaces when it opened in 2019.

Staff writer Brady MacDonald contributed to this story.

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani to resume pitching program this weekend

• March 25, 2025

ANAHEIM — The Dodgers’ first home series of the regular season later this week also will include Shohei Ohtani’s return to pitching preparations, with the right-hander scheduled to resume bullpen sessions on Saturday.

Manager Dave Roberts announced that Ohtani will throw from a bullpen mound on Saturday at Dodger Stadium after he last threw a bullpen session at spring training on Feb. 25.

“So once he gets into the ’pen on Saturday, then we’ll have a better idea of what a plan looks like,” Roberts said.

There remains no specific timetable for Ohtani to make his Dodgers debut on the mound. In the offseason, Roberts gave a rough estimate for Ohtani to begin pitching in games in mid-May, then said at the team’s fan fest in February that it could be even sooner.

May appears to be back on the table again, but it is clear the Dodgers do not want to rush the process.

Roberts was asked if getting somewhere between 18-20 starts out of Ohtani this season would be considered a win.

“We would bank that right now,” Roberts said.

Ohtani even had another flat-ground throwing session on Monday at Angel Stadium, while wearing a compression sleeve on his right arm. He went through his pitching motion while throwing to a catcher in a crouch.

“Just appreciating that it’s his second Tommy John (surgery), getting ready for a major league season with the bat (after) his left shoulder surgery, and really understanding that this is a long-term play for Shohei’s well-being also,” Roberts said.

“So we’re making sure that we are as cautious and careful as we possibly can. For 2025, the most important piece of this is having him able to do both at the end of the season and into October.”

Ohtani last pitched in a major league game on Aug. 23, 2023, when he went 1⅓ innings for the Angels against the Cincinnati Reds. He finished that season 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA in 23 starts and won the second of his three league MVP Awards. He also hit 44 home runs with a 1.066 OPS.

While only concentrating on his offense last season, Ohtani hit 54 home runs and had 59 stolen bases with a 1.036 OPS in 159 games with the Dodgers as the designated hitter.

BETTS BETTER

After saying he has not been able to hold down solid food for nearly two weeks, Roberts said shortstop Mookie Betts ate breakfast and got through a workout at Dodger Stadium on Monday.

The club is optimistic that Betts will be able to play in the Freeway Series finale on Tuesday night at Angel Stadium. There is even hope that Betts could be available for Opening Day on Thursday against the Detroit Tigers.

“He hit, took grounders, threw and kept food down,” Roberts said.

Betts said he went from 175 pounds just before the team left to Japan to 157 pounds during what was originally called a stomach virus. Smoothies were the closest thing to solid food that he had been able to keep down.

“I think it was getting to be pretty concerning because there really isn’t something to compare what he was going through,” Roberts said. “We were trying to remain positive, but it was really disconcerting.”

PREP COMPLETE

Right-hander Tyler Glasnow had his final outing before the start of the season on Monday, with his regular-season debut scheduled for next week at home against the Atlanta Braves. He looked sharp, holding the Angels to one run (a Taylor Ward leadoff homer in the first inning) on two hits in five innings with nine strikeouts and one walk.

A year ago, Glasnow was the Dodgers’ Opening Day starter when the team kicked off the regular season in South Korea against the San Diego Padres. He went 9-6 with a 3.49 ERA in 22 starts in his first season with the Dodgers before his year was cut short in mid-August with an elbow injury.

“I think he’s had a really good camp, very consistent and we have talked a lot about him staying athletic in his delivery,” Roberts said of Glasnow, who is entering the season after making some mechanical tweaks. “I think he just has a lot more clarity right now going into the season.”

BACK AGAIN

First baseman Freddie Freeman played consecutive games for the first time since he ended Cactus League play earlier this month by playing in four consecutive contests.

After a rib cage strain when the team was in Japan, keeping him out of the first two games of the regular season, Freeman is in line to start at first base in the home opener on Thursday.

UP NEXT

Dodgers (RHP Dustin May) at Angels (RHP Jack Kochanowicz), Tuesday, 6 p.m., SportsNet LA, FanDuel Sports Network, 570 AM, 830 AM

​ Orange County Register 

Luka Doncic takes responsibility for Lakers’ communication drop-off in loss to Magic

• March 25, 2025

ORLANDO, Fla. — Before the Lakers’ 118-106 loss to the Orlando Magic on Monday night, Coach JJ Redick emphasized the importance of his team getting back to talking more on defense.

To rebuild the trust that allowed them to have the league’s top-ranked defense from Jan. 15-March 7, they’d have to improve their communication after digressing into bad defensive habits over the last couple of weeks.

That happened in spurts during the loss to the Magic to kick off the Lakers’ four-game trip.

But as guard Austin Reaves put it, “That’s not good enough.”

“You can’t be, when you’re getting stops, you can’t just be talking – if they score a couple possessions, it’s OK,” Reaves added. “They’re going to score. You’ve got to continue to [talk], even when you go a couple possessions without getting a stop. You got to be consistent on that end.

“We started off the game with a lot of communication and then when they go on a little bit of a run, we kind of get quiet a little bit. We can’t do that. We got to continue to figure things out through the flow of the game and not just talk when things are going good.”

Star guard Luka Doncic took responsibility for the Lakers’ dwindling communication, especially during a third quarter when they were outscored 34-18.

Doncic said while everybody should be communicating, it’s on the star duo of himself and LeBron James, who didn’t speak with reporters after the game, to make sure that happens.

“That’s on me,” the 26-year-old Slovenian star said. “Obviously, I’ve got to do better, I’ve got to talk more. I talked in the first half, then just kind of [quieted] down and I shouldn’t do that.”

Doncic added: “I gotta talk more. I’m still new to the team, but getting more comfortable talking more and more.”

HOWARD’S INDUCTION

Dwight Howard was inducted into the Orlando Magic Hall of Fame on Monday afternoon, becoming the 13th inductee after eight seasons with the Magic, which included six of his eight All-Star nods and three NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards.

Redick played alongside Howard, who had three stints with the Lakers (2012-13; 2019-20; 2021-22) and finished his NBA career in Los Angeles, from 2006-12.

“He was a superstar,” Redick said of Howard. “He was as dominant as any player in the league during that time. Really felt like had our team had a better record in 2011, he had a real chance to win MVP. If you look at some of the numbers that year, his impact was as big as anybody in the league.

“Playing with him gave me a lot of confidence on the ball as a defender. And then just the way he put pressure on the rim and his screening really helped me.”

Redick also reflected on the franchise with which he spent the first 6½ years of his 15-season NBA career.

“Anytime I come back to Orlando, I get a little nostalgic,” he said. “Met my wife here, got engaged here, played the NBA Finals here, so this is a special place for me. Was able to come back last year during the All-Star break … they honored me at halfcourt at halftime, which was great, and kids got to be a part of that.”

“This is a special place. It was the first time being a pro and you get ingratiated into a community of people and that feeling of belonging to a place never leaves. And Orlando is that for me.”

​ Orange County Register 

USC’s JuJu Watkins exits with knee injury

• March 25, 2025

LOS ANGELES — USC guard JuJu Watkins went down grabbing her right knee after trying to plant it to make a move on a fast break with 4:43 left in the first quarter of the Trojans’ NCAA Tournament second round game against Mississippi State.

Watkins stayed down for a few minutes as head coach Lindsay Gottlieb, assistants and trainers checked on her. The trainers eventually carried her to the locker room in their arms as she was unable to place any weight on her leg.

Watkins was voted Big Ten Player of the Year. In her sophomore season at USC, she averaged 24.6 points and 7 rebounds per game.

USC issued a statement neared halftime, saying, “JuJu Watkins is being evaluated by USC Keck Medicine staff and will not return to competition in tonight’s NCAA Second Round game.”

This story will be updated.

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County softball stat leaders through March 22

• March 25, 2025

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Orange County softball stat leaders through Saturday, March 22.

To be included, teams must have their stats up to date on the MaxPreps.com leaderboards.

BATTING AVERAGE

RUNS BATTED IN

RUNS

EARNED-RUN AVERAGE

STRIKEOUTS

​ Orange County Register