588 days since tearing her ACL in the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, JuJu Watkins looked like she barely missed a beat. The guard scored 21 points in 25 minutes as USC dominated UNLV 100-68 on Monday. Watching her triumphant return, The Athletic's senior WNBA and CBB Senior Writer Chantel Jennings couldn't help but feel excited. She watched Watkins get injured live on TV, but now she can look forward to Watkins possibly reclaiming the highest individual achievement in college basketball.
"I remember when she went down in that Mississippi State game. The emotion that I remembered seeing on TV… Lindsay Gottlieb's face on camera after that injury, and immediately I was like, 'Oh! This is this is bad. This is season-ending. Like, this is extremely horrible,'" Jennings told her fellow Senior WNBA writer at The Athletic, Annie Costabile.
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"To bookend Lindsay's sadness and devastation of seeing JuJu go down and then to have her come back again… it made me really, really happy for her, but also just so excited for the player of the year race this year," Jennings added, and Costabile agreed.
"It was truly a joyful experience watching her set foot on the court, and her postgame interview was just so emotional to watch," Costabile told her co-host on No Offseason: The Athletic Women's Basketball Show
.
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However, the WNBA writers' excitement to see JuJu Watkins in the Player of the Year race this early in the season shows how high the expectations are
.
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In a poetic twist, JuJu Watkins won the 2025 Naismith Women's College Player of the Year on April 2, 2025, shortly after tearing her ACL. She became the first USC player in 31 years to win the Naismith Trophy after Lisa Leslie in 1994.
Then again, Watkins never let the injury diminish her competitive spirit.
"This is truly special, and I feel so blessed to be selected among some of the best in the game. … This is just the beginning and I can't wait for what's ahead," Watkins said after winning the award.
Back then, the 6-foot-2 guard didn't realize it would take 588 days to play a regular-season game again. So, following her 2026 NCAA season debut, the USC star got emotional during the post-game interview.
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"It was great to just be out there with my team again and to see the first one fall through," Watkins told CBS's Jordan Giorgio
during the post-game interview as she fought back tears.
The long journey back to the hardwood wasn't easy. Watkins explained that there were days when she could've given up but pushed through. The junior also explained how she practiced during this long recovery.
"This injury forced me to be stationary and start back all the way to the fundamentals of how I first started learning to play and shoot," Watkins told ESPN.
While JuJu Watkins did score 21 points in her return, it took her some time to find the groove in her shooting. Watkins missed 8-of-12 of her field goals in the first half. She improved in the third quarter.
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The guard scored 11 of her 21 points in the third quarter and finished the night scoring 9-of-22 from the field. Trojans' head coach Lindsay Gottlieb also pulled her from the game after the third quarter because she wants Watkins to ease into playing full games.
"We are still putting a restriction on JuJu's minutes and being intentional that she has the chance to ramp up," said Gottlieb.
Interestingly, Watkins isn't the only USC athlete making their anticipated comeback this season. Her men's team counterpart, guard Rodney Rice, walked a remarkably similar path before making his 2026-27 season debut. Rice looked like a potential All-American, averaging 20.3 points, 6.0 assists, and shooting 41.1% from the field.
Unfortunately, in December 2025, he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury that required surgery and a long rehab. Rice scored 15 points, six rebounds, and nine assists in USC Men's Basketball's 2026 season opener against the Milwaukee Panthers, which the Trojans won 95-63.
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After Watkins ' performance against the Lady Rebels, many expect JuJu Watkins to return to form and possibly lead the Player of the Year race. However, as Jennings said, the competition will be fierce.
The 2026 Player of the Year, UConn's Sarah Strong, is also in her junior year. Meanwhile, Notre Dame senior Hannah Hidalgo, Vanderbilt's Mikayla Blakes, and Texas' Mikayla Blakes all made the AP Women's Preseason All-American Team and are expected to be big players in this season's race.
Meanwhile, Gottlieb is more focused on making sure her star player gradually gets up to speed.
"It's just finding that rhythm, and then I think we'll see even more shots go down," the head coach said after their win.
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