JuJu Watkins
No. 12 – USC Trojans
PositionPoint guard / shooting guard
LeaguePac-12 Conference
Personal information
Born (2005-07-15) July 15, 2005 (age 18)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Career information
High school
CollegeUSC (2023–present)
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Women's basketball
Representing the  United States
FIBA Under-17 World Cup
Gold medal – first place 2022 Hungary Team
FIBA Under-16 Americas Championship
Gold medal – first place 2021 Mexico Team

Judea Skies "JuJu" Watkins (born July 15, 2005) is an American college basketball player for the USC Trojans of the Pac-12 Conference. She graduated from Sierra Canyon School in her hometown of Los Angeles, where she was ranked as the number one recruit in her class by ESPN and earned national high school player of the year honors. Watkins led the United States to gold medals at the 2022 FIBA Under-17 World Cup and the 2021 FIBA Under-16 Americas Championship, being named most valuable player (MVP) of each tournament.

Early life and high school career

Watkins is the daughter of Robert Neal-Watkins and Sari Watkins. Her great-grandfather, Ted Watkins, founded the Watts Labor Community Action Committee. She started playing basketball in a park league at age seven.[1] Watkins trained with Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy and modeled her game after Arike Ogunbowale.[2] As a freshman at Windward School in Los Angeles, Watkins averaged 21 points and nine rebounds per game, leading her team to the CIF Southern Section Open Division title game and the regional final. She was named the Los Angeles Times Player of the Year.[3] In 2020, Watkins was named SportsKid of the Year by Sports Illustrated Kids.[4] As a sophomore at Windward, she averaged 27 points and 12 rebounds per game.[2]

Entering her junior year, Watkins transferred to Sierra Canyon School in Los Angeles.[5] She led her team to the Open Division state title and a 30–2 record as a junior. After averaging 25 points, 10.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists, Watkins was named California Gatorade Player of the Year and Ms. Basketball.[6][7] She earned player of the year honors from the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Daily News.[8][9] As a senior, Watkins averaged 27.3 points, 13.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game, leading Sierra Canyon to the CIF Southern Section Open Division title, a 31–1 record and the regional final.[10] On senior night, she scored a career-high 60 points, the second-most points in a game in area history, in an 88–39 win over Notre Dame High School.[11] Watkins was recognized as Gatorade National Player of the Year and Naismith Prep Player of the Year. She repeated as player of the year from the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Daily News, as well as California Gatorade Player of the Year and Ms. Basketball.[12][13] Watkins played in the McDonald's All-American Game, where she shared MVP honors, and the Nike Hoop Summit.[14]

Recruiting

Watkins was considered a five-star recruit and the number one player in the 2023 class, according to ESPN. On November 15, 2022, she announced her commitment to USC over offers from South Carolina and Stanford.[15]

College career

On November 6, 2023, Watkins made her college debut and scored 32 points in an 83–74 upset win over AP No. 7 Ohio State. She set the USC record for points in a freshman debut, surpassing Lisa Leslie from 1990.[16] On November 22, she posted her first double-double with 31 points and 12 rebounds in a 71–70 win over Penn State.[17] It was the first of three consecutive 30-point games by Watkins, which tied Cheryl Miller for the longest such streak in program history.[18] On January 14, 2024, Watkins recorded 32 points and 10 rebounds in a 73–65 win over AP No. 2 UCLA.[19] On February 2, she scored a career-high 51 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a 67–58 victory over AP No. 4 Stanford. Watkins broke the USC single-game scoring record held by Cherie Nelson since 1989.[20] It was the first 50-point game by an NCAA Division I freshman since Elena Delle Donne of Delaware in 2010.[21] On February 23, Watkins scored 42 points in an 87–81 win over AP No. 11 Colorado. She set the single-game scoring record for the Galen Center, her team's home arena, and had her 11th 30-point game, surpassing Cheryl Miller for the most in a season by a USC player.[22][23] In her next game, Watkins posted 30 points, seven rebounds and five assists in a 74–68 loss to AP No. 18 Utah, passing Paula McGee for the program freshman single-season scoring record.[24] At the end of the regular season, she was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and All-Pac-12, while earning All-Defensive Team honors from the league's media.[25][26] Watkins lead USC to a Pac-12 Tournament title over then #2 Stanford. [27]

National team career

Watkins won a gold medal with the United States at the 2021 FIBA Under-16 Americas Championship in Mexico. She averaged 20 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.2 steals and 3.7 assists per game, earning tournament MVP honors.[28] At the 2022 FIBA Under-17 World Cup in Hungary, Watkins led her team to the gold medal and was named MVP after averaging 13.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.3 steals per game.[29]

Off the court

In her junior year of high school, Watkins signed with Klutch Sports Group, becoming the first female athlete to be represented by the agency.[30] On October 10, 2022, she signed a name, image and likeness deal with Nike.[31]

References

  1. ^ Sondheimer, Eric (February 15, 2020). "Windward freshman Juju Watkins could be a 'game changer'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  2. ^ a b Drumwright, Steve (June 15, 2021). "Juju Watkins Represents her Country and Community with Pride". USA Basketball. Archived from the original on June 17, 2021. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  3. ^ Sondheimer, Eric (March 28, 2020). "The Times' girls' basketball player of the year: Juju Watkins". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  4. ^ Bechtel, Mark (November 20, 2020). "Juju Watkins is the 2020 SportsKid of the Year". Sports Illustrated Kids. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  5. ^ Sondheimer, Eric (July 24, 2021). "Top girls' basketball player Juju Watkins leaves Windward for Sierra Canyon". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  6. ^ Fattal, Tarek (March 10, 2022). "Sierra Canyon's Juju Watkins named Gatorade's California girls basketball player of the year". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  7. ^ Abend, Harold (April 20, 2022). "Ms. Basketball 2022: Jumping for Juju". CalHiSports. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  8. ^ Fattal, Tarek (April 6, 2022). "Daily News 2022 Player of the Year: Sierra Canyon's Juju Watkins a bona fide basketball trailblazer". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  9. ^ Sondheimer, Eric (March 20, 2022). "Girls' basketball player of the year: Juju Watkins of Sierra Canyon". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  10. ^ Evans, Luca (March 19, 2023). "Girls' basketball player of the year: Sierra Canyon's Juju Watkins". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  11. ^ Evans, Luca (January 31, 2023). "Juju Watkins scores career-high 60 points for Sierra Canyon". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  12. ^ Fattal, Tarek (April 8, 2023). "Daily News All-Area Girls Basketball: Sierra Canyon's Juju Watkins repeats as the Player of the Year". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  13. ^ "USC's Juju Watkins Named Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year". USC Athletics. March 13, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  14. ^ Evans, Luca (March 28, 2023). "Juju Watkins stars in McDonald's All-American Game; Bronny James, Jared McCain impress". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  15. ^ Gibson, Charlotte (November 15, 2022). "No. 1 women's basketball recruit Juju Watkins commits to USC". ESPN. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  16. ^ "JuJu Watkins' 32-Point Debut Helps No. 21 USC Women's Basketball Upset No. 7 Ohio State". USC Athletics. November 6, 2023. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
  17. ^ "JuJu Watkins has 31 points, last 7 of game, No. 8 USC women edge Penn State 71-70 in Bahamas". Associated Press. November 22, 2023. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  18. ^ "JuJu Watkins Records Third Straight 30-Point Game As No. 6 USC Tops San Diego 89-58". USC Athletics. December 3, 2023. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  19. ^ "JuJu Watkins, No. 9 USC send No. 2 UCLA to first loss in rematch". ESPN. Associated Press. January 14, 2024. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  20. ^ Philippou, Alexa (February 3, 2024). "USC's JuJu Watkins explodes for 51, keys upset of Stanford". ESPN. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  21. ^ "JuJu Watkins Scores USC-Record 51 points To Help No. 15 USC Women's Basketball Upset No. 4 Stanford 67-58". USC Athletics. February 2, 2024. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  22. ^ Evans, Luca (February 23, 2024). "JuJu Watkins' legend grows with 42-point game as USC women top Colorado". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  23. ^ "No. 7 USC Women's Basketball Erupts For 87-81 Win Over No. 11 Colorado At Galen Center". USC Athletics. February 23, 2024. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  24. ^ Nguyen, Thuc Nhi (February 25, 2024). "Another JuJu Watkins record can't save No. 7 USC from loss to No. 18 Utah". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  25. ^ "2023-24 Pac-12 Women's Basketball Media Awards announced". Pac-12 Conference. March 6, 2024. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  26. ^ "2023-24 Pac-12 Women's Basketball All-Conference honors and Annual Performance Awards, presented by Nextiva". Pac-12 Conference. March 5, 2024. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  27. ^ https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/39704421/usc-takes-pac-12-title-rare-night-juju-watkins
  28. ^ Williams, Aaron (March 16, 2022). "High school girls basketball: JuJu Watkins' star power has another season to shine". MaxPreps. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  29. ^ Gibson, Charlotte (November 9, 2022). "No. 1 basketball recruit Juju Watkins puts game before fame". ESPN. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  30. ^ Newman, Logan (February 11, 2022). "Klutch signs Sierra Canyon star Juju Watkins as first female athlete client". USA Today High School Sports. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  31. ^ Zagoria, Adam (October 10, 2022). "Nike Signs Bronny James, D.J. Wagner, Caitlin Clark, Haley Jones, JuJu Watkins To NIL Deals". Forbes. Retrieved May 10, 2023.

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