Oregon women’s basketball to face surging No. 9 USC Trojans led by JuJu Watkins

Oregon (9-6, 0-2 Pac-12) at No. 9 USC (11-1, 1-1 Pac-12)

Time/date: Noon Sunday

Site: Galen Center; Los Angeles, California

TV: Pac-12 Network. Radio: KUGN 98.1 FM.

About the matchup: The Ducks have been on the wrong end of two conference games so far, falling to Oregon State and UCLA by double-digits, and the road will get no easier at USC on Sunday. The Trojans have just one loss – to UCLA – and are ranked ninth in the latest AP Poll. If the Ducks want any hope of winning, they will have to rebound better than they did against the Bruins. Oregon was fourth in the Pac-12 in rebounding heading into conference play, and needs to assert its will inside to keep the game close.  

About the Ducks: Oregon guard and second-leading scorer Chance Gray sat out a lopsided defeat to UCLA with a concussion, and with her status in question the Ducks will need to find more scoring threats on the outside if they have any hope of defeating the Trojans. Through two conference games the Ducks have yet to crack 50 points.

About the Trojans: Fresh off their first loss of the season to unbeaten UCLA, the Trojans responded with a come-from-behind victory over Oregon State at home Friday, 56-54. USC goes as freshman phenom JuJu Watkins goes. She averages almost 27 points per game and is the undisputed leader of USC early in her collegiate career.

Oregon coach Kelly Graves on JuJu Watkins: “Well, she’s really gifted. No question about it. Where she can get better is to make everybody around her better, but right now with the ball in her hand she’s amazing, as good as I’ve seen at this age since I’ve been in women’s basketball. I saw (Kelsey) Plum when she was a freshman and Sabrina (Ionescu) when she was a freshman … Caitlin Clark. JuJu is really, really good.”

Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com and you can follow him on Twitter @AlecDietz.