During its NCAA Tournament second round matchup with Mississippi State Monday night, USC women’s basketball had the worst possible outcome come to pass when superstar Juju Watkins had to be carried off the floor with an injury. After the game, the Trojans got the worst possible news regarding Watkins: Her season is over.

Late Monday night, USC announced that Watkins’s injury is season ending, and that she will undergo surgery. Per Shams Charania of ESPN, she suffered a torn ACL.

It is an absolutely brutal development for the Trojans, who lose their best player at the worst possible time. Watkins was the All-America face of a program that earned consecutive No. 1 seeds in the tournament, made it to the Elite Eight last season, and looked like a legit national title contender this year. Now, USC will be forced to play on without its superstar, the player most responsible for getting them to this point.

Even without Watkins, the Trojans were able to dominate Mississippi State and advance to the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive season. However, it is difficult to imagine this team making a lengthy tournament run without quite possibly the best player in the country.

USC (247Sports) beat writer Ahmad Akkaoui raised the possibility that JuJu Watkins might not be available for the nonconference portion of USC’s 2025-2026 season. That would be a terrible outcome for USC, full stop. It would also be less than the absolute worst-case scenario: missing the entire 2025-2026 season. There’s no use going deep into the weeds on those questions now. Obviously, it’s something Lindsay Gottlieb and USC women’s basketball will have to think about once the NCAA Tournament ends and transfer portal acquisitions are pursued.

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Juju Watkins to undergo knee surgery, officially out for season

 JuJu Watkins’ season is done.

The USC star suffered a season-ending knee injury during Monday night’s women’s March Madness game against Mississippi State.

“She will undergo surgery and then begin rehabilitation shortly thereafter,” USC said.

Watkins tore her anterior cruciate ligament, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. The team has not yet confirmed the diagnosis.

Early in the first quarter, Watkins was on a fast break with just under five minutes to go when she became entangled with a Mississippi State player. She immediately went down, grabbed her right knee and was visibly in pain. A foul was called on Mississippi State’s Chandler Prater.

Medical staff came to assist as the crowd inside the Galen Center went silent. Watkins was carried off the court and she did not put any weight on her knee. The Trojans were ahead 13-2 at the time.

“She’s a key piece for us. But we don’t want to let her down, we don’t want to let all of our fans down,” USC’s Kiki Iriafen said on the broadcast after finishing the game with a team-high 36 points. “Just keeping our foot on the gas, trusting everything our coaches have for us and knowing we’re more than capable to win this game.”

Referees reviewed the play for a potential flagrant call, but it was determined to be a common foul. USC fans were audibly upset and booed the Bulldogs for the majority of the game after Watkin’s injury.

Did JuJu Watkins tear her ACL?

Yes, Watkins tore her anterior cruciate ligament, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. The team has not yet confirmed the diagnosis, saying only it was a season-ending injury. The average recovery time for an ACL injury is around nine months, according to a study from Stanford, though some athletes have returned sooner than that.