Fifty-five combined foul calls were too many in No. 9 USC’s impressive 73-65 victory over No. 2 UCLA.
L.A. likes winners, duh.
L.A. likes women’s college basketball?
L.A. likes women’s college basketball.
Duh. Galen Center was filled to its gills Sunday afternoon, 10,258 fans of varying levels of celebrity (musical stars Chris Brown and Saweetie joined USC icon Cheryl Miller) in the “JuJu crowd,” as USC’s coach Lindsay Gottlieb called it.
They came to see the phenomenal freshman take and make 16 free throws.
Wait, that’s not right. They came to watch JuJu Watkins and her No. 9-ranked USC women’s squad face off with and ultimately take down the gutty big-time UCLA Bruins, to see her and her friends hand the No. 2 team in the nation its first loss, 73-65.
And they’d go home hearing echoes of Watkins’ “Fight on!” if their ears weren’t ringing from all those whistles.
There were 17 fouls assessed apiece last time these teams played, and even more this time. UCLA (14-1, 3-1 in Pac-12) was called for 32 personal fouls Sunday, nine more than its previous season high. Three Bruins fouled out. And the Trojans (13-1, 3-1) were whistled for 23 fouls, equaling their previous high.
Which is a stop-and-go shame, because as far as showcases go, this was everything you should expect from this Trojans-Bruins slugfest– er, matchup. It was the rockfight– er, down-to-the-wire thriller that we’ve now got seasons of precedent for.
