USC WBB Coach Says Play That Hurt Juju Watkins Wasn't Dirty, Condemns Online Hate Towards MSU Player

The USC Trojans women’s basketball team lost Juju Watkins for the year, but head coach Linsdey Gottlieb is not holding any grudges because of it.

On Monday, the Trojans were facing off against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Los Angeles, CA in the Round of 32 of the women’s basketball tournament. In the first quarter, she was driving to the hoop in transition when Bulldogs guard Chandler Prater closed in to defend her. Prater collided minimally with Watkins, but it was enough to send the USC sensation to the ground in pain.

Later, it was revealed that Watkins had torn her ACL and would be out for the year.

In the aftermath of this event, many people attacked Prater online for initiating the play that led to such a significant injury. However, Gottleib said that neither she nor anyone else affiliated with the program viewed the play as dirty and that fans should stop harassing Prater.

"There was nothing to me that looked like it had any intent to hurt her. ... I mean, that's not a USC view at all," Gottlieb said. "It was a physical game. ... No one deserves online bullying in any realm, but certainly not a young woman in Chandler, who was trying to make a play, and unfortunately our player got hurt."

Frankly, I tend to agree with Gottleib. Another angle shows that Prater didn’t do a lot to throw off Watkins’ momentum, even if it still led to the injury.

All I see is a defender making hard yet legal body contact, and Watkins unfortunately landing awkwardly.

For what it's worth, Bulldogs head coach Sam Purcell said after the game that he was praying for Watkins and that he hoped the incident wouldn’t create animosity between the two teams. These are signs of a program that feels sorry for what they did and that has a solid amount of class.

USC next plays Kansas State on Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Sweet 16.