JuJu Watkins stepped back onto the court on Oct. 25, 2026, and delivered an answer to the question that has hovered over USC women’s basketball for a full calendar year. The Naismith Trophy winner played 22 minutes in an exhibition win over Cal, scoring 18 points on 6-for-6 free-throw shooting and blocking two shots as the Trojans held on for a 78-76 victory. For a program that spent all of last season waiting on her, it was the first real evidence that JuJu Watkins’ return for the 2026-27 season is no longer theoretical.
Watkins, a senior guard, missed the entire 2025-26 season while recovering from a torn ACL. Her absence reshaped everything about how USC played, and her comeback now reshapes the expectations around a team that enters the season ranked third in the AP Top 25 preseason poll.
Watkins’ Exhibition Comeback Against Cal
The numbers from the Cal exhibition tell a straightforward story. Watkins tied for second on the team in scoring, shot perfectly from the free-throw line and still found a way to affect the game defensively with two blocks in limited minutes. For a player who had not competed in a game in more than a year, going 6-for-6 at the stripe is a small but telling sign that her timing has not disappeared.
Watkins addressed the long layoff directly after the game. “I still want to win. It’s been so long since I’ve played, but I think coming back, my intention is the same. I haven’t lost my confidence,” she said, according to the Orange County Register.
That quote cuts to the heart of what USC needs from her this season: not just scoring, but the competitive identity she brought before the injury. The Trojans are counting on both.
Who Carried USC While Watkins Was Out
Kennedy Smith enters the season as a key veteran presence for USC, bringing two full seasons of experience and two NCAA Tournament appearances to a roster that leaned on her leadership during Watkins’ absence. Jazzy Davidson, who was a freshman last season when Watkins went down, now has a full year of significant minutes behind her heading into this campaign.
Those two were part of a roster that had to adapt on the fly in 2025-26. USC had no true center last season, which pushed the coaching staff into a post-by-committee approach up front. That void shaped the roster moves USC made over the offseason.
USC Addresses Its Frontcourt
The Trojans lost Yakiya Milton to the transfer portal at the end of last season, but they filled the center spot they had been missing. Pania Davis, a 6-foot-6 senior transfer from Florida State, joins USC as the true center the roster lacked a year ago.
USC also added Sara Okeke, a 6-foot-4 freshman forward/center and FIBA U18 champion, to deepen the frontcourt further. Laura Williams, a 6-foot-2 redshirt sophomore forward, developed her interior game last season and gives the Trojans another option near the basket. Together, that group gives USC size it did not have when Watkins last played a full season.
Where USC Stands In The Preseason Poll
USC’s No. 3 preseason ranking puts the program behind only UConn and South Carolina, the latter ranked second after reaching the 2026 national championship game. UConn sits ahead of the Trojans at the top of the poll. The ranking reflects both the talent already on USC’s roster and the belief that Watkins’ return raises the ceiling further.
The roster around her is not short on pedigree. Saniyah Hall, a former No. 1 overall recruit, and Sitaya Fagan, a FIBA U17 champion, give USC added depth on the perimeter as the Trojans try to balance Watkins’ workload through the early part of the season.
What’s Next For USC
USC opens its season against UNLV as part of the Hall of Fame Series. The matchup will offer the first look at how head coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s staff plans to manage Watkins’ minutes in a real game setting after her limited exhibition workload. For a team ranked third nationally and anchored by a Naismith Trophy winner working her way back from a season-long absence, the opener marks the real start of finding out how far this group can go.
USC’s preseason standing also places Watkins alongside the sport’s top returning talent, as detailed in the preseason All-America team released ahead of the season.
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