JuJu Watkins’ torn ACL devastated the basketball phrase, which collectively held its breath Monday night time throughout USC’s second-round sport in opposition to Mississippi State within the NCAA Match — after which watched as that spiraled into the game’s worst nightmare.
Everybody from Angel Reese to Aliyah Boston to the broadcasters on ESPN reacted to the harm in the course of the sport, hoping that Watkins could be OK.
Watkins damage her leg driving to the basket when she misplaced her footing and fell.
She instantly grabbed her leg and was in an immense quantity of ache earlier than ultimately being carried off the court docket.
“Prayers for Juju!” Reese wrote on X, accompanied by a praying fingers emoji and a tragic face emoji.
“Prayers up,” Boston posted on her X together with the praying fingers emoji.
“I pray juju ok hate to see it,” LSU basketball star Flau’jae Johnson wrote.
Watkins solely had three factors earlier than she was injured, and ESPN broadcaster Elle Duncan lamented the actual fact the USC star wouldn’t be again on the court docket Monday night time.
“We’re just gonna address the elephant in the room, this totally sucks,” Duncan stated. “I don’t think it’s hyperbolic to say this not only changed the tenor of this game but potentially the tournament.”
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In an announcement launched at halftime, the staff stated that Watkins was being evaluated by USC Keck Medication workers and that she wouldn’t return to the sport.
“She’s getting seen by our great medical team. We have a group, and a fan base and a team that’s going to have her back no matter what,” USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb instructed ESPN in the course of the broadcast. “JuJu is the toughest kid I know and she’s gonna be good one way or another.”
Watkins averaged 24.6 factors this season getting into Monday’s sport, together with 7 rebounds and three.5 assists in a 12 months the place the Trojans went 29-3.
