USC’s star player JuJu Watkins suffered a season-ending injury during the NCAA tournament.
UConn’s Paige Bueckers, who has also experienced season-ending injuries, offered support to Watkins.
‘Your heart breaks for her, just the devastation,’ Bueckers said. ‘You just empathize for her.’
When the 2025 women’s NCAA Tournament bracket was first unveiled on Selection Sunday, many circled the potential Elite Eight matchup between the No. 1 USC Trojans and the No. 2 UConn Huskies, setting up a highly anticipated rematch between JuJu Watkins and Paige Bueckers.
Bueckers and the Huskies defeated Watkins and the Trojans 80-73 in the Elite Eight last year during the 2024 women’s NCAA Tournament and advanced all the way to the Final Four, before being eliminated by Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes. USC got its revenge earlier this season by defeating UConn 72-70 in December.
USC and UConn’s paths may cross again during March Madness, but the matchup will be down one superstar: Watkins suffered a season-ending injury early in the Trojans’ 96-59 win over No. 9 Mississippi State.
‘Your heart breaks for her, just the devastation,’ Bueckers said of Watkins on Friday, ahead of the Huskies’ Sweet 16 matchup against No. 3 Oklahoma on Saturday. ‘You just empathize for her, because I’ve been in that position before where you have this devastating injury. She had it at a time where it’s just the worst timing when you are playing for a national championship … so you just feel for her.’
Bueckers said she reached out to Watkins to offer support during her recovery.
‘I reached out to her offering my support and prayers and letting her know that we’ve exchanged numbers now, so we’re locked in,’ Bueckers said. ‘Whatever she needs mentally physically, to vent, ask questions.’
Bueckers can relate. She was named the AP Player of the Year and Naismith College Player of the Year in 2021 following a breakout freshmen campaign that saw her average 20 points, 5.8 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game, while shooting 46.4% percent from 3. She led the Huskies to a Final Four appearance.
But Bueckers’ next two years were plagued by injuries. She was limited to 17 games her sophomore year due to a tibial plateau fracture and meniscus tear and was forced to miss her entire junior season after tearing her ACL during a pickup game.
Bueckers recalled feeling ‘devastation, a sense of just hurt and disappointment’ after tearing her ACL in August 2022. She said she had ‘a why me sort of mentality, why now,’ asking herself ‘a lot of questions that are going to go unanswered.’ But then Bueckers said ‘your motivation, your strength, your faith, peace kicks in of, ‘Everything happens for a reason,’ and then surgery happens, and then you know that every single day that passes by is a day closer to you getting to play basketball again.’
Bueckers returned from the ACL injury during the 2023-24 season and played a career-high 39 games. She was named an unanimous first-team All-American and led the Huskies to the Final Four. Bueckers said she’s confident that Watkins will have a similar story to tell one day.
‘You don’t get to be as good as JuJu if you don’t have a great motor, a great work ethic, and she’s going to attack this process just as she’s attacked basketball,’ Bueckers said. ‘Just as she’s great at basketball, she’s going to be great at this recovery process. Just disappointed for her but know she will be back better than ever and this will just be a little setback to the great story she will have.’
UConn’s Azzi Fudd, who returned to the team this season after tearing her ACL during practice in November 2023, recalled wearing a bracelet that says ‘purpose’ on it during her own recovery.
‘I wore that, and I made sure that every day I was doing rehab, literally anything, I was doing it with a purpose because I didn’t want to take any shortcuts, and there would be a reason why a year comes, and I can’t be back on the floor playing,’ Fudd said. ‘ I know that JuJu’s going to come back from this and attack her rehab how she has every single day playing basketball like normal. But I was nauseous hearing the news for her. You don’t want to see anyone go through it, but she’s going to come back stronger.’
UConn is set to face No. 3 Oklahoma on Saturday, while USC will meet No. 5 Kansas State in the Sweet 16.
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