Playing three top-ten teams in one week is a brutal - and often unusual - task, as Rutgers Women's Basketball head coach Coquese Washington noted after Thursday's loss to No. 8 Maryland. Without star freshman Kiyomi McMiller - not playing due to a coach's decision, as she posted publicly on Instagram six hours before the game - the task was made exponentially more difficult.
The Scarlet Knights (8-7, 0-4) fell to No. 4 USC 92-42 at Jersey Mike's Arena on Sunday night, giving Rutgers its ninth straight conference loss dating back to last season.
Trojans' star guard JuJu Watkins was one of three USC players in double-figures, leading all scorers with 23 points on 8-for-23 shooting from the floor. She also grabbed a season-high 14 rebounds for her second double-double of the season, the first since the season-opening win over Ole Miss in Paris. Kennedy Smith and Kiki Iriafen also scored in double-figures, with 19 and 14 points respectively.
Rutgers' offense looked disjointed all night, committing 27 turnovers and struggling to handle the Trojans' press for much of the game.
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Washington declined to expand on McMiller's absence.
"We're going to keep it internal," she said, before talking about her duty as a basketball coach is to not only coach on game days, but also prepare and help her players grow as people in their lives.
USC got out to a quick start, but Rutgers was able to keep up in the opening minutes thanks to forcing multiple turnovers to start, but it was off to the races once the Trojans cleaned up some of their issues with the ball.
The Scarlet Knights' defense did manage to force 16 turnovers on the game - tied for the seventh-most committed by the Trojans this year - but only managed four points off those turnovers. USC scored 38 points off turnovers to propel the offense forward and pull ahead.
Destiny Adams notched her sixth double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds, to go along with five steals on the defensive end. JoJo Lacey led the Scarlet Knights in scoring and was the only other player in double-figures with 14 points before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
The game was hyped up as a premier matchup of the country's top underclassmen guards between McMiller and Watkins, but the latter said after the game that while it was disappointing to not face a fellow five-star, the ultimate goal was winning the game.
"She's a good player," Watkins said after the game. "I'm always excited to play against good players, so I guess I was a little disappointed that she wasn't on the floor. I think the main goal is always to win with or without players."
When asked about the absence of McMiller, USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said they stuck to a lot of their own gameplan coming in.
"We prepared to have her," she said. "Obviously, she's a big part of what they do, but I told the team when we found out she was going to be out, sometimes other people take that opportunity to step up, and we couldn't be any less locked in on our gameplan."
She said they tried to key in more on Adams as the primary option, and held her to a 3-for-10 scoring mark from the floor with six turnovers.
"I don't know what's going on there, but I hope the best for everybody, and we just tried to take the challenge that was in front of us," Gottlieb added on McMiller's absence.
Rutgers continued to struggle to execute on offense, shooting just 28% from the floor and 5-for-14 from the three-point line.
The Scarlet Knights have navigated the toughest part of the Big Ten schedule, but it does not get much easier with a road matchup against Minnesota before returning home to play three of the next four games against ranked teams, including No. 1 UCLA on January 23rd.
Rutgers needs to find its mojo back, with or without its star freshman in tow, and quickly, before the season spirals out of control.
RHOOPS PLAY OF THE DAY
JoJo Lacey hits the contested stepback three with the shot clock winding down.
UP NEXT?
Rutgers gets a break from the ranked teams and will go on the road to face Minnesota on Wednesday night at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.
The game will tip off at 8pm EST and will be streamed on Big Ten Plus, with a radio broadcast available on WRSU-FM.
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