If anyone can empathize with the loss of an All-American to a devastating injury, it’s Kansas State women’s basketball.
When the No.5-seed Wildcats meet top-seeded UCS in the Sweet 16 on Saturday, the Trojans will be without the arguable face of women’s college basketball: star sophomore JuJu Watkins.
“Just an unfortunate situation for everybody involved, for our game, for the tournament as a whole,” All-Big 12 guard Serena Sundell said. “She’s such a cool player. We would love to play against her as competitors. That’s what you want — to play against the best.”
The 6-foot-2 guard suffered an ACL tear in the early minutes of USC’s Round of 32 rout over Mississippi State, sending shockwaves of sympathy across the nation and feelings of empathy within the K-State program and community.
“It’s just devastating,” All-American center Ayoka Lee, who has suffered two season-ending injuries, said. “I would never wish that upon anyone. It’s just really hard to watch because you see it happen, and you just know. It sucks. I really wish her the best in her recovery.”
With Watkins’ absence, bookmakers have K-State as just a single-point underdog. Still, the Wildcats are preparing for the task of a top-seeded team.
“We know they are still a really good opponent,” All-Big 12 forward Temira Poindexter said. “We know we’re going to have to go out there and stay focused and not let any of that [injury noise] affect us.”
Sundell added that from the Wildcats’ experience, it can change the perspective and passion in the locker room to another level.
“We can empathize with injuries and knowing how it feels to lose a really good player and wanting [to win] even more for your team,” Sundell said. “So we know they’re a good team, and they’re obviously smart and well-coached, and they’re going to have a good game plan coming in.”
One of the player’s K-State will key in on as a scorer for USC is 6-foot-3 forward Kiki Iriafen, who averaged 18 points and 8 rebounds, and took it to a new level in the Trojans’ 96-59 win over Mississippi State.
“She had 36 [points] the other night,” K-State head coach Jeff Mittie said. “That wasn’t hard to find. Played extremely well, aggressive in every area … I would expect her usage rate to go up here. She’s going to be one of them, but they have other options as well, so they’ll spread that out.”
K-State is hopeful that Watkins will be back and better than ever through her recovery process.
“All of these players work so much to play this time of the year … it stinks every time you have to go through it,” Mittie said. “The good news is that we’ve seen players come back, as we’ve seen Ayoka Lee come back. That wasn’t necessarily the case 20 years ago.”
The ‘Cats and Trojans will tip-off in Spokane on Saturday at 7 p.m., broadcasted on ESPN.
