The tenacious freshman stared ahead blankly, her eyes welling with tears, the losing USC locker room silent around her.
Kennedy Smith gave everything she had in the wake of JuJu Watkins’ injury. She helped guide USC past Kansas State in the Sweet 16, pacing the team in scoring. And in the Elite Eight, the Trojans had entrusted her, their best on-ball defender, with chasing Paige Bueckers, the Connecticut star and likely No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft.
But it wasn’t enough. Not without Watkins. And in the last gasps of a season that once seemed destined for something special, that was a particularly difficult pill for Smith and her teammates to swallow. Soon enough, they knew, their team would look totally different. Kiki Iriafen, after an All-American season at USC, is off to the WNBA. Rayah Marshall, after four memorable years, is following Iriafen, while Talia von Oelhoffen, their starting point guard, and Clarice Akunwafo, their defensive stalwart off the bench, exhausted their eligibility.
Many questions about the path forward for USC are still to be answered. Not the least of which is whether Watkins sits out all of next season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee. But hidden beneath the heartbreak of a tournament run cut short is hope for a future with Smith and her fellow freshmen holding down the fort until Watkins is healthy enough to return.
Read more:Plaschke: JuJu Watkins’ knee injury cuts deep into the USC star and Trojans' title hopes
“The freshmen, their performance … was unbelievable,” von Oelhoffen said Monday night. “A preview of what’s to come in the next few years.”
The trio of guards Smith, Avery Howell and Kayleigh Heckel certainly gave every reason this March to believe they’re bound for bigger roles next season. Howell already had emerged as a vocal leader while leading the Trojans in three-point shooting (40%). Heckel served as a spark plug off the bench. And Smith established herself as an elite defender who could score in bunches if the game called for it.
Smith’s high school coach, Stan Delus, knows she’s capable of much more. He’d seen it in her at Etiwanda High and he expects to see it again next season at USC.
“She can score in so many more ways than she shows at USC right now,” Delus told The Times last month.
