USC women’s basketball head coach Lindsay Gottlieb spoke with reporters for half an hour Thursday afternoon, giving updates from the offseason in her first press conference of the preseason.
The Big Ten schedule was released on the same day, adding to the anticipation of the season opener against New Mexico State on Nov. 4 at Galen Center and the Big Ten opener against Washington at home Dec. 29.
Here are four takeaways from what Gottlieb said and what this season could have in store:
JuJu Watkins will come back better, but when?
Gottlieb said that she did not have a timetable for JuJu Watkins’ return as she continues to heal from a torn ACL sustained in March during an NCAA Tournament second-round game against Mississippi State.
But Gottlieb said the Naismith Trophy winner has still been involved with the team and is making the most of her time off the court.
“I have no doubt that there’s going to be a point at which we look back and say, ‘Wow, she got better at this, stronger at this, wiser at that,’ because that’s how she’s going to use her time,” Gottlieb said. “I’m seeing it every day in terms of her conscious decisions and natural ability to really pour into the team in ways that she can.”
Londynn Jones and Gottlieb go back
One of the biggest transfer portal moves of the offseason was Londynn Jones’ switch from crosstown rival UCLA to USC. Gottlieb said she reached out to Jones for honest conversations when she saw that the guard was in the portal.
“Every decision we make in the transfer portal is really about fit,” Gottlieb said. “Is what you can do and what you’re looking for consistent with what we think that we need? It doesn’t mean that anyone else’s previous school wasn’t good for them.”
Gottlieb still has a voice message on her phone from Jones from 2019 – the year Gottlieb was hired as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Jones was 15 at the time and had known the coach from her days at Cal.
“Londynn’s on my voicemail, saying ‘Hi, Coach Lindsay, just want to say I’m still happy for you. Congratulations and don’t forget about me,’” Gottlieb said. “I was super happy for her when I was with the Cavs that she went to the other school in L.A. and had a good career. But obviously, there’s a relationship there.”
Trojans are embracing a difficult schedule
USC will play South Carolina, Notre Dame and UConn all within a month as part of a challenging preseason schedule. The South Carolina game is the first part of a home-and-home series and will be played at Crypto.com Arena and nationally broadcast on FOX.
“We wanted to play them one way or another,” Gottlieb said, “but to get an organizer who said, ‘No, no, we can put this game in Crypto, and we can put this game in Crypto without it being a doubleheader or without it having a men’s team anchoring it. We want these two premier women’s basketball teams in Crypto.’ And that was something that I think both of us jumped at that opportunity.”
USC will play UCLA on Jan. 3 at Pauley Pavilion and again March 1 at Galen Center as part of the Big Ten Conference schedule. Tip-off times for conference games are yet to be announced.
Jazzy Davidson is living up to the hype
The true freshman enters her first season at USC as the No. 1 recruit in ESPN’s 2025 recruiting class, a FIBA gold medalist, the Gatorade Oregon Player of the Year and a McDonald’s All-American.
The 6-foot-1 guard is not filling the shoes of Watkins, but Davidson will certainly carve out her own space not just at USC but in women’s college basketball as a whole.
“She’s next-level good,” Gottlieb said. “She glides. She’s very fluid. She can score it. She can pass it. She impacts the game defensively. She comes in ready in a way that is very unique for someone her age, and so we’re super excited. We know that we’ve got something special with her, but also it’s within the fabric of the team.”