Rutgers suffered their biggest home loss in program history against USC last night. A game in which the offense struggled to find their footing without freshman star Kiyomi McMiller, who was out due to a coach’s decision. The Scarlet Knights lost the game by a score of 92-42. Sophomore phenom Juju Watkins led all scorers with 23 points while also grabbing 14 rebounds, while her teammate Kennedy Smith added 19 points and six steals.
After the game, the head coach of the Scarlet Knights, Coquese Washington, spoke on Kiyomi’s absence, the tough loss, and more.
“The thing with Kiyomi, we’re going to keep it internal,” said coach Washington.
After speaking on Kiyomi’s absence coach Washington gave her outlook on what coaching is and what may have gone into her decision of not having Kiyomi with the team for the game.
“For me, coaching is not just what happens on the court… it’s about how we impact these young women that are in our program in all aspects… as we deal with different circumstances and situations, for me, the first thing is how are we impacting these young people,” said coach Washington.
This loss is the third straight loss for the Scarlet Knights, all of which have come facing top 10 teams in the country. Coach Washington shared the message she gave to her team after last night’s loss.
“The message to the team was when you hit adversity, you have to respond… this has been a tough week… to play three top 10 teams in a row that’s tough… it just got harder and harder every game… we have to respond with the championship DNA that’s in us because we are Rutgers… you walk into that arena and you look at those banners, you look at all the people that have come before you and have made this place one of the most storied women’s basketball programs in the history of the game,” said coach Washington
The Scarlet Knights are 8-7 on the season and still searching for their first win in the conference play, as they are now 0-4 in such games. They will get another opportunity on Wednesday to take on a very good Minnesota team on the road.
