It was a fine time for a dominant return to form.

The month of February hadn’t been kind to USC’s JuJu Watkins, the reigning Freshman of the Year and a leading national player of the year contender. It was a bad time to be mired in a shooting slump heading into a headline matchup against rival No. 1 UCLA on Thursday night.

The best players always find their way under the brightest lights. From start to finish, Watkins dominated on both ends in a 71-60 win to end UCLA’s undefeated season. It was the program’s second win over a No. 1 team in 11 tries, joining the 1983 championship team’s national title victory over Louisiana Tech. The legendary Cheryl Miller, a freshman on that roster, watched from her standard courtside seat as the Trojans’ superstar took over.

Watkins erupted for 38 points, 11 rebounds, eight blocks and five assists in a do-it-all performance that elevated USC into a half-game lead over UCLA in the Big Ten standings. They’ll meet again in the regular-season finale on March 1 at UCLA. It will likely be a winner-take-all matchup for the regular-season title.

A vintage Watkins game was evident from the start. She blocked point guard Kiki Rice on UCLA’s first offensive possession and settled into her first of six 3-pointers (on seven attempts) minutes later. The last time Watkins hit more than three 3-pointers was Dec. 3 with nine against an overmatched Southern Baptist squad. She’s scored 30 or more only four times as a sophomore after 14 such outbursts in a record-setting freshman season.

Watkins became the first Division I player with at least 35 points, five blocks and five assists in the last 20 seasons, per ESPN. And she did it against the nation’s No. 1 team over the past 12 weeks. That streak will likely come to an end in the new Associated Press poll released Monday.

Here are the key takeaways from USC’s monster win:

Watkins eschews season of slow starts

Though Watkins is near automatic for 20 points by the final buzzer, slow starts have marked her sophomore season and led to a recent slump. She went scoreless on three first-quarter field goals against Indiana, scoreless on five against Minnesota (that snowballed to 0-of-10 by the half) and went 1-of-6 in USC's lone Big Ten loss to Iowa. Her 30% shooting clip over the last four games fell significantly below the 43% she's averaged on the season.

Watkins turned around a 4-of-25 3-point skid over that stretch within minutes against UCLA when her defender went under the screen. In quick order, she added a pull-up jumper and a 3, keeping her dribble alive after contact. Midway through the second quarter, her 21 points matched UCLA’s total. She tied her career first-half mark with 25 points (equaling the total in her 51-point game against Stanford in February 2024) and set a new personal high with six first-half 3s.

UCLA keyed in on her during the third while building a seven-point lead. Watkins didn’t buckle, beginning the fourth with a transition bucket and a block on the other end that cut the deficit to three. She blocked three shots in one minute and later found a way to score despite sliding on a drive to the basket. She turned defense into offense with five fourth-quarter blocks and delivered two key assists to Avery Howell and Kiki Iriafen in the final four minutes that began to put the game away. It was tied at 55 with 4:42 on the clock.

Not a marquee night for Lauren Betts

UCLA knows its winning recipe and follows it rigidly. The Bruins continued to feed Lauren Betts, who at 6-foot-7 is the ultimate mismatch in most contests. Eventually, it wore USC down.

The Trojans threw multiple bodies at Betts with moderate success. She didn’t score from the field until 63 seconds remained in the first and had difficulty passing out of the post, an improved aspect of her game that’s a key reason for UCLA’s success.

Still, UCLA fed her and Betts made other contributions. She was 8-of-9 from the free-throw line, tying her season high in attempts. Rice also found her way to the line, going 7-of-11 for a good portion of her 15 points.

Rayah Marshall, USC’s starting 6-4 center, and Vivian Iwuchukwu, a 6-3 freshman, each reached three fouls shortly into the third quarter. Within minutes of reentering, Marshall drew a fourth guarding Betts early in the final quarter.

But when UCLA needed her most, she went scoreless on three field-goal attempts, couldn’t notch an assist and didn’t reach the free-throw line in the fourth quarter. Betts finished with 18 points, 13 rebounds and two assists. She shot a season-low 38% from the field, way below her 63.1% season average. And she wasn’t as impactful defensively, notching a single block as Watkins worked wherever she wanted.

Watkins could use some more help

The version of the Trojans that showed up against UCLA for two quarters looked too similar to that of a season ago. And that's not a positive.

USC had to lean too much on its freshman phenom from a year ago. Head coach Lindsay Gottlieb took aim at the problem with the No. 1 recruiting class and key transfers Iriafen and Talia Von Oelhoffen. They stepped up during Watkins' recent slump, but went absent for too long in the second and third quarters.

The Trojans' supporting cast did not score a basket from Von Oelhoffen’s deep last-second two at the end of the first to Kennedy Smith’s layup on a pass from Watkins in transition 30 seconds into the fourth. Iriafen and Howell each made two free throws in the third quarter as USC’s only non-Watkins points over those 20 minutes.

What the Trojans lacked in offense, they made up for defensively. USC was more active in passing lanes, stripping rebounds out of Betts’ hands and digging for every loose ball. USC outscored UCLA, 21-10, off turnovers and 14-3 in second-chance points.