JuJu Watkins' 51 points heroics has USC guard receiving special Pac-12 award as freshman standout continues her streak for Trojans

USC Trojans freshman guard JuJu Watkins has been the talk of college basketball as she will now be receiving a Pac-12 award.

Watkins scored 51 points against Stanford on Feb. 2 as she has been the focal point of USC's offense. The guard has scored over 30 points nine times this season, as the freshman is one of the top players in the country.

Following another great week, Watkins was named the Pac-12 Women's Basketball Freshman of the Week for the 12th time this season. She was also selected to the Dawn Staley Award Later Season Watch List.

JuJu Watkins is the focal point for USC

JuJu Watkins has started all 21 games for the USC Trojans this season, averaging 27.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.6 steals and 1.7 blocks.

Following Watkins' 51-point game against Stanford, USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb praised her freshman guard.

"All week, I said, 'This kid is different,'" Gottlieb said, via ESPN. "She's special, the way she takes coaching, the way she's a teammate, the way she holds herself accountable, the way she raises her level.

"So I did not predict this, but I think that what is so special about her is everything inside, and then obviously, it came out today in a way that, if you love basketball, I don't know how you're not blown away."

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer was also impressed by Watkins as she said she tried plenty of different schemes to guard the freshman, to no avail.

“She’s an incredibly talented player. If she’s not shooting well, then it might be a different story. But she got going,” VanDerveer said. “We tried a lot of different people guarding her, we tried some different things against her. We fouled her too much, too, she had 19 free throws. We didn’t do the job we needed to do.”

Since the 51-point game, JuJu Watkins has followed it up by scoring 29, 31 and 31 as she continues to be one of the top players in college basketball.

USC is set to return to the court on Friday as the Trojans go on the road to play Oregon. USC is 18-4 and ranked 10th in the nation while coming off an 81-64 blowout win over Arizona on Monday night.