USC’s defense against Paige Bueckers begins with Kennedy Smith

Kennedy Smith could feel her body dragging. It was late December, and she’d just returned from a month-long injury absence. She was still getting her legs back, still trying to find her footing in her first season at USC. But there was no time for that here, not with Paige Bueckers and Connecticut pushing the pace, testing every inch of the Trojans’ defense.

However fatigued she might have felt, no one could tell that day. The freshman had played just four games at USC to that point, but even then played an essential role in lifting the Trojans past the Huskies, all while on a minutes restriction.

To Beth Burns, the architect of USC’s defense, it was classic Kennedy.

“What she does, she works four times as hard as some other people on the floor because of what we’re asking her to do,” Burns said. “She takes it on and then some.”

Four months later, as a rematch with No. 2 seed Connecticut awaits in the Elite Eight, Smith must shoulder more than ever in the wake of JuJu Watkins’ season-ending injury. In USC’s Sweet 16 win over Kansas State, she was the Trojans’ catalyst on offense, scoring 11 of their first 13 points and leading the team with 19. But it’s her defense that will need to make a difference Monday, as a possible head-to-head matchup with Bueckers beckons with a Final Four bid on the line.

For any who might have forgotten, Bueckers reminded in a win over Oklahoma what makes her one of the most dynamic scorers in all of college basketball. She played just seven minutes of the fourth quarter, yet scored 19 points in that stretch, nearly matching the Sooners’ entire second-half output. She would finish with 40, a career high, just a day after announcing she’d declare for the WNBA draft, where she’s expected to be the No. 1 pick.

Connecticut guard Paige Bueckers controls the ball while pressured by Oklahoma guard Payton Verhulst during the second half.

(Young Kwak / Associated Press)

Lindsay Gottlieb, USC’s coach, certainly needed no reminder of Bueckers’ greatness. She carried Connecticut past her Trojans in last year’s Elite Eight, scoring 28 and pulling down 10 rebounds. When they met again in Storrs in December, Bueckers still managed 22 in a USC win. Albeit less efficiently.

“Paige has been an incredible player for years now,” Gottlieb said. “She does it efficiently. It’s her ability to score, her ability to pass and involve others to move without the basketball, and I think what we’re seeing a little differently now … it’s an urgency, right? Not that she’s not been urgent before, but you see it on her face. Like, there’s no more waiting. It can’t be, OK, next time or next time. It’s right now.”

When they met the first time this season, it was Watkins who most often chased Bueckers. Without Watkins, that role will presumably fall to Smith, the Trojans best on-ball defender.

Gottlieb assured Sunday that it can’t be just one person trying to slow Bueckers. But Bueckers isn’t about to take Smith and her defense for granted, either, even if she doesn’t know for sure how much Smith will be defending her.

“You would think she is not a freshman the way she plays defense — just her mentality, her tenacity, her length, her agility, her speed, her lateral movement,” Bueckers said. “She does a really good job of anticipating as well. She has great defensive instincts. She’s a great defensive player.”

USC’s Kennedy Smith, right, guards Kansas State’s Serena Sundell during the Trojans’ win in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament on Saturday.

(Young Kwak / Associated Press)

There’s the rest of the Huskies’ offense beyond Bueckers to worry about too. Freshman Sarah Strong was stellar in their December meeting, leading the way with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Guard Azzi Fudd played just eight minutes in that as she worked her way back from injury, but assured this week that she feels “completely different”, meaning the Huskies will have their full healthy complement of scorers at their disposal.

USC won’t have that same luxury without Watkins. Even its second-leading scorer, Kiki Iriafen, was rendered mostly ineffective against Kansas State’s constant double teams, leaving Smith and fellow freshman Avery Howell to carry the load offensively.

“My confidence is not shaken,” Iriafen assured Sunday after being held to a season-low seven points in the Sweet 16. “It’s one game, and it’s a new day. We have a new day to fight. I think as a team beating UConn already gives us a lot of confidence, but we’re not cocky. We understand that they’re a great team. They’re kind of playing at their best right now, and we’re [missing] a huge piece. But I think for us, when there’s a will, there’s a way.”

No one has embodied that sentiment this season more than Smith. But her teammates could see that from the day she arrived at USC last summer.

“She was just tenacious,” Iriafen said.

“It’s non-stop,” added Rayah Marshall.

So it was no surprise in the final minutes Saturday, with USC up just three, to see the freshman poke away a steal to seal it. By that point, she’d played 35 unrelenting minutes. She was tired.

But at the most important juncture of USC’s season, Smith showed no signs of slowing. Burns, having known her for a while now, hadn’t expected anything less.

“When you can think that quick and move that quick and be so powerful,” Burns said, “you put it all together and that’s what you get.”