The No. 18 USC Trojans upset the No. 9 NC State Wolfpack 69-68 in the Ally Tip-Off in Charlotte on Sunday. The win rocketed the Trojans up to No. 8 in the AP Top 25 Poll ahead of a huge game against coach Dawn Staley’s No. 2 South Carolina Gamecocks.
The Trojans’ win was powered by freshman Jazzy Davidson, who scored a layup with 8.2 seconds left on the clock. She managed 21 points, four assists, four rebounds, and five blocks in a stellar performance.
USC Freshman Catches Aliyah Boston and Candace Parker’s Attention
During Wednesday’s segment of the “Post Moves” podcast, college basketball and WNBA legend Candace Parker named Davidson the “You Got This” moment player of the week for her performance against NC State.
“USC’s Jazzy Davidson. USC has another superstar and she’s showing why she was the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2025. She led USC to an upset win over NC State, 69-68, scoring the winning bucket, which was a nicely drawn-up play by Lindsay Gottlieb,” Parker said.
“I am really excited, watching her, the way that she moved at the high school level and in the summer circuits, you just knew that she was gonna translate seamlessly. I think, she in her head thought that she was gonna be playing alongside JuJu Watkins. Now, the ball’s gonna be in her hands a lot more with her being out. And in her first couple of games as a freshman, she rose to the occasion.”
Boston, who was also a five-star prospect and led South Carolina to a national championship before being picked No. 1 overall in the 2023 WNBA Draft, lavished praise on Davidson’s performance against NC State.
“She’s (Davidson) been hooping. She started off the game and was missing shots. Then she came out for that second half and went five-for-five, knocking down threes, getting to the free-throw line. That’s a great pick right there. You know she plays my Gamecocks this weekend,” Boston said.
Davidson was a highly-recruited five-star talent and the No. 1 prospect in the class of 2025 according to ESPN. She committed to Gottlieb’s Trojans, where she was expected to play alongside superstar JuJu Watkins before she tore her ACL and was forced to miss the current college basketball season, thrusting Davidson into the limelight.
Davidson joined a depleted Trojans team that lost Rayah Marshall and Kiki Iriafen to the WNBA, and Kayleigh Heckel (UConn) and Avery Howell (Washington) to transfers, placing the offensive burden squarely on her shoulders. In two games played, the freshman is averaging 17.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 4.0 assists.