USC women’s basketball needs plenty to go right for deep run

They say they’re ready for this. The elite opponents. The hostile crowds. The taut games. Playing a tough nonconference schedule, not to mention a Big Ten Conference slate filled with 11 other teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament, could pay dividends for the USC women’s basketball team in the coming days. “That doesn’t give us any extra points,” Trojans coach Lindsay Gottlieb told reporters of playing so many good teams. “You know, you have to come out there and do what you need to do, but I think from a mentality standpoint it should give us just a sense of confidence that we’re capable when we play at our best of certainly matching up against anybody.” The road won’t be easy. Ninth-seeded USC will play its first-round game against eighth-seeded Clemson on Saturday at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C. It’s essentially a home game for the Tigers, who will need only a two-hour bus ride as opposed to a cross-country flight. Waiting in the second round will likely be top-seeded South Carolina. Can the Trojans recapture the form that helped them reach the Elite Eight in each of the last two seasons? Here are five things that need to happen for the Trojans to make a deep run: After briefly departing USC’s loss to Washington in the Big Ten Tournament with a shoulder injury, star freshman Jazzy Davidson was cleared to play this week. That may have been the big boost the Trojans needed to break their four-game losing streak. “I’m super excited,” Davidson told reporters of making her NCAA Tournament debut. “I mean, you grow up playing basketball and watching the NCAA Tournament and it’s always super electric every year, so just getting the opportunity to play in my first one, I don’t take that lightly at all. Just going in and doing whatever I can do to help the team win.” Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters Davidson should get plenty of help in her bid to help her team survive the opening weekend. Kara Dunn, Kennedy Smith and Londynn Jones average a combined 37.4 points, giving the Trojans a foursome as fearsome as almost any in the country. Having so many options makes this team far more dangerous than its 17-13 record might suggest. Get more from the post It’s no secret that this team hasn’t gotten enough from its bigs. Forwards Dayana Mendes, Laura Williams, Vivian Iwuchukwu and Yakiya Milton have had their moments but haven’t produced enough consistently. While they don’t need to carry the team, they need to be reliable sources of rebounding and defense. Don’t let the fans rattle you USC could be in the difficult position of playing what amounts to a road game before even facing the Gamecocks, who are the host team. “If it’s a quote-unquote hostile environment,” Gottlieb said of facing Clemson, “like, we feed off of just energy and people there and I hope it’s a really full building and we’ve got to do what we need to do to get a win.” USC packed its early season schedule with national powers so that it wouldn’t be intimidated later in the season. Among the four nationally ranked teams the Trojans faced was South Carolina. While the Gamecocks prevailed, 69-52, at Crypto.com Arena, USC has developed a mindset that it can beat anyone. “Just wanting to be the team that someone else doesn’t want to play,” Dunn said of that mentality.