USC, Mississippi State in ugly postgame March Madness scene after JuJu Watkins injury

Things got chippy in the handshake line after USC’s 96-59 win over Mississippi State Monday in the second round of the 2025 Women’s NCAA tournament.

Trojans center Rayah Marshall was held back by the USC coaching staff during an exchange with Bulldogs guard Eniya Russell, as seen in a video posted by the Washington Post.

Emotions were running high after USC superstar JuJu Watkins suffered a torn ACL in her right knee just five minutes into game at Galen Center in Los Angeles.

The Bulldogs were loudly booed by the crowd anytime they touched the ball after Watkins’ injury.

Mississippi State state guard Chandler Prater — who was one of two Bulldogs defenders guarding Watkins when she was injured on a fast break — took the brunt of the fans’ frustration.

Prater, who is a graduate student, was not available for media availability postgame.

She was “not doing well,” a team representative told USA Today Sports.

Watkins, who’s averaging 24.6 points, seven rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.8 blocks, was carried off the court and did not return to bench.

Mississippi State’s cheerleaders were also booed at halftime when they took the floor.

Mississippi State head coach Sam Purcell explained that he wasn’t aware of his team receiving backlash over Watkins’ injury and that Prater felt remorseful over the situation.

“We’re a program of class,” Purcell said. “We don’t play to hurt; we play to compete. That’s just an unfortunate situation. There was no harm. And I hope us as a society, because social media can be ugly, that you understand the other lady on my team that was involved is a woman of class. She comes from a family, too, of loving parents. And I’m sure she is remorseful and obviously didn’t want to have that happen.

“I pray as a society that we understand it’s a thoughtful apology that we don’t take this further than it needs to. On behalf of the Bulldogs, again, we’re praying for her recovery for this next game because she’s the ultimate competitor. We want to see her back out on that court.”

Mississippi State guard, Jerkaila Jordan, who scored 17 points, said it was nothing but respect to face Watkins.

“They’re going to stand behind their home team. They’re going to go hard for JuJu,” Jordan said. “I couldn’t do nothing but respect them.”

Denim DeShields, a junior guard for the Bulldogs, added, “It’s obviously an unfortunate position to be in because it was totally unintentional, and it was just a basketball play. But when things happen to a star, I guess they can be seen than worse than they actually are. She’ll be fine. We’ve just got to move past it and prayers to JuJu.”

Watkins, 19, will undergo season-ending surgery and then begin rehabilitation, USC announced.

They will rely on forward Kiki Iriafen, who scored a career-high 36 points against the Bulldogs, for the remainder of March Madness.

The Trojans will face Kansas State Saturday in the Sweet 16 at Spokane Arena in Washington.