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Damian Lillard Says USC's JuJu Watkins Is Like Carmelo Anthony: 'Give Her the Ball'

Scott Polacek

Damian Lillard has some advice for the USC women's basketball team.

Give the ball to the star player.

The Milwaukee Bucks guard suggested the Trojans continue to look for JuJu Watkins during Monday's Elite Eight contest against UConn:

Despite Lillard's suggestions, it's not as if Watkins doesn't get a lot of looks for USC. She shot 738 field goals this season, which was well ahead of McKenzie Forbes' 426. Forbes was second on USC's team in field-goal attempts and the only other player to shoot more than 275 times.

Watkins also wasn't necessarily the most efficient player with those shots, hitting 40.2 percent from the field and 31.9 percent from deep.

Still, she was largely excellent throughout her freshman season and averaged 27.0 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.6 blocks per game, underscoring her ability to impact the game in a number of ways.

Lillard referenced Carmelo Anthony's run at Syracuse, which is one that has plenty of parallels. He was the team's best player as a freshman and led the Orange to the national title during the 2002-03 season as a high-volume shooter who could take over games at a moment's notice.

Watkins surely hopes to win a national title as well during her collegiate career.

   

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