K-State will join USC (without star JuJu Watkins), OU and UConn in Spokane Regional
The Kansas State women’s basketball team will join a star-studded pod of traditional powers at the Spokane Regional this weekend as the Wildcats advance in the NCAA Tournament.
No. 5 seed K-State will face No. 1 seed USC at 7 p.m. Saturday in a Sweet 16 game that will be televised nationally on ESPN.
The winner will face either No. 3 seed Oklahoma or No. 2 seed Connecticut for the right to move on to the Final Four.
Needless to say, the Wildcats will be considered underdogs when they take the court at Spokane Arena in Washington.
UConn (3), USC (4) and Oklahoma (11) all finished the regular season ranked inside the top 15 of the national polls.
Fans will be excited to see star players such as UConn guard Paige Bueckers, Oklahoma center Raegan Beers, K-State guard Serena Sundell and K-State center Ayoka Lee. Unfortunately, they won’t get to watch USC phenom JuJu Watkins. She suffered a gruesome knee injury on Monday during a second-round win over Mississippi State and will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL.
Some will say K-State is catching a break without Watkins in the lineup, but the Trojans still throttled the Bulldogs 96-59 without her. They have an abundance of talent on their roster. Kiki Iriafen scored a whopping 36 points against Mississippi State.
K-State will look to pull off an upset against USC on Saturday night. At full strength, expert models would favor the Trojans by 7.5 points over the Wildcats. But sports books are waiting to post an official spread for the game as they reevaluate USC without its star player.
As of Tuesday morning, no betting line was available.
UConn is favored by 13.5 points against Oklahoma.
K-State has won 28 games this season. It reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2002 by defeating Fairfield and Kentucky in the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
This story was originally published March 25, 2025 at 9:41 AM with the headline "K-State will join USC (without star JuJu Watkins), OU and UConn in Spokane Regional."