There wasn’t exactly proof of concept, back in the spring of 2021, to convince Rayah Marshall to stick with USC’s new coach. Lindsay Gottlieb had spent the past three seasons in the NBA. USC, once a women’s hoops powerhouse, had spent the past three decades toiling in relative obscurity. All Gottlieb had to sell Marshall was a vision of what USC could be.
Fortunately for Gottlieb, Marshall could see what she saw then. Almost four years later, as Marshall emerged from the Galen Center tunnel for her final regular-season home game, that vision was almost fully realized. The former Lynwood High star had been there for it all — the brutal 12-16 debut, the triumphant return to the NCAA tournament in 2022, the arrival of JuJu Watkins and the sudden ascent that followed.
Marshall had been the backbone of that breakthrough, the sturdy foundation on which it had been built. Along the way, the 6-4 center had been content to do the dirty work, swatting shots and vacuuming up the glass as others draped themselves in the glory. But as the whole of Galen Center stood in her honor Sunday, Marshall smiled wide and flexed to the crowd, before raising a bursting bouquet of red roses into the air.
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Marshall would certainly get her flowers Sunday in an 76-66 win over No. 25 Illinois, turning in a trademark performance befitting her four years at USC. The senior tallied her fourth double-double of the season, stuffing the statsheet with not just 12 points and 13 rebounds but also five assists and four steals — both of which were team highs.
Those opportunities had been fewer and farther between for Marshall over the past year, as JuJu Watkins ascended into stardom and Kiki Iriafen stepped in as one of the nation’s best secondary weapons.
But it was Marshall who would jolt the No. 4 Trojans back to life Sunday, pulling them out of one of the worst shooting slumps of their season. USC had missed 14 in a row from the field between the second and third quarters, giving Illinois ample chance to climb back and take a 42-41 lead midway through the third.
But then USC unleashed a full-court press, with Marshall and her uncommon length on the frontline. Kiki Iriafen found Marshall under the hoop for an easy bucket. A few seconds later, Marshall stepped in front of an Illinois pass for a steal, one of four she’d tally Sunday. The steal turned into a breakaway lay-in, which turned into a breakaway run for USC.
The crowd roared. Marshall smiled. All the tension of a season-worst slump slipped away. USC hit six of seven from the field and fired out to a 9-point lead. It kept growing from there.
USC looked primed to pummel Illinois early, as the Trojans dominated the paint, knocking down two-thirds of their attempts in the first quarter. Watkins opened with eight quick points, along with Iriafen. It seemed likely USC would simply ride its two stars the rest of the way, like it had so often before.
Read more: USC can’t pull off second-half comeback in loss to No. 20 Maryland
Both would still get their chances. But Watkins would hit just one of her six attempts from the field in the second half. She’d still score 22 points, while Iriafen added 22 of her own.
But it would take more than that stellar duo to down Illinois. And like she had for the four seasons before this, Marshall stepped into the void, setting the tone in the same she had from the very beginning.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
