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INDIANAPOLIS — Sitting at her locker, Jazzy Davidson wiped a tear from the corner of her eye as two reporters approached.
Bravely trying to keep her composure, the USC star freshman described the challenges of trying to play through a right shoulder injury that prevented her from doing much of anything.
“I mean, it’s definitely like something in the back of your mind,” Davidson said, “when you can’t lift one of your arms.”
USC’s Malia Samuels shoots over Washington’s defense during a Big Ten Tournament game Thursday in Indianapolis. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)Davidson briefly departed her team’s opener in the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament after getting tangled up with Washington’s Avery Howell while fighting for a loose ball. How hard was it to go back out there and compete with that sort of injury?
“I just wanted to still try to impact the game,” Davidson said, the tears starting to flow as teammate Sitaya Fagan rubbed her leg reassuringly. “Yeah.”
With their best player clearly at less than full strength, the ninth-seeded Trojans folded during a 76-64 loss to the eighth-seeded Huskies on Thursday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The setback represented a fourth consecutive defeat for a team stumbling into March.
The metaphor picked up momentum when coach Lindsay Gottlieb tripped while ascending the stairs to a platform for postgame interviews, though she good-naturedly joked about the slip.
Now the Trojans face a bigger question than where they’ll be sent for the opening round of the NCAA Tournament: Will their top player be available?
Davidson said she was scheduled to get an MRI on Friday, the results of which could determine her team’s postseason fate.
A significant injury would be another cruel blow to a team already missing superstar JuJu Watkins, who has been sidelined the entire season while recovering from a knee injury.
Gottlieb said the expectation was that Davidson would be OK and that her injury wouldn’t impact the Trojans’ seeding with the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb reacts in the first half against Washington Huskies during the 2026 Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament on Thursday in Indianapolis. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images) Getty Images“They’ll do their due diligence, and we will tell them she’s fine, if and when she’s fine, which is what the expectation, I think, is going to be,” Gottlieb said. “There’s a ton of rest time. She played, right? It’s not like she didn’t come back in the game. But we’ll make sure she gets to 100%, and I don’t think that will impact us.”
Gottlieb said she only put Davidson back in the game after assurances from the team’s medical staff that it was an acceptable move. But Davidson never gained any sort of rhythm. She missed 10 of her first 11 shots and finished with eight points on 2-for-13 shooting.
With seven minutes left and the Trojans down by 19 points, Davidson checked out of the game for the last time.
“I thought it was bothering her and nagging her, and when someone can’t be at their best, you’re not mentally as present,” Gottlieb said, alluding to Davidson’s shoulder. “And I was told, collective decision, down the stretch there, let’s shut her down for the rest of the game. But the hope is that she will be OK with some rest.”
Gottlieb said her team’s inclusion in the NCAA Tournament wasn’t in question.
“Send us wherever,” Gottlieb said. “You usually get what you earn. We earned our way into the 8-9 game here, and we’ll do the same with the NCAA Tournament. Hopefully you get favorable matchups. But at the same time, there’s no favorable matchup if you don’t play well, so we’ve got to get ready to go.”
A big part of that will be getting their best player ready to go. Having two weeks for Davidson to rest and recover could help.
“Yeah,” Davidson said, the tears starting to dry up. “That’s the plan.”
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