Big Ten Freshman of the Year Jazzy Davidson went down with an apparent arm injury early in USC’s Big Ten Tournament loss to Washington on Thursday afternoon.
Five minutes into the game, Davidson was hit in front of the USC bench while running up the backcourt in transition. She was immediately surrounded by USC coaches and medical staff as she grabbed her shoulder, looking to be in pain.
She then went to the locker room, holding her right arm, as officials reviewed the play and deemed it incidental. Davidson returned to the bench just one minute of game time later, talking quickly with coach Lindsay Gottlieb before going to check back into the game.
“She took a pretty significant hit,” Gottlieb said. “She’s a really tough kid. She wants to play through it. But I was just checking with her to make sure there wasn’t anything that was getting worse, and also at times trying to settle her down. She plays so hard and wants to win.”
Davidson played through most of the game, but she was shaking out her right arm multiple times after shots. She shot 2-of-13 from the floor for eight points.
Eventually, the medical staff made the decision in the fourth quarter to sit her for the rest of the game; Davidson subbed out for the final time with seven minutes left.
“I trust our medical staff when they said she was okay to go back in,” Gottlieb said. “But then I thought it was bothering her and nagging her, and when someone can’t be at their best, you’re not mentally as present. 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 okay with some rest.’
Gottlieb is hopeful Davidson will be good to go by the start of the NCAA Tournament, which will come in just over two weeks. USC is projected to be a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and Gottlieb doesn’t expect the Trojans’ positioning to change after their early exit from the Big Ten Tournament.
“There were eight teams that finished above us in our league. Seven of them in the last reveal are hosting, and the other one here is obviously a tournament team that now we’ve split with,” Gottlieb said. “Yeah, I don’t think it’s in question. It becomes about matchups in the tournament. Send us wherever. 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.”