Saniyah Hall scores 22 in her USC debut as JuJu Watkins returns

USC freshman Saniyah Hall scored 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting in her college debut on Monday, and No. 3 USC beat UNLV 100-68 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The official box score has her at 3 of 4 from three and 5 of 7 at the line, with seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks in 23 minutes.

Hall arrived as the No. 1 recruit in the 2026 class, according to Trojans Wire. It took her one half to look the part. She had 11 points at halftime, per USC's in-game update, and USC outscored UNLV by 31 points in her minutes, according to UNLV's official plus-minus summary.

The opener was also JuJu Watkins' return. Watkins scored 21 points on 9-of-22 shooting in 25 minutes in her first game in more than 18 months, and espnW posted video of her getting emotional afterward. Jazzy Davidson led USC with 23 points on 10-of-11 shooting, and Australian newcomer Sitaya Fagan added 11 off the bench.

UNLV hung around for six minutes and got within 12-11 before USC went on a 13-0 run, according to UNLV's recap. USC led 52-39 at the half and won the third quarter 31-10.

USC can now put Watkins, Davidson, Hall and Kennedy Smith on the floor together, and that group will be hard to guard. Hall gives the Trojans a third scorer next to Watkins and Davidson. She scored at the rim, from three and at the line, where five of her 22 points came.

The night wasn't spotless. UNLV won the rebounding battle 40-35 and grabbed 21 offensive boards. But the freshman started, shot 87.5% from the field and fit right in next to Watkins.

If you're tracking the freshman class, put Hall near the top now. Her next game is Sunday against Utah State at 8 p.m. ET on BTN. Utah State won't tell us much more than UNLV did, so the bigger read comes when USC meets ranked teams.