It has been 81 weeks, over a year and a half, since Ashlyn Watkins last suited up in a South Carolina women’s basketball uniform and heard that crowd roar. The 6-foot-3 forward is officially back for her senior season under Coach Dawn Staley, rejoining the team in June after stepping away from the court since early 2025. This isn’t just a player returning, this is a force coming back, and Watkins herself admits she missed the thrill, the drive her team gave her, and that feeling on the court watching everyone come to watch. It’s a different type of feeling you can’t experience anywhere else, she said in a South Carolina athletics video.
The Tumultuous Path Back to Columbia
Watkins’ journey back to the court has been anything but smooth. Coming off a sophomore year where she put up serious numbers, averaging 20.6 minutes, 9.2 points, and 7.4 rebounds, her junior season was supposed to be huge. Especially with Kamilla Cardoso heading to the WNBA, there was a massive hole in the starting lineup she was on pace to fill. But then late August 2024 hit: an arrest on charges of first-degree assault and battery and kidnapping. She was suspended for most of preseason but reinstated by the second game of her junior year after the charges were dropped. She worked her way back, even dropping 11 points and 11 rebounds in the SEC opener. Just when it felt like she was truly back, disaster struck on January 5, 2025: an ACL tear early in the second quarter against Mississippi State. By April, while her teammates played in the national championship, she was sidelined, watching them lose to UConn after playing 14 critical minutes in the national championship win against Iowa the year prior. Many fans believed her presence would have been the difference. But then came July 2025: she announced she would take a year off from school and basketball to focus on herself. Now, she’s back, but only five of her former teammates remain on the 2026-27 roster.
More Than Just the High-Flying Dunks
When you hear Ashlyn Watkins’ name, the first thing many think of is her dunking. She was the first of Staley’s players to dunk in a game, and now the Gamecocks boast four players who have dunked on video. But let me tell you, Watkins brings so much more than just highlight-reel plays. Her fundamentals are absolutely critical, fueling the Gamecocks on both ends of the floor. Her energy alone changes the tone of games drastically. In the 2023-24 season, she was third on the team in steals with 1.3 per game, second in blocks with 2.4, and second in rebounds with 7.4. Even in her limited action the next year, the numbers don’t lie: South Carolina’s opponents’ turnover percentage jumped from 18.9% to 23.7% with her on the court, and the Gamecocks’ own turnovers dropped from 15% to 13.1%. She was averaging 2.3 offensive rebounds across 14 games, after hitting 2.8 per game the year before. The Gamecocks’ offensive rebound percentage went up by 5.2% in 2024-25 when she played. If Watkins plays like her early days, South Carolina is in phenomenal shape for the season ahead. This is going to be a wild ride, and you won’t want to miss a single second!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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