USC women’s basketball head coach Lindsay Gottlieb believes her team’s strengths lie in its versatility, but also in its character.

“We’ve really made a concerted effort to work and get better,” she told reporters. “It doesn’t always happen.

“It’s not just getting better at your jumper or getting better at a play. It’s mentally saying, do we need to talk more? Do we need to be tougher? They’ve been really bought in on that end, which I don’t take for granted at all.”

The No. 16 Trojans (6-2) begin Big Ten Conference play Sunday against No. 21 Washington (8-0) as a confident, prepared team – even without star player Juju Watkins. New players have been galvanized by a difficult nonconference schedule, and there’s still room to grow.

“We should be better in January than we were in Decembe

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