LOS ANGELES — It grew impossible to conceal her body language, the sheer frustration radiating off of JuJu Watkins as the clock ticked toward the halftime buzzer. She smacked her hands together, walking back on defense. She held her hands up in a sort of self-prayer, walking back up on offense. She muttered at herself.

Yet another baseline jumper clanked off the iron, a few seconds before the half, and Watkins exited the court shaking her head and despondently tapping her teammates’ hands. Her shoulders drooped, under the weight of a near-incomprehensible start. This was, simply, an out-of-body experience. Not the good kind.

The best scorer — arguably — in women’s college basketball played one of the worst halves of her career Thursday night. She shot 0 for 10 in the first 20 minutes. She finished the night with 20 points, shooting 7 for 24 from the field.

Fourth-ranked USC (19-1 overall, 9-0 Big Ten) still beat Minnesota (18-4, 6-4) by 13 points in an 82-69 win.

It was a showcase of the powerhouse head coach Lindsay Gottlieb has built in Year Four, and the upside of her program looking toward March, a slew of offensive options carrying USC in the first half and giving way to Watkins in the second. Star big Kiki Iriafen had one of her best games in a Trojans uniform, dropping in 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting with 11 rebounds. Freshman Avery Howell hit four 3-pointers, and senior Talia Von Oelhoffen added six assists.

“We talk a lot about roles, and whose role is what — so, trying to play into your role, but also be you, and be confident in what you do,” Von Oelhoffen said Tuesday. “I think a lot of people are starting to come into their own in that way.”

On the surface, this USC powerhouse has had no problems for two months other than a few long road trips and some cold weather, undefeated since a Nov. 23 loss to Notre Dame. The Trojans have steamrolled solid conference opponents. They beat Purdue last Wednesday, in Indiana, by 42 points.

But behind the scenes, each week has brought the internal challenge, for Gottlieb and company, of how to fine-tune the finer points of an offense that at times has seemingly too many weapons next to Watkins.

Von Oelhoffen stepped up just Thursday, burying a couple of first-quarter 3-pointers to snap a slump and give USC a lift as Watkins struggled early.