The USC Trojans have enjoyed quite the turnaround in recent years. Last season, USC made its first NCAA Tournament Elite Eight appearance since 1994, and with superstar JuJu Watkins putting together one of the strongest freshman seasons in NCAA history, the Trojans quickly went from being a rebuilding program under head coach Lindsay Gottlieb to a suddenly popular pick to win it all at some point during Watkins’ collegiate career.
One of the surest signs of USC’s newfound status was its success in the transfer portal. Power forward Kiki Iriafen, who had just won the Katrina McClain Award in her junior season at Stanford, chose to transfer to USC amidst the retirement of legendary head coach Tara VanDerveer and the impending breakup of the Pac-12 conference. Her addition would give the Trojans the frontcourt scorer they lacked during their previous NCAA Tournament run and ideally make for a more balanced offense around Watkins.
Iriafen’s arrival has indeed coincided with USC taking that next big step as a program. In their first season as part of the Big Ten conference, the Trojans are 24-2 (14-1 against Big Ten opponents) and, with just over one week to go in the regular season, are ranked No. 4 in the country by the Associated Press.
Iriafen’s statistical resume…
