Stanford transfer Kiki Iriafen will be joining USC next season with one year of eligibility remaining, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. The Trojans have been putting themselves on the map for the last two seasons, and Iriafen can help keep that momentum going.
Iriafen, a Los Angeles native, will be playing alongside JuJu Watkins, who this past season became the highest-scoring freshman in women's basketball history. Head coach Lindsay Gottlieb is losing some key pieces in McKenzie Forbes, Kaitlyn Davis and Kayla Padilla. However, she is also bringing in one of the top freshmen classes in the nation and Iriafen can fill in a lot of gaps.
Iriafen's first two years in college were relatively quiet, but the 6-foot-3 forward is coming off a breakout junior season in which she averaged 19.4 points and 11 rebounds per game while shooting 54.6% from the field and starting in all 36 games. That was a big jump from her sophomore season when she started in 27 of 35 games, but only averaged 12.1 minutes. At the time, she was contributing 6.7 points and 3.8 boards per contest.
Her efforts did not go unnoticed as she was named the 2024 Pac-12 Most Improved Player of the Year. She put up a career-high 41 points against Iowa State during the second round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
She was listed as the No. 2 transfer in the updated 247Sports college WBB Transfer Portal rankings.
With Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Cameron Brink and Hannah Jump gone, the Cardinal were going to lean on Iriafen during their rebuilding period. The program is also moving from the Pac-12 to the ACC conference, while longtime head coach Tara VanDerveer enters retirement and leaves her role to former associate head coach Kate Paye.
The Women of Troy finished the 2023-24 campaign with an incredible March Madness run that culminated in an Elite Eight appearance, where they lost to UConn.
