What Stanford star Kiki Iriafen transferring to USC means for Cardinal
New Stanford coach Kate Paye doesn’t have a player on roster who averaged double figures in scoring last season.
To say the Stanford women’s basketball team is going to have a new look next season is putting it mildly.
The Cardinal had already lost star forward Cameron Brink to the WNBA and sharpshooter Hannah Jump to graduation, not to mention Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer, who announced her retirement this month after nearly four decades on the bench.
Saturday night, junior forward Kiki Iriafen, the team’s leading scorer from this past season, told ESPN that she is transferring to USC.
Iriafen will join a roster that includes superstar Juju Watkins and a recruiting class that will feature two-time California Open Division state champion Kennedy Smith of Etiwanda.
USC reached the Elite Eight last season.
With the newcomers, the Trojans, led by former Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb, will now be a major contender to win their first NCAA championship since they captured back-to-back crowns in 1983 and 1984.
Iriafen, a former high school star from Harvard-Westlake in Southern California, averaged a team-best 19.4 points for Stanford last season, to go with 11.0 rebounds. She scored 41 points in a wild second-round NCAA Tournament victory over Iowa State at Maples Pavilion, which turned out to be her final home appearance for the Cardinal.
Stanford doesn’t have a single returning player who averaged more than 6.7 points per game last season, and none of the three high school players the program signed in November are ranked among the Top 40 by ESPNW.
In its 2024 ESPNW HoopGurlz recruiting rankings, the incoming Cardinal freshmen are rated:
No. 44 – 6-3 forward Ume Kennedy from Maryland.
No. 53 – 5-6 guard Shay Ijiwoye from Arizona.
No. 87 – 6-3 forward Harper Peterson from Rocklin.
Iriafen attended VanDerveer’s retirement news conference on April 10 but was non-committal that day when asked if she planned to return to The Farm next season.
She simply shugged her shoulders without uttering a word.
Two days later, Iriafen entered the transfer portal.
A week later, Kate Paye’s elevation to Stanford head coach was made official.
Asked at her introductory news conference about Iriafen entering the portal, Paye said the team was disappointed but added, “That’s a choice that she feels like she has to make, we respect it. She told me that she’s made the decision to enter the portal for personal, family reasons.”
Iriafen is the second high-profile Stanford player to transfer the past two seasons. Last year, center Lauren Betts, a former No. 1 recruit, left for UCLA.