USC Women's Basketball: Trojans Roster Loaded with Award Winners Next Season

This team is gunning for that No. 1 spot in 2024-25.

Mar 10, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Southern California Trojans guard JuJu Watkins (12), guard McKenzie Forbes (25), and forward/center Rayah Marshall (13). / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Next year's USC Trojans women's basketball squad is looking tough.

And that's saying something, given that the 2023-24 iteration went 29-6 and advanced all the way to the Elite Eight, led by the stellar efforts of All-American freshman shooting guard JuJu Watkins.

Per USC's official X account, the Trojans are adding a second player considered to be the best at her position next year.

While the 18-year-old Watkins won the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award as the best shooting guard in the country, incoming power forward Kiki Iriafen, formerly of the Stanford Cardinal, is the reigning winner of the Katrina McClain Award, which honors the best player at the four spot.

The 6-foot Watkins, who was named an All-American by the WBCA, the Associated Press and the USBWA, was also an All-Pac-12 Teamer, and a Pac-12 All-Defensiver Teamer. The Sierra Canyon School product averaged 27.1 points on .401/.319/.852 shooting splits (the second-most in the nation, behind only Caitlin Clark), 7.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.6 steals per bout.

The 6-foot-3 Iriafen, meanwhile, was named to an All-Pac-12 team, the All-Pac-12 Tourney team, and was also honored with an NCAA All-Region honor. For the 30-6 Cardinal, she averaged 19.4 points (32nd-most in the nation) on .546/.333/.773 shooting splits, 11 rebounds (ninth-most in the country), 2.3 assists, 0.6 steals and 0.6 blocks a night.

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