Tag: Kiki Iriafen

Notre Dame, USC to be featured throughout NBC tripleheader Nov. 23

Don’t make any plans for that day.

Notre Dame and USC make up an intersectional rivalry unlike any other in the country. One upcoming Saturday will showcase both schools on national TV perhaps like never before.

NBC Sports has a longtime association with Irish football, and USC now is part of a Big Ten which has its games broadcast by the same company. And the stars are aligning for one heck of day.

NBC will kick off a tripleheader of coverage involving both schools with the Irish and Trojans women’s basketball teams meeting in Los Angeles at 4 p.m. EST. All eyes will be on that to see whether [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] and [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] get the best of JuJu Watkins and Kiki Iriafen. Both duos are incredibly dangerous.

Next will be the Irish football team’s annual Shamrock Series game with Army at Yankee Stadium. Wrapping up the day’s coverage will be the Trojans football team facing UCLA at the Rose Bowl. Both games will be the teams’ last before playing each other at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum the following week.

Clear your schedule for Nov. 23, Irish fans. It will be the right day to do so.

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Kiki Iriafen shows why she is the key piece to the puzzle for USC

Kiki Iriafen does things USC wasn’t able to do last season. She offers so much needed versatility to the Trojans.

The USC women’s basketball team has JuJu Watkins as a returning superstar player this season. Rayah Marshall is back to provide defense, rebounding, and rim protection. The Trojans have the top-ranked freshman class this year. They have a lot of key pieces that go into creating a great team. The piece which might matter the most, however, is Kiki Iriafen. If you watched USC barely beat Ole Miss on Monday, you were instantly able to appreciate why Iriafen means so much to this Trojan roster.

USC had JuJu, Rayah, and some tough defenders who could shoot 3-pointers last season. It did not have a player like Iriafen. What do we mean?

USC had spot-up shooters who couldn’t create with the dribble. JuJu was the only player who could create consistently on the dribble drive to the basket. This made USC easier to guard. Iriafen can create with the dribble. She is agile near the basket but has the size to finish over a smaller defender. She can shoot over defenders. She is an agile player who can make plays on the perimeter, in the mid-range area, and at the rim from a forward position. JuJu gave USC elite versatility in the backcourt. Iriafen offers similar versatility in the frontcourt. The Trojans did not have a player like that last season. Iriafen will be able to pick up the slack if JuJu struggles. Crucially, Iriafen can get to the rim if JuJu struggles. There wasn’t a USC player who could regularly do that on last season’s roster.

Iriafen’s 22 points came without one 3-point make against Ole Miss. She was operating 15 feet from the basket or closer. She can draw fouls and get to the line in crunch time, as she showed against Ole Miss. USC doesn’t win this game without Iriafen. This is why the Trojans have so much more upside than they did last season.

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Three Notre Dame players among ESPN’s top 25 in women’s basketball

The Irish have serious talent. No doubt about it.

Notre Dame is expected to contend for a national championship this season. That’s not by accident. There are many talented players on the Irish, and at least one prominent sports media outlet recognizes that, not that others don’t.

ESPN has released its preseason list of the top 25 players in women’s basketball. The Irish were one of seven teams to have more than one player on the list. In all, three Irish players were afforded the honor.

Unsurprisingly, [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] ranks the highest among her teammates at third. Even without having played last season, [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] still made the list, clocking in at 13th. [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] is right behind her at 14th.

To make things even more exciting, the Irish will face every player this season who is ranked alongside Hidalgo in the top five of this list. Those players are JuJu Watkins, the top-ranked player, alongside USC teammate Kiki Iriafen, Paige Bueckers of UConn and Madison Booker of Texas, which also clocked Rori Harmon in at ninth.

There indeed are some fun times in store for the Irish this season.

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Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo named preseason AP All-American

The Irish truly have one of the best players in the country.

Anyone following women’s basketball knows about Notre Dame sophomore guard [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag]. She tore up the landscape as a freshman and even was named a finalist for national player of the year. She is the primary reason the Irish are expected to contend for the Final Four this season, though a returning [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] isn’t far behind.

The Associated Press realizes how special Hidalgo is and has named her to its preseason All-American Team. She is part of the first trio of sophomores to be named to this team alongside JuJu Watkins of USC and Madison Booker of Texas. Paige Bueckers of UConn and Watkins teammate Kiki Iriafen round out the team.

Hidalgo already has been named the ACC Preseason Player of the Year for this season. She led the country with 4.6 steals a game last season and was sixth nationally with 22.6 points a game. It would be shocking for her not to build upon that this season:

Congratulations to all five players who were selected for this honor.

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Kiki Iriafen gives positive offseason update for USC women’s basketball

Kiki Iriafen loves what she sees. USC fans will love hearing that.

Kiki Iriafen is one of the central reasons USC will enter the 2024-2025 women’s college basketball season as a Final Four contender. The transfer from Stanford is a proven two-way player with a well-rounded set of skills and an elite competitive mindset. Iriafen’s ability to defend, rebound, score, and perform well in crunch time will benefit USC in a lot of obvious ways. When Iriafen’s quality is combined with JuJu Watkins, Talia von Oelhoffen, Rayah Marshall, and a No. 1-ranked recruiting class, it becomes even more apparent that USC will have so many resources to call upon this coming season. USC will be able to win with its backcourt and its frontcourt, on offense and defense, with power and skill. Iriafen’s versatility will make it hard for opponents to stop her, but even if they try, the other weapons on this USC team will get plenty of great opportunities to affect the outcome of a game.

Iriafen recently gave an update of her offseason and the USC women’s basketball team’s offseason. Iriafen talked about the chemistry this group has already established and how she is ready to contribute to the team. Iriafen will be able to do so in many different ways. The balance of this team will make the Trojans so difficult to deal with for their opponents:

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Lindsay Gottlieb welcomes Kiki Iriafen to USC

Lindsay Gottlieb referenced Iriafen’s homecoming to Los Angeles when talking about the superstar forward.

USC women’s basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb pulled off the biggest score in the transfer portal this offseason by landing Stanford superstar Kiki Iriafen, who grew up in Southern California and now comes home to Los Angeles to play for the Trojans. Gottlieb commented on Iriafen, her arrival, and what it means for USC. Gottlieb referenced Iriafen’s homecoming in her remarks, just one of many reasons this move has everyone at USC excited for the coming season.

“Kiki is a next-level talent,” Gottlieb began. “An established star in women’s college basketball already, she comes to USC looking to help us win at the highest level and to continue to expand her capabilities. She’s a dynamic scorer and rebounder who will flourish in our style and with those around her. She is a magnetic personality who gets to come home and be special. The Galen Center crowd will want to have a front-row seat to support her in doing that.”

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