When one USC door closes, another one opens.
With Trojans all-everything JuJu Watkins having a suboptimal game Saturday in the Big Ten Conference Tournament semifinal, Kiki Iriafen rose to the occasion with 25 points and 11 rebounds in an 82-70 victory that was closer than the final scoreboard suggested at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Iriafen shot 10 of 19 in the victory, made all five of her free throws and collected seven offensive boards. The Stanford transfer forward is catching fire at the right time, averaging 21.8 points and 9.0 rebounds in her past five games.
Watkins scored 11 of her 20 points in the fourth quarter. She also finished with 11 rebounds, but shot 7 of 17 from the field and committed six turnovers.
Ranked second in the country, USC (28-2) awaits the winner of the second semifinal between UCLA and Ohio State.
The top-seeded Trojans, riding an eight-game winning streak and coming in as -9.5 favorites, finally tied the fifth-seeded Wolverines (22-10) late in the third quarter before pulling away in the fourth.
The game was tied at 60 with 6:28 to play, then the Trojans scored 14 unanswered points to chart their course to Sunday’s tournament final, largely due to shooting 17 of 28 (60.7%) in the second half.
The first half, however, was a world of struggles for USC and Watkins. The sophomore star scored just four points on 2-of-9 shooting with three of the Trojans’ nine turnovers. The Trojans shot 12 of 37 (32.4%) and 3 of 12 (25.0%) from the 3-point line.
They finished 29 of 65 (44.6%) but made only 5 of 18 (27.8%) from deep.
The Wolverines limited the Trojans to nine first-quarter points and led by as much as nine in the second quarter when Jordan Hobbs’ 3-pointer gave them a 27-18 with 5:24 to play.
USC fared well down the first-half stretch though, using a 6-0 run over the last two minutes – on a Rayah Marshall layup, a Watkins 17-foot jumper and two Kennedy Smith free throws – while forcing two missed shots and two turnovers for Michigan to trail 31-29 at the break.
Syla Swords led Michigan with 26 points.