One of the biggest storylines I was following during USC women’s basketball’s season-opening game against New Mexico State was the rotation. How would it shake out after the departure of so many key players? How would USC look without Kiki Iriafen, Rayah Marshall, Clarice Akunwafo, Avery Howell and Kayleigh Heckel, and most of all, JuJu Watkins?
That felt like an especially relevant storyline in the frontcourt, where the Trojans lost two WNBA players in Marshall and Iriafen and a defensive stalwart in Akunwafo. They added young, inexperienced players to replace them. Who would emerge as the starters and the players who earned the most meaningful minutes from that group?
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Trojan fans began to get a clearer picture of how that rotation will shake out before the season opener even tipped off. A surprise name was penciled into the starting lineup: sophomore forward Vivian Iwuchuku.
I was curious about how Vivian earned the starting role out of a group of forwards that includes transfers Dayana Mendes and Yakiya Milton, international transfer Gerda Raulušaityte, and returner Laura Williams.
I asked head coach Lindsay Gottlieb about it. Here’s what she had to say.
My question
“It was Vivian Iwuchukwu’s first start of her college career and I was just wondering what she did over the offseason to earn that tonight?” I asked.
Gottlieb’s answer
“Yeah Viv had a terrific offseason, just a lot of work,” Gottlieb said. “Last year, she actually got diagnosed with an injury the day she arrived as a freshman and had her medical intake and had a surgery in the summer. So she didn’t get a summer. In addition to that, we had two WNBA players and a 6-6 post in front of her and so there was a lot of learning, and I think she embraced all of that, and then had an offseason and had a summer and she has put the work in…Viv has continually gotten better every day. I think she’s really tried to be good at what she’s good at and then add things. So, we’re definitely going to rely on her tremendous athleticism, her rebounding, her physicality, the type of things that she brings to the table.”
Iwuchukwu’s stats, minutes breakdown
In her season debut against New Mexico State, Iwuchukwu had 5 points on 2-of-3 shooting, 4 rebounds and 1 steal. She didn’t turn the ball over, but did make only 1 of her 4 free throw attempts.
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Her 13 minutes were the third most of any forward on the team. Dayana Mendes, a Washington State transfer, played 18 minutes and Gerda Raulušaityte played 14 minutes.
Gottlieb says rotation could change
Another thing Gottlieb made sure to point out during her press conference is that USC’s starting lineup will undergo a lot of tweaking during the season.
“This may be a team where the starters change up,” Gottlieb said. “I think we need a collective effort. That’s just how we’re going to play. We rely on a lot of different people for different things.”
She also mentioned that the forward position in particular will be handled by committee.
“We have a post group that is going to be by committee, it just is,” Gottlieb said. “We’ve got a lot of different people, they’re all good at different things.”
Full press conference
Make sure to check out the full press conference, which also featured guard Londynn Jones and guard Jazzy Davidson.
Future outlook
Against an inferior opponent, it’s clear Coach Gottlieb was trying to get everyone some playing time and see how they handled in-game action. Every healthy Trojan saw the court on Tuesday.
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Trojan fans will get a much better idea of who Gottlieb trusts to handle the high leverage minutes on Sunday, when USC takes on No. 9 NC State in North Carolina. There’s no room to experiment in that game, Gottlieb needs to put her best 5 players on the floor at all times to give USC a chance to win.
I’d expect Iwuchukwu to make her second consecutive start and most of the forwards to see some action, but the minutes column is really something to watch on Sunday.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC women’s basketball forward Vivian Iwuchukwu earns first start
