Local News
How USC star Kiki Iriafen is trying to ‘be the same Kiki’ in a new system

LOS ANGELES — A few minutes before USC and Nebraska tipped off on New Year’s Day, Harvard-Westlake girls basketball assistant coach Millie Junio settled into a seat at the Galen Center next to Kiki Iriafen’s mother, Yemi. They watched Iriafen warm up, the star forward who normally lights up hardwood floors with sheer joy. They watched her catch the basketball. They watched her take a few shots.
Mm, Junio thought. Something’s wrong.
“Kiki’s sick?” she asked Yemi.
Maybe she was a little under the weather, Yemi told her. But she wasn’t sick. Iriafen’s face, normally etched in focus before games, was distant. Her energy, normally buzzing pregame, was a fraction sluggish. The alarm bells rung in Junio’s head, a woman former Harvard-Westlake standout Iriafen has come to call “Aunt Millie.” And after a USC win and 14 points for Iriafen on 7-of-16 shooting, Junio approached Iriafen.
They exchanged pleasantries, Iriafen seemingly chipper. Junio cut right through it. The smile didn’t fool her, she told Iriafen.
“What’s going on?” Junio asked. “You don’t have to talk about it today. But I’m here.”
“It’s a lot, Coach,” Iriafen responded, as Junio remembered.
Iriafen had asked for this, in many ways. On a visit to Los Angeles in April, the star Stanford transfer sat on a hotel couch with Lindsay Gottlieb for a conversation that single-handedly accelerated USC’s trajectory; Iriafen committed to Gottlieb, there, for a shot at a national championship. She committed, too, to push herself to be uncomfortable, a top WNBA prospect wanting to develop in a pro-style system.
She was comfortable, indeed, at Stanford, where a breakout junior season earned her the 2024 Katrina McClain Award as the best power forward in the nation. And through 19 games in 2024-25, there has been little sign of discomfort at USC: Iriafen is averaging 17.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game on 51% shooting. But this is a different world from the one she knew at Stanford, her 6-foot-3 limbs being stretched in a variety of new directions.
She is being tasked, defensively, with more responsibility guarding on the perimeter. She is adjusting to the improvisational flow of Gottlieb’s offense, her points coming more off of in-the-moment actions than the set high-post touches she saw under former Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer. She is figuring out her place next to JuJu Watkins, the transcendent USC guard with an evergreen light.
“I think it was just – trying to still be the same Kiki, but obviously, in a new system,” Iriafen said in mid-January, reflecting on her adjustment at USC. “So, kinda finding where I fit in that system.”
Any actual problems are few and far between for fourth-ranked USC (18-1 overall, 8-0 Big Ten), heading into Thursday night’s matchup with Minnesota (18-3, 6-3) and a final month of Big Ten play. And conversations with Iriafen around her fit do not involve any selfishness, as Gottlieb said: this is about fluidity, as all parties try and hone a USC offensive attack that is near-unstoppable at its best.
But this is an unfinished journey, and one that has weighed on Iriafen at times, her former coaches have seen. A few days after that New Years’ game, Iriafen called Junio and expressed that same sentiment: Where do I fit in?
“I think for her, it’s more – ‘I need to know my role, and I need to know where I fit in in this offense,’ because at the end of the day, the Big Dance is coming up,” Junio told the Southern California News Group.
“‘I need to figure that out now,’” Junio continued, describing her conversations with Iriafen. “Not when we’re in March. Not when we’re in April. Like, ‘I need to figure this out now.’”
Iriafen’s life, from a young age, has revolved around her home in the San Fernando Valley and those in it, her family holding strong Nigerian values of respecting one’s elders. Longtime former Harvard-Westlake coach Melissa Hearlihy, in fact, doesn’t know of a family that has come through her program that has been closer. Iriafen plays for her last name, as Junio said.
She plays, too, for her teammates and coaches, a pressure that can quickly build upon her broad shoulders. Iriafen is a perfectionist, Gottlieb has learned. Hearlihy, her former coach, called her a “pleaser.” And Iriafen has simply wanted to understand the expectations for her in USC’s offense, while being individually frustrated her game wasn’t “at the level she felt comfortable,” as Hearlihy described.
“At no point,” Hearlihy said of Iriafen, “does she want to look like it’s about her.”
Gottlieb, throughout her coaching life, has certainly had a constantly-evolving mind for X’s and O’s. Even more so, though, she is tasked with “having a pulse” on all 15 players on her roster, as she put it. And she felt the same weight, on Iriafen, at the same time as Junio.
“There was just, at one point, where I could sense in her for the first time,” Gottlieb reflected, “her just wearing a little bit of stress.”
So during that early January road trip to Rutgers and Maryland, Gottlieb sat Iriafen down on a couch in their hotel – ironically the same situation, they would joke later, as when she first committed to USC. Talk to me, Gottlieb expressed.
It wasn’t a world-changing conversation, Gottlieb reflected. But it was important, to Iriafen. She told Hearlihy of the conversation at a dinner a couple of weeks later; it was new to Iriafen, Hearlihy reflected, for a coach to encourage her to voice her uncertainties.
“I think it inspired her to try some things differently,” Hearlihy said, “and to have a little bit more confidence in what she needs to do that might be a little bit out-of-the-box for her.”
The returns haven’t been world-changing, on the surface, just yet. Iriafen’s rebounding has dipped well below her pace in 2023-24, as opposing programs have keyed on blocking her out off the glass. She shot just 6 for 15 against Indiana on Jan. 19, and exited last Wednesday’s blowout win against Purdue after banging knees with an opposing player (she’s healthy and cleared to face Minnesota, Gottlieb clarified to reporters on Tuesday).
But glimpses of her continued evolution, in USC’s program, have shined through. Iriafen scored 28 points on 12-of-18 shooting against Penn State on Jan. 12 as Watkins added 35, the two growing more comfortable in their pick-and-roll tandem by the week and Gottlieb increasingly experimenting with actions to utilize both to exploit opposing defenses. On one play against Indiana, as the Hoosiers threw an all-out “box-and-one” defense at Watkins, Gottlieb had the guard set a curl-screen for Iriafen, generating an open layup as two defenders stayed with Watkins.
The next day, Gottlieb consulted with Iriafen and Watkins during individual workouts on how to continue generating live reads for the two to play in space off of one another, rather than simply slowing them down to call sets. They are united, the three of them, in a wholly unique offensive system that continues to hum deep into Big Ten play.
And it was a credit to Iriafen, Gottlieb said, that she had stretched herself.
“You’re trying to maximize JuJu’s unique talents and Kiki’s unique talents and the rest of the team, but also to make ourselves feel very unguardable overall, and try to create situations that are scary for opponents,” Gottlieb said.
“And I think, nobody in the country wants to see JuJu and Kiki clicking, as they have been, in the two-man game.”
MINNESOTA AT USC
When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
Where: Galen Center
TV/radio: Peacock/USCTrojans.com
Local News
These Southern California restaurants made it into Yelp’s top 100 for 2025

A self-described “order-at-the-counter seafood stand” in South L.A. made it to the top of Yelp’s Top 100 Places to Eat for 2025.
Holbox is located near the entrance of a food hall called Mercado La Paloma in the Figueroa Corridor of Los Angeles. Customers wait for more than an hour to order “some of the freshest seafood around,” according to Yelp.

Eleven other eateries in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties made it onto the list as well. Most are quick service eateries tucked into shopping centers.
It was created by Yelp’s data science team drawing on individual reviews users post on its platform as well as the overall restaurant activity in each business area.
Thirty-seven of the 100 restaurants are in California, reflecting a trend the Yelp researchers spotted toward global cuisine “with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine rising to the top.”
Here are the Southern California restaurants that made the cut.
No. 1: Holbox
Mercado La Paloma, 3655 S. Grand Ave., C9, Los Angeles; 213-986-9972, holboxla.com; 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday
Holbox is named for an island off the Yucatán Peninsula.
Yelp’s report calls it “a continually rising star among Yelp diners” with more than 1,000 5-star reviews. Dining professionals have also taken notice. Michelin gave Holbox star status in its 2024 California guide last summer and called it “a distinctively Angelino phenomenon.” And its founder Gilberto Cetina is a semifinalist for outstanding chef in the 2025 James Beard Awards.
The Yelp honor is meaningful because it comes from his diners, Cetina wrote in an email.
“We strive to deliver an unforgettable dining experience to both new and returning guests, sharing the rich story of Yucatecan seafood with every dish.”

Popular dishes include Taco de Pulpo en su Tinta, made with octopus from the Yucatan, and Sea Urchin and Scallop Ceviche, made with sea urchins from Santa Barbara, according to Cetina.
He wrote that he thinks of Mercado La Paloma as home.
No. 11: Shlap Muan Wings
2150 E. South St.,105, Long Beach; shlap-muan.com; 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. daily
The shop’s name means chicken wings in Khmer, the language of Cambodia, according to its website, and that’s basically what it offers. There are 24 flavors, including the “wok-kissed” Dirty Elvis and Tamarind Tiger. The menu also features garlic noodles and fries. Prices are around $11.50-$31.50.
No. 15: Berry Brand
Tustin Crossings, 12932 Newport Ave., Tustin; loveberrybrand.com; 9 a.m.-8 p.m. daily
This is a place to build your own açaí or pitaya bowls with the choice of about two dozen toppings. Yelp reviewers praise the Coconut Dream base
No. 18: West Coast Cheesesteaks
Lone Hill Shopping Center, 1832 B E. Route 66, Glendora; westcoastcheesesteaks.com; 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday
This sandwich shop boasts house-made sauces made with blocks of cheddar cheese and heavy cream. Choices include cheddar, poblano or chipotle. Sandwiches cost about $11.50-$21.50.

No. 23: Sunbliss Café
Sycamore Canyon Plaza, 701 S. Weir Canyon Road, No. 115, Anaheim; sunblisscafe.com; 7 a.m.-6 p.m. daily
This juice bar also serves coffee, açaí bowls, bagels and items such as Japanese Avo Toast.
No. 27: Tai He Ju
10333 Garvey Ave, El Monte; 626-672-0299; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday and Wednesday through Sunday, closed Tuesday
Fried dumplings are a specialty here. Fillings that won praise from Yelp reviewers include beef with vermicelli and chive and egg.
No. 42: Lord Empanada
1540 S Myrtle Ave., Monrovia; lordempanada.com; 9 a.m. Tuesday through Sunday, closed Monday
This restaurant has its roots in Argentina and serves many kinds of empanadas, from meat-filled to vegan, as well as house-made chimichurri. Prices are around $3.95 each.
No. 45: Cardelli’s Italian Market Deli & Catering
De Anza Plaza, 7786 Limonite Ave., Riverside; cardellisdeli.com; 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday through Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, closed Sunday
Yelp reviewers praise sandwiches such as hot pastrami, meatball and the Sgobba, which is Black Forest ham, pepperoni, Parmesan and provolone cheese on toasted garlic bread. Prices are in the $10 range. Desserts include cannoli, spumoni and tiramisu.
No. 48: North Shore Plate Lunch
2429 Hamner Ave., Norco; 951-444-6774; 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday
This is a Hawaiian barbecue place with such favorites as chicken katsu, loco moco, kalua pork and mac salads.
No. 64: Daddy Ji
201 N. Indian Hill Blvd., suite A100, Claremont; orderdaddyji.com; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, closed Monday
This Claremont Village restaurant boasts Indian street food such as tandoori chicken, tikka masala, samosas and mango lassi.

No. 70: La Copine
848 Old Woman Springs Road, Yucca Valley; lacopinekitchen.com; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday through Sunday
This restaurant near Joshua Tree serves seasonal menus made with farm-fresh, sustainable ingredients. Yelp reviewers praise the fried chicken.

No. 91: Heritage Barbecue
31721 Camino Capistrano San Juan Capistrano; heritagecraftbbq.com; 11 a..m.-6 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, closed Monday and Tuesday
This Texas-style barbecue is in growth mode and has a growing reputation in Southern California. Its owners are moving a 19th century barn to its premises. Yelp users praise the spare ribs.
San Diego County
Nine San Diego County restaurants made Yelp’s list. They incluce Phonomenal, National City (No. 4); Beyer Deli, San Diego (No. 14); Shawarma Guys, La Mesa (No. 26); GONZO! Ramen, Carlsbad (No. 31); Big Jims Roast Beef, San Diego (No. 33); Baba Kabob, San Diego (No. 37); Rosemarie’s, San Diego (No. 46); Chuyz Taco Shop, San Diego (No. 64); Single Fin Surf Grill, San Diego (No. 84).
Local News
USC shakes off injury, illness to blow out Penn State

LOS ANGELES — They returned home from an East Coast slump bruised, and limping, and sick. Really sick. Just a few hours before a critical Tuesday night matchup with Big Ten basement-dweller Penn State, USC’s Wesley Yates III and Chibuzo Agbo Jr. were both listed as questionable, both guards having missed practices since the return from a loss to Purdue on Friday. So, too, was point guard Desmond Claude, his knee still yelping from a collision against Michigan State in early February.
Suddenly, USC faced the possibility of playing without its top three scorers in a game it simply couldn’t afford to lose.
There was a world, on Tuesday, in which Claude or Yates or Agbo might not have played, or faced a minutes restriction. This was not Eric Musselman’s world. For years, the USC coach has belonged to the Tom Thibodeau School of Heavy Minutes. And for years, dating to Arkansas and Nevada, Musselman had followed his late father Bill’s teachings: when in a tough spot, play your toughest guys.
Yates got smacked in the face in the first half, snatching a towel to cover his nose and heading straight for the locker room for minutes. Claude wrapped a bulky black brace around his right knee in rare stretches on the bench. But Musselman’s guys were plenty tough, on Tuesday, as USC’s offense looked as healthy as it had all season in a 92-67 blowout of Penn State.
Claude played 36 of 40 minutes, finishing with a brutal eight turnovers but sparking USC’s attack all night with 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting. Yates played 36, himself, never coming off the court outside of that first-half blow and finishing with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Agbo went nuclear, in a flu game to be remembered, teeing off from the corners with 21 points and a career-best seven 3-pointers on a night when the Trojans shot 67% from the field.
And USC (14-10 overall, 6-7 Big Ten) reset its course after a tough road trip, pouncing on the last-place Nittany Lions and living to see another possible day come March.
For a week, USC had been dealt a curveball with Claude’s injury, initially not serious enough to keep him from playing an entire second half against Michigan State but scratching him from losses to Northwestern and Purdue. And Musselman’s offense, flickering like a half-broken string of Christmas lights without Claude to initiate, got an immediate first-half jolt with the point guard’s return.
The knee looked plenty fine, on a Euro-step a couple of minutes in, Claude darting around a big to flip up an and-one layup. The knee looked plenty fine, too, on a shot-clock-beating 3-pointer a couple of minutes later, dodging a defender’s contest and letting fly. Penn State hounded Claude for much of the first half, throwing a full-court trap at him in an effort to slow momentum; he committed three turnovers, but finished 4 for 4 from the field for 10 first-half points, including one pretty step-through reverse a minute before the break.
“When he’s really aggressive offensively,” Musselman said after USC’s victory over Michigan State, “we’re really good.”
Really good couldn’t even begin to encapsulate what took place in the second half on Tuesday, Claude’s slash-and-dash momentum suddenly caving the floor in on Penn State (13-12, 3-11). For 11 minutes, the Trojans didn’t miss a single shot from the floor. Agbo, a senior and the streakiest of shooters, busted a six-game slump with an early-second-half 3-pointer that doinked off the front of the rim and dropped home. It was a nod from the basketball gods, and a harbinger of the onslaught to come.
He hit three more, within the span of four minutes, the floor suddenly wide-open off of drives from Claude and wing Saint Thomas. Yates added a nasty step-back 3-pointer, flashing a youthful grin on his way back down the floor. Center Josh Cohen, tabbed again as a starter after losing the job to backup Rashaun Agee, played his most minutes (21) since Jan. 4 in holding Penn State’s 6-foot-10 Yanic Konan Niederhauser, the team’s second-leading scorer, to one point and one rebound.
Midway through the second half, USC’s attack had morphed from banged-up bludgeon to buzzsaw, ruthless in its precision. On one inbound, Claude broke a trap to find Yates, who touch-tapped to a streaking Thomas, who tic-tac-toed right back to Yates, who dashed down the lane to find a cutting Cohen for a layup on a play that would have made James Naismith smile somewhere.
Agbo banged home a few more 3-pointers, and USC walked away from the Galen Center with a banner offensive performance.
More to come on this story.
Local News
UCLA’s 7-game win streak ends as rally falls short against Illinois

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The UCLA men’s basketball team staged a furious rally in the final minutes but could not complete the comeback and saw its seven-game winning streak come to an end.
Kasparas Jakucionis scored 24 points and Tomislav Ivisic scored 16 points as Illinois held off UCLA, 83-78, on Tuesday night. Kylan Boswell scored all 11 of his points in the second half and reserve Will Riley added 10 for Illinois (17-8, 9-6 Big Ten), which shot 51% from the field (27 for 53) and outrebounded the Bruins 36-23.
Tyler Bilodeau made seven 3-point shots and scored 25 points to lead UCLA (18-7, 9-5). Kobe Johnson scored 14 despite foul trouble and reserve Sebastian Mack added 11 points, six rebounds and five assists. Dylan Andrews had nine points and a team-high seven assists. Skyy Clark also had nine points.
Ben Humrichous made one of two free throws to give Illinois an 81-78 lead with seven seconds left. He missed the second shot, and off the carom, Ivisic deflected the miss which ended up in the hands of Boswell. Forced to foul, UCLA sent Boswell to the line where he made a pair with 4.2 seconds left to secure the win.
Jakucionis, who also grabbed a team-best eight rebounds, made an improbable step-back shot just inside the 3-point arc for a 78-73 Illinois advantage with 38 seconds left. Former Illinois guard Skyy Clark, who was heckled for much of the night, answered with a 3-pointer 10 seconds later to get UCLA within two points for the first time since the opening three minutes.
Illinois cracked UCLA’s full-court pressure to get Ivisic an uncontested dunk with 17 seconds left, but Mack made a pair of free throws to get UCLA within 80-78 with 11 seconds remaining. That set up the final moments at the free-throw line.
Illinois opened a 26-13 first-half lead that forced UCLA to burn two timeouts to figure things out. Bilodeau swished two 3-pointers to fuel a 12-3 run over the final 5:20 of the first half that pulled the Bruins within 31-25 at the break.
Every time Illinois tried to pull away in the second half, UCLA worked its way back into the game.
Six minutes into the second half, UCLA pulled within 45-40 on Mack’s circus-shot layup over the 7-foot-2 Ivisic while getting knocked to the floor. Mack missed the subsequent free throw, then was called for fouling Ivisic on what UCLA believed to be a clean steal.
Illinois answered with Morez Johnson Jr.’s putback dunk after he discarded slender Aday Mara in the paint. Then UCLA coach Mick Cronin, irked over the Mack call and the Mara non-call, was whistled for a technical as the teams headed up the court. Boswell made the technical free throws to boost Illinois’ lead to 49-40.
After Bilodeau made his fifth 3-pointer to get UCLA within 58-51, Ivisic answered with back-to-back 3-pointers and Jakucionis slashed for a layup to push Illinois’ lead to 66-51 with 7:34 left.
Illinois seized a 76-60 advantage on Ben Humrichous’ 3-pointer with 4:51 to go, before UCLA reeled off its 13 consecutive points. Johnson hit two 3-pointers during the run and William Kyle III’s dunk with 1:08 left got the Bruins within 76-73.
That’s when Jakucionis and Clark traded big baskets to set up the final moments.
Illinois leads the nation with a +11.3 rebounding margin.
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UCLA travels to face Indiana on Friday at 5 p.m. PT.
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