LOS ANGELES – If Kiki Iriafen’s transfer from Stanford a couple days ago didn’t convince you, Talia von Oelhoffen’s sets it plain in stone.
USC women’s basketball is going all-in in pursuit of a national title in 2024-25.
On Monday morning, Oregon State transfer point guard Von Oelhoffen committed to USC, following Iriafen’s bombshell move on Saturday. Quickly, the TikTok the two made together on their official visit Friday – dancing to GloRilla’s “Yeah Glo!” – marks yet another new chapter in the story of Lindsay Gottlieb’s rebuild at USC, the Trojans adding another star to an offensive system overflowing with sheer talent.
Von Oelhoffen’s commitment gives USC the veteran point guard it needed in the wake of graduate senior Kayla Padilla’s departure. Von Oelhoffen, 5-foot-11, from Tri-Cities, Washington, is a talented ball-handler and facilitator who averaged 10.7 points per game and 5.0 assists last year as a junior for Oregon State.
A two-time All-Pac-12 selection who helped direct Oregon State to the Elite Eight this spring, Von Oelhoffen has shot just 30.7% from three across the past two years. Padilla, though, saw her three-point efficiency skyrocket in a season of playing off JuJu Watkins, and Von Oelhoffen could well experience a similar boom on catch-and-shoot opportunities. She will add a new dimension and a steady hand, too, in secondary playmaking, sorely needed after McKenzie Forbes was drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks.
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Two weeks ago, Gottlieb told the Southern California News Group that USC was chasing South Carolina – “we want to be national champions,” she said then, “so there’s a lot more work to do.” And Van Oelhoffen’s commitment gives Gottlieb a luxury, too, allowing a group of talented incoming freshman guards – five-stars Kayleigh Heckel (NY) and Avery Howell (Idaho), plus four-star Rian Forestier (Texas) – to matriculate on the bench behind veteran leadership.
Suddenly, USC can trot out a starting group that rivals any in the country with Von Oelhoffen running the point, Watkins at the two, freshman Kennedy Smith on the wing, Iriafen and Rayah Marshall down low.