Coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s arrival brought some hope, but signs of progress were slow. USC drew just more than 1,000 people at its home arena only five times that season. The shining moment of that campaign came in January, when the Trojans upset then-No. 4 Arizona, the national title runner-up from the previous year, in a game played in front of no fans due to the omicron wave of the coronavirus. Nevertheless, it became a reference point.
“I grabbed those two and said, ‘Hey, enjoy this. At some point, we are going to be that team that other people are trying to beat,’” Gottlieb said.
Her freshmen weren’t so sure. Akunwafo remembers being confused, and Marshall’s reaction in the moment was filled with skepticism: “Yo, is that woman okay?”
Three years later, Gottlieb fulfilled her promise. The top-seeded Trojans may have fallen short of their ultimate goal in 2025 with their 78-64 Elite Eight loss to second-seeded UConn, but they were the team the Huskies had to beat to get to the Final Four. From the start of this season, USC was the hunted, the opponent other teams circled on their calendars as a measuring stick or launching pad.
“Me and Coach G joke all the time, my games freshman year, (they) looked like a closed scrimmage,” Marshall said during the first weekend of the tournament. “I could literally hear my mom screaming in the crowd. Now, I have a hard time locating her, and honestly, I love that problem for me. I love that for our team. I love the culture change that we had.”
left it all out there.#FightOn | @WellsFargopic.twitter.com/zfQsGjgvSe
— USC Women’s Basketball (@USCWBB) April 1, 2025
The rapid transformation is almost unbelievable for the two players who have been here for all of it, but it’s real. They created a culture of winning that didn’t exist before their arrival, and set a standard that makes a second consecutive Elite Eight appearance a disappointment.
The Trojans started the season ranked No. 3 nationally. They expected to get further than they did last season — to reach the Final Four and potentially beyond. Even without JuJu Watkins for the majority of the last three games, USC played to win.
No one embodied that culture more than Marshall. In her final college game against the Huskies, Marshall scored a career-best 23 points (her previous high was 15) and tied a career-high with 15 rebounds. A 6-foot-3 center, she protected the rim and was USC’s best source of offense, finishing lobs over the top. But she also defended at the top of the Trojans’ press and brought up the ball on occasion. She scored on jumpers and drives to both sides of the basket.
“I’m so proud of how she ended her college career in Rayah fashion, getting a double-double and playing phenomenally,” Kiki Iriafen said. “She truly is the epitome of USC women’s ...
