On Monday, April 14th, Stanford women’s basketball alum Kiki Iriafen went No. 4 overall to the Washington Mystics in the WNBA Draft. Iriafen played her fourth year of eligibility at USC as a graduate transfer after completing her degree from Stanford in Design Engineering in three years.
In her lone year at USC, Iriafen averaged 18.0 points and 8.4 rebounds per game on 49.0% shooting from the field and 81.1% shooting from the foul line. She was very instrumental in the Trojans getting a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
During her time at Stanford, Iriafen truly honed her craft and got better with each season. As a freshman, she averaged 4.2 points and 2.2 rebounds in 6.5 minutes per game. As a junior, she averaged 19.4 points and 11.0 rebounds per game in 27.8 minutes per game, playing and starting in all 36 games. Iriafen became somebody who could take over a game and be a rock inside. Whenever Stanford needed a bucket during her junior year, she was one who they could rely on to deliver the goods.
As far as what she’ll bring to the Mystics, Iriafen will bring a nice blend of size, athleticism, and skill. Something that was apparent from her first year at Stanford was her athleticism. She has a great vertical leap and is quick all while being 6’3”. Now that her skill has caught up with her athletic ability, it’s no wonder she got picked as high as she did. If she can continue on her trajectory and refine her game even more, she’ll have a terrific career in the WNBA.
Even though Stanford would have loved to have had Kiki Iriafen back for her senior year, they can still take pride in her getting selected where she did in the WNBA Draft. Her success speaks to the development that can happen under Kate Paye and her staff. It’ll be fun to see how Iriafen does in the WNBA and what kind of impact she makes on a Mystics team that is hoping to rebuild through this year’s draft.
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