The Trojans’ 79-37 drubbing of the Boilermakers Jan. 22 in Indiana — USC’s 14th straight victory — marked Purdue Head Coach Katie Gearlds’ fourth and likely final loss to a team ranked in the Associated Press top four this season.

“I truly, honestly believe that there are about five teams in the women’s college game right now that are so much better than everybody,” said Gearlds in last week’s post-game press conference. “They don’t live here on Earth.”

While Gearlds gets a much-needed breather from nationally ranked opponents, the No. 4 Trojans (18-1, 8-0 Big Ten) will have no such luxury. USC will host Minnesota (18-3, 6-3) at Galen Center on Thursday before boarding another flight, this one bound for ice-cold Iowa, where it will face the Iowa Hawkeyes (14-7, 4-6) on Sunday at the sold-out Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

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USC is coming off an eight-day hiatus, but it’s scheduled to play four games in the next 10 days. 

“I don’t feel like we have a real week. It just feels like a succession of games,” said Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb at Tuesday’s practice. “We have a really compressed portion coming up, so I gave [the team] a little rest before this Minnesota game.”

Over the off-week, graduate forward Kiki Iriafen — who was taken out of the Purdue game after banging up her knee — was cleared to participate in practice and Thursday’s contest in full capacity.

Soon after Iriafen stepped off the court in the second quarter, freshman guard Avery Howell subbed in and played the majority of the second half. Howell led the team with a season-high 18 points, shooting 57.1% from the field. When asked about Howell’s vocality, consistency and well-roundedness as a true freshman, Gotllieb summed up her understanding rather simply: “It’s rare.”

The bulk of Howell’s points came from behind the arc, where she shot 4-7. Overall in the Trojans’ first six games of the season, they shot 27% from 3-point land, whereas in the next 13 games, it rose to 34.9%. Improved shooting has been a huge factor in USC’s consistency throughout its extended win streak. 

Graduate guard Talia von Oelhoffen shot 33.9% from three in four seasons? at Oregon State, but this season, she has the lowest 3-point shooting percentage of the Trojans’ main rotation at 26.3%. 

“I’m more open than I’ve ever been in my career, and I think that’s gotten to me because I’ve always been face guarded or hugged up on [in the past],” von Oelhoffen said. “Now, I’m standing there wide open, so I just got to step up and knock it down. That’s all mental for me.”

Taking shots against Minnesota will be a first-time experience for the entire USC roster, and the Golden Gophers’ defense may pose a formidable resistance. Minnesota’s opponents average a paltry 55.4 points per game, ranking it No. 18 in Division I scoring defense.

The Golden Gophers are also effective at creating second-chance scoring opportunities, averaging nearly 14 offensive rebounds per game to their opponents’ 8.9. Keeping the gravity of senior center Rayah Marshall and co. in mind, USC likely has the tools to eliminate this strength.

In January, the Trojans made a routine of sluggish starts. They narrowly outscored opponents 112-93 overall — about a 3-point lead — in the month’s six first frames. To remedy these uncertain beginnings, USC gets running. Against Purdue, the Trojans overcame a first-quarter deficit with a 31-0 run, marking their fifth run over 20 points this season. In all of USC’s games, it has had at least an 8-0 stretch.

Scoring streaks will not be a foreign phenomenon to the packed Carver-Hawkeye Arena. And certainly not to NCAA all-time women’s scoring leader Caitlin Clark. The two-time Naismith Trophy winner will be in attendance Sunday for her jersey retirement ceremony. 

“[Clark] has an understanding for the bigger picture of women’s basketball. The crowd that [Iowa will] get, even if it wasn’t her jersey retirement, is a testament to the excitement that she’s brought to women’s basketball and everywhere,” Gottlieb said. “Certainly, with her being in the building, it’s going to be even more wild. I’m glad I don’t have to pay for a ticket.”

Attendance at USC road games this season has not dipped below 7,000 and reached as high as 15,684 in Hartford for the Trojans’ 72-70 win over No. 6 UConn (20-2, 11-0 Big East). 

“When we go to Rutgers, and they average [about 2,000] fans, we have [nearly] 8,000. You go to Indiana, and there’s 15,000 people, several of whom were little girls with braids and Juju buns,” Gottlieb said. “They don’t get to see players that look like ours all the time.” 

In addition to witnessing the No. 22 jersey rise into the rafters, Iowa fans are eager to welcome ranked basketball back to campus. Clark’s selection in the 2024 WNBA Draft was the first of many Hawkeye departures, including Kate Martin, Gabbie Marshall and 24-year Head Coach Lisa Bluder.

Although Iowa started the season 8-0, it recently rebounded from five straight losses. Now devoid of Clark’s pinpoint passes, Hawkeyes basketball is riddled with turnovers and sloppy offense. The team still relies on outscoring opponents, but that will be a challenge against USC.

The Trojans are nationally ranked No. 1 in blocks per game, No. 8 in opponent’s field goal percentage, No. 12 in scoring defense and tied at No. 23 in steals per game. Overall, USC holds the top-ranked scoring margin of 29.6 points per game.

“Defense, we all take pride in,” said freshman guard Kennedy Smith.

USC will kick off its next packed patch of conference play at home on Thursday at 7 p.m. against Minnesota.