USC Slides in AP Rankings After Upset Loss to Iowa

One of the most compelling games on the 2024-25 NCAA women's basketball calendar took place on Sunday, February 2, as JuJu Watkins and the USC Trojans came to Carver-Hawkeye Arena to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Given that USC had entered this contest on a 15-game win streak and Iowa lost five consecutive games in January, few predicted that the Hawkeyes would be able to put up much of a fight.

However, people clearly underestimated the emotional jolt that Hawkeyes had been provided during the game, due to Hawkeyes legend and Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark having her No. 22 jersey retired after the game ended.

The 🐐@CaitlinClark22 x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/XnFqy91cVl
— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) February 2, 2025

This brought out the best of standout guard Lucy Olsen and her Hawkeyes team, as they ultimately produced a 76-69 upset win over the Women of Troy in front of a sold-out arena.

Each Monday marks when the Associated Press (AP) releases the latest edition of their Top 25 NCAA women's basketball rankings. And in their February 3 release, USC suffering this unexpected defeat produced a downward slide.

The Trojans are now ranked No. 7 in the AP Poll after being ranked No. 4 before Sunday's loss to Iowa. Aside from that, the only movement in the top 10 was Texas, UConn, and LSU all being bumped up one place to atone for USC's fall. The UCLA Bruins, South Carolina Gamecocks, and Notre Dame Fighting Irish all kept their respective places in the top three.

USC's second loss of the season dropped the Trojans to seventh in The AP Top 25 poll Monday. UCLA, South Carolina and Notre Dame remained the top three teams in the rankings. https://t.co/ujaWOhegov
— ESPN Women's Hoops (@ESPN_WomenHoop) February 3, 2025

Despite this setback, there's still plenty of season left for the Trojans to regain their footing in the AP rankings and secure a No. 1 seed in the 2025 NCAA Women's Tournament.

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