How Clarice Akunwafo prepared for a career in surgery, even during USC’s NCAA Tournament run

On a star-powered, No. 1-seeded USC team headlined by national phenom JuJu Watkins, Akunwafo’s career averages of 2.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game were a far cry from those of some of her fellow Trojans. But off the court, Akunwafo has another identity entirely: future surgeon.

“I want to be a surgeon,” Akunwafo, a fourth-year health and human sciences major, told The Next, setting her computer to the side. “Playing your role at a certain time, it’s literally like being in a surgery. So I feel like me going on the court and doing my job, guarding the bigs, being the best I can be, is preparing me for surgery.”

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The Nigerian American from Inglewood, California, was a McDonald’s All-American and a Jordan Brand Classic Team selection in high school and was ranked No. 21 in her class by ESPN. But despite her athletic success, she said, medicine has always been her passion.

“I love medicine,” Akunwafo said, beaming. “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved blood and hospitals. I used to get sick on purpose just to go to the hospital. I was a weird kid!”

If you’re in the market for a plastic surgeon — her intended specialty — you’d better get on Akunwafo’s waitlist if her ability to do her job on the court is any indication of her future surgical abilities. 

“In the encyclopedia of basketball, if there was a definition of role player and someone who plays their role to a T, it’s Clarice Akunwafo,” USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb told reporters on March 30, prior to the Trojans’ Elite Eight game against UConn. Gottlieb added that Akunwafo was probably studying for the standardized test for medical school admissions, known as the MCAT, in the locker room as Gottlieb spoke. (Spoiler alert: She was.)

Gottlieb continued, “She wants to go to med school … but I think if she wanted to be in the WNBA, she could be on somebody’s roster for the way that she does her job so exceptionally well. She’s an incredible athlete. She really moves well, [she’s a] powerful athlete, [she] understands defense and buys into that, and I think it allows us to be who we are.”

Akunwafo’s role on Gottlieb’s roster this season wasn’t the biggest, but it was arguably one of the most important. As the backup to Rayah Marshall, Akunwafo was the go-to choice to defend some of the nation’s top posts. Somehow, her defense seemed to be most effective against players who many top teams in the country had the hardest time stopping. But the high stakes of the job fueled her.

In the Sweet 16, Gottlieb delegated Akunwafo the difficult task of guarding Kansas State’s Ayoka Lee, the NCAA Division I record-holder for points in a game and an All-American. Marshall started the game on Lee, but less than five minutes into the first quarter, Akunwafo and Lee checked in together. The remainder of the first half saw both 6’6 centers entering and exiting the game at the same time.

Against Akunwafo, Lee started 0-for-4 from the field, uncharacteristic for the sixth-year senior who made 63.1% of her shots this season. Lee scored her first points of the game with two minutes to go in the second quarter as Akunwafo watched from the bench. Of the 12 points Lee scored in her final collegiate game, only 4 occurred against Akunwafo. 

“I’m really proud of our team’s fight and togetherness and finding a way to win,” Gottlieb said following USC’s 67-61 win. “Specifically, I think the team effort comes in the way of Rayah and Clarice as a tandem guarding Lee, who is such a tough matchup. … Kiki [Iriafen] and Rayah and C did their jobs, and it worked.”

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But just like how she studies for the MCAT, Akunwafo had prepared all season for a game like that. Arguably her biggest job was containing 6’7 Lauren Betts, UCLA’s centerpiece who averaged 20.2 points per game this season. With both Los Angeles programs peaking simultaneously and battling for the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles, the already-heated “Battle of LA” had an added layer of pressure this season.

Of Akunwafo’s five games this season where she played at least 18 minutes, three were against UCLA. She was instrumental in USC’s 2-1 record against UCLA, holding Betts to an average of 15 points per game in the series.

In their first season as a member of the Big Ten, the West Coast-based Trojans frequently traveled cross-country to face conference opponents, operating up to three hours ahead of their home time zone. Despite the grueling travel schedule, time difference and intensive preparation to compete in a conference that earned 12 NCAA Tournament bids, Akunwafo always made time to hop on her MCAT preparation class on Zoom. 

“One thing I always tell people is that there’s always time; you just have to find it and sometimes sacrifice other things,” Akunwafo said. “For example, [name, image and likeness]: It’s not that I don’t want to do NILs or do social media, but I use that time instead for studying and going to tutoring. There’s always time; you just have to find it.”

Marshall plainly summed up the admiration that everyone at USC has for Akunwafo.

“She’s just a genius,” Marshall told The Next on March 30 about the two-time Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll recipient. “You’re prone to really have high respect for people that put their work ethic into something, and … just ask any of my teammates — after practice, she’s sprinting off to the library. She may not even have class, but she’s going there to study. She’s in preparation for the MCAT right now, so her work ethic is just never-ending when it comes to her books.”

And not only is Akunwafo Marshall’s backup on the court, but she also serves as her backup athletic trainer. 

“She knows that I’m a chicken wing fiend,” Marshall said of Akunwafo. “If we play a tough game and I play high minutes and I feel sore, she’s like, ‘You need to not eat any fried foods for the remainder of this week. It’ll help with inflammation.’ Then she’s telling me fun medical facts all the time and I’m always sharing them with our athletic trainer.”

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After her basketball career ended in the Elite Eight on March 31, Akunwafo fully traded scouting reports for medical school applications. She has the ambitious goal of starting medical school in fall 2026 and will take the MCAT in the coming months to apply to medical school by October. Then, she said, she’ll take some time to rest — in between shadowing physicians and potentially diving into research.

While her time wearing USC across her chest is over, her time being a Trojan might not be. Akunwafo said that while she would be thrilled to attend any medical school, “USC’s Keck School of Medicine is definitely at the top of my list.”