USC women’s basketball will give fans an early preview of its 2026-27 look on Sunday, Oct. 25, when the Women of Troy host California in a ticketed exhibition the program is calling the “First Look.”
Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. PDT at the Galen Center, and the game will also stream on Big Ten Plus. The showcase comes with activities around the venue beginning at 12:30 p.m.
There will be plenty for USC fans to watch. Senior guard JuJu Watkins is back, sophomore guard Jazzy Davidson will share the floor with Watkins for the first time, and junior guard Kennedy Smith will get a chance to show how much she has grown since last season. The roster also includes Saniyah Hall, the third No. 1 overall prospect in four years that head coach Lindsay Gottlieb has signed at USC.
The exhibition won’t count in either team’s record, but there’s still plenty of familiarity attached to it. USC leads the all-time series with Cal 45-35, and the Women of Troy beat the Golden Bears 61-57 last season in the Bay Area Women’s Classic at Chase Center in San Francisco.
USC’s non-conference schedule for the coming season is expected to be finalized soon, and the Big Ten schedule should be announced this week. So far, the slate includes a Nov. 2 game in Las Vegas against UNLV, a Nov. 15 trip to South Carolina, a Nov. 20 matchup with Baylor at Intuit Dome, games in the Bahamas against Saint Joseph’s and Iowa State on Nov. 27 and Nov. 29, a Dec. 16 trip to Phoenix to face Miami, and another Las Vegas stop against Notre Dame and Duke.
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