USC men’s basketball has mapped out its non-conference road for the 2026-27 season, and it gives Eric Musselman’s team a little bit of everything: a handful of manageable home games, a couple of tricky mid-major tests, and several matchups that should tell a lot about where the Trojans stand before Big Ten play arrives.
The schedule comes on the heels of a clean 11-0 run through non-conference play in 2025, a stretch that included a win at the Southwest Maui Invitational. USC enters the new season with high expectations again, and the goal is obvious: stack wins early, then carry that momentum into a tougher conference slate.
The opening stretch at Galen Center should give the Trojans a chance to settle in. USC opens against Milwaukee University and also hosts the University of Arkansas at Pine-Bluff, Tarleton State University and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
None of those four teams won more than 15 games in the 2025-26 season, and all finished below .500. They also had a rough time away from home, combining for a 16-52 road record.
But USC won’t spend the whole early window cruising. On Nov. 8, the Trojans head to Nevada to face Wichita State University in the first Caesars Lake Tahoe Classic, then turn around for a Nov. 11 road game at UC Berkeley.
Wichita State came within one win of the NCAA Tournament last season before falling in the American Athletic Conference championship game to the eventual No. 11 seed, the University of South Florida. The Shockers still made noise afterward, reaching the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament.
Cal, meanwhile, put together a 22-12 regular season, though it was knocked out in the first and second rounds of the ACC Tournament and NIT. The Golden Bears’ 17-5 home record last year is the kind of detail that makes this one worth watching closely.
Late November brings a tougher two-game set in Palm Desert for the Acrisure Series. USC will meet South Carolina on Nov. 25 and Utah State University on Nov.
- The Gamecocks are the second Power Four opponent on the Trojans’ non-conference list, but they were hardly a juggernaut last season, winning just 13 games and going 0-3 in neutral-site games.
Utah State is the real problem in that event. The Aggies went 29-7, won the Mountain West and earned a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
They beat Villanova in the first round before falling to No. 1 seed Arizona by 12. They also posted a 7-1 record in neutral-site games, which makes that matchup one of the toughest on USC’s non-conference card.
December eases up a bit before the Trojans hit their most demanding test of the whole slate. USC travels to the University of San Diego on Dec. 8, a trip that also carries some personal meaning for Musselman since it’s his alma mater. San Diego won 12 games in 2025-26, and USC beat the Toreros 94-81 last season.
Then comes the game that stands out most: a Dec. 13 road trip to Texas Tech. The Red Raiders took down blue-blood programs like Duke, Arizona, Houston and Iowa State last season, finished as a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament and reached the second round before losing to Alabama. They also went 14-2 at home in 2025-26, which only raises the degree of difficulty for USC.
The non-conference schedule closes with a softer finish back in Los Angeles. USC hosts Jacksonville University on Dec. 19 and Western Michigan University on Dec.
- Those two teams combined for a .349 win percentage last season.
Before any of that begins, USC still has three exhibition games to get through, starting with North Carolina on Oct. 9 at 4 p.m. at First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro.
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The concern showed up on the other side of the ball, where the secondary and some individual defenders had a rougher time keeping things clean. Kam Crawford was among the players who struggled, and that mattered because USCs defense is still trying to sort out its identity as the schedule moves forward. One game does not settle the bigger picture, but it did give the Trojans a pretty clear snapshot of where the strength is and where the questions are likely to linger. [Read more 🡒]