USC has added two more dates to its 2026-27 men’s basketball schedule, and both bring something new to the table.
The Trojans will play Wichita State on Nov. 8 as part of the first annual Lake Tahoe Classic, and they’ll meet Tarleton State on Nov. 19, according to Alex Rosinski. USC has only seen the Shockers once before, winning that matchup in 2015 at a tournament in Florida. The Tarleton State game will be the first meeting between the programs.
Those additions push USC’s non-conference slate to eight games. The schedule already includes an exhibition against North Carolina on Oct. 9 in Greensboro, a home game on Nov. 22 against an opponent yet to be announced, two games in the Acrisure Series against South Carolina on Nov. 25 and Utah State on Nov. 26, and a neutral-site game against Texas Tech on Dec. 13 in Fort Worth as part of the Coast-to-Coast Challenge.
Wichita State enters this season after finishing 24-12 overall last year. The Shockers fell to South Florida in the American Conference Tournament title game and later lost to Tulsa in the quarterfinals of the NIT.
Tarleton State went 14-18 a season ago and closed on a five-game skid, with four of those losses coming in conference play and the other in the opening game of the WAC Tournament.
USC is coming off an 18-14 season. The Trojans went 7-13 in Big Ten play, dropped their final eight conference games and then fell in the opening round of the league tournament.
Guard Alijah Arenas and Rodney Rice are set to play together for the first time, while forward Jacob Cofie returned to help the group reach a national championship. USC also brought in a strong offseason haul, adding three high school prospects and six transfers to land the No. 9 ranked recruiting class.
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USCs 2026 opener against San Jose State did more than start a new football season. It also reopened an old question about how much pull Lincoln Rileys program really has, after the Coliseum was filled to only about one-third of its capacity. The university tried to get ahead of the optics with a statement pointing to possible factors behind the turnout, including the weather and the opponent.
Still, the image of a sparsely populated Coliseum landed hard because it came against the backdrop of what fans have come to expect from this program on game day. The discussion quickly drifted beyond one afternoon and back to a familiar frustration around scheduling choices and whether USC is giving supporters enough reason to show up early and often. [Read more 🡒]
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USCs New Local Pipeline Already Looks Ready To Lift This Offense
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For USC, the broader takeaway goes beyond one opener. When freshmen are not just dressed but already helping shape the game plan, it suggests the Trojans may be closer than expected to having another wave of homegrown playmakers ready to keep this offense moving. The only real question now is how quickly that early trust turns into a lasting feature of what USC wants to be on that side of the ball. [Read more 🡒]