USC's Big Ten Home and Road Opponents For Upcoming Season

The USC Trojans men’s basketball team now has their Big Ten home and road opponents set for the 2026-27 college basketball season. Take a look at the matchups below. 

Home Opponents

Iowa Hawkeyes
Michigan Wolverines
Minnesota Golden Gophers
Michigan State Spartans
Ohio State Buckeyes
Penn State Nittany Lions
Wisconsin Badgers

Road Opponents

Indiana Hoosiers
Illinois Fighting Illini
Maryland Terrapins
Nebraska Cornhuskers
Northwestern Wildcats
Purdue Boilermakers
Rutgers Scarlet Knights 

Home and Road

Oregon Ducks
Washington Bruins
UCLA Bruins 

USC's Big Ten Struggles

2026-27 will be USC's third season as a member of the Big Ten conference. It’s been a struggle in conference play thus far for the Trojans in their first two seasons in the Big Ten. 

In each of their two seasons in the Big Ten, USC has a conference record of 7-13 under coach Eric Musselman. Musselman was hired as coach in 2024. The Trojans have failed to make it to an NCAA Tournament since 2023. They hope to change that this upcoming season. 

USC looked poised to snap their two-year NCAA Tournament this past season as they got off to a great start in non-conference play. The Trojans entered the month of January with an overall record of 12-1, including winning the 2025 Maui Invitational Tournament. It was downhill from there. 

USC finished the season with an 18-14 record, which wasn’t enough to make the field of 68 in the 2026 NCAA Tournament. 

USC Seeking NCAA Tournament Return

USC’s chances to make the tournament in 2027 are bigger because of the field expanding from 68 to 76 teams. This means eight additional at-large bids.

USC’s roster on paper also looks like it could be much improved this upcoming season. USC lands No. 14 on CBS Sports insider Jon Rothstein’s “Rothstein 45” rankings for the 2026 offseason. 

Rothstein projects the Trojans starting five to look like this: 

Alijah Arenas, Guard
Rodney Rice, Guard
KJ Lewis, Guard
Jacob Kofie, Forward
Eric Reibe, Center 

The Trojans got a major boost this offseason when guard Alijah Areans opted to return for his sophomore season in Los Angeles. Arenas headlined the USC 2025 recruiting class as a five-star recruit and averaged 14.1 points per game in 14 games played. He missed most of the start of the season due to a torn meniscus suffered before the season. 

USC will also be getting back another member of their backcourt in Rodney Rice. Rice played in the first few games of the season for USC last year, averaging a team high 20.3 points per game before suffering a season ending shoulder injury.

In addition to this returning production in the backcourt, USC also got a big add in the transfer portal with former Georgetown Hoyas guard KJ Lewis. Lewis was rated as a four-star transfer after averaging 14.9 points per game for the Hoyas last season.

Things are shaping up for USC to make a return to the big dance.

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