USC announces non-conference basketball schedule, Pac-12 pairings

USC announced its non-conference men's basketball schedule for the upcoming season on Tuesday, along with the Pac-12 schedule pairings (exact dates and times to be announced later).

The Trojans went 26-8 overall and 14-6 in the Pac-12 last season, reaching the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row before an opening-round loss to Miami.

USC has no true non-conference road games in the upcoming season but does travel to two neutral-site tournaments. At Battle4Atlantis in the Bahamas Nov. 23-25, the Trojans will face BYU and then either Tennessee or Butler and depending on results could also play Kansas, Wisconsin, Dayton or NC State. They later travel to Phoenix on Dec. 21 to play Colorado State in the Colangelo Classic.

The toughest early season test looks to be Vermont, an NCAA tournament team a year ago that went 28-6 and won the American East Conference.

The Trojans later take on fellow NCAA tourney teams Cal State Fullerton (Dec. 7) and Auburn (Dec. 18).

As for the conference schedule, the specific dates and times are not known yet but the weekly opponents are set.

Interestingly, USC will not be closing the regular season against crosstown rival UCLA this year. The Trojans visit the Bruins in the Jan. 4-8 window and then host the rematch in the Jan. 25-29 window.

The Trojans only get Oregon on the road this season and only play Stanford at home while going home-and-away with all of the other Pac-12 teams.

USC returns two of its top three scorers in guards Boogie Ellis (12.5 points per game) and Drew Peterson (12.4), while guard Reese Dixon-Waters (4.8) should move into a more prominent role.

The Trojans lost team leader Isaiah Mobley to the NBA, starting center Chevez Goodwin and reserve forward Isaiah White exhausted their eligibility, and guard Ethan Anderson, forward Max Agbonkpolo and forward Boubacar Coulibaly entered the transfer portal.

Reserve forwards Joshua Morgan and Harrison Hornery and guards Kobe Johnson and Malik Thomas return, and USC brings in four intriguing freshmen in 7-foot-1 forward Vincent Iwuchukwu, guards Oziyah Sellers and Tre White and forward Kijani Wright.