Penn State Vs. USC Basketball Preview: Can The Nittany Lions End Their Slide?

The Nittany Lions have lost five straight and nine of their last 10. They visit USC needing a spark.

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Mike Rhoades looks on in the second half against the UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion. / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Penn State basketball season has unraveled, as the Nittany Lions have lost five straight games and nine of their last 10. They're tired and hurting, both physically and mentally, and need a spark to end (or at least curtail) this slide. Penn State hopes to make something happen in the second game of its California road trip.

The Nittany Lions visit USC on Tuesday night in Los Angeles, seeking just their third win of the 2025 calendar year. Penn State probably isn't going to the NCAA Tournament but perhaps can rally to make a run at the Big Ten Tournament. Or at least to finish the regular season with some optimism. Here's how and what to watch when Penn State faces USC.

Penn State (13-11, 3-10) vs. USC (13-10, 5-7)

• When: 9 p.m. ET

• Where: Galen Center, Los Angeles

• TV: Big Ten Network

• KenPom Rankings: Penn State is No. 63; USC is No. 59

• NCAA NET Rankings: Penn State is No. 65; USC is No. 71

• Betting Line: USC is a 4.5-point favorite, according to DraftKings

About the Nittany Lions: In the first game of its California swing, Penn State played without two injured starters (Puff Johnson and Yanic Konan-Niederhauser) and showed its weariness. UCLA went on a 24-4 second-half run to win 78-54, handing the Nittany Lions their second-biggest conference loss of the season. Through its rough January, Penn State usually kept games close: Five of its seven losses were by 6 points or less. But the margins are stretching. Penn State lost at home to Minnesota by eight to start February (a game in which it blew a 10-point first-half lead) and then got raced in the second half by UCLA. "We're hurting right now," Penn State coach Mike Rhoades said after the loss to Minnesota, a sentiment the team brought to California. Penn State scored just 23 points in the second half, got outscored by 22 points in the paint and was outscored a shocking 24-0 after turnovers. Penn State committed 18 turnovers while forcing just four, normally a key element of its defense. Without Niederhauser, its leading rebounder, Penn State has little interior presence. And Johnson's absence, likely for the remainder of the season, leaves the Nittany Lions without a key leader, on court and off. Penn State is winless in Big Ten road games this season. Penn State is 2-0 all-time vs. USC, though the teams haven't played since 2014. Penn State won one of those game during its 1954 Final Four run.

About the Trojans: USC returns home after a rough midwest road trip in which it lost to Northwestern and Purdue. That followed a home win over then-No. 7 Michigan State. USC guard Desmond Claude, one of the team's top players, was inactive for both games on the road trip, limiting USC's scoring presence. Claude averages a team-high 16.2 points per game. Senior Clark Slajchert replaced Claude against Northwestern, scoring 24 points, while while Wesley Yates III scored a career-high 30 against Purdue. This is something for Penn State to watch. Under first-year coach Eric Musselman, the Trojans are 10-5 at home this season.

How to Watch Penn State vs. USC Basketball

Big Ten Network will televise the game from the Galen Center beginning at 9 p.m. ET. J.B. Long and Don MacLean will have the call. Can't watch? Listen to Steve Jones and Dick Jerardi on the Penn State Sports Network.

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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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