USC Trojans Schedule Update: Season Tip-Off Against Cal Poly Mustangs

The USC Trojans have the date and opponent set for their men’s basketball 2025-2026 season opener. Coach Eric Musselman’s squad will start this season against the Cal Poly Mustangs on November 3 at the Galen Center.

This will tip-off Eric Musselman’s second season as coach of the Trojans. USC went 17-18 last year and will look to get back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2023.

USC Trojans Season Opener Announced

The USC Trojans bench celebrates Thursday, March 13, 2025, during the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament game against the Purdue Boilermakers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. | Alex Martin/Journal and Courier / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The USC Trojans will host Cal Poly to get their season underway. The Mustangs went 16-19 overall in 2024-2025 and finished tied for seventh place in the Big West with a conference record off 8-12.

Sources: USC and Cal Poly will meet in the 2025-26 College Basketball season opener on Monday, November 3rd at the Galen Center. #B1G #BigWest
— Rocco Miller (@RoccoMiller8) July 11, 2025

The last time these two teams faced off was in 2015. USC beat Cal Poly by a final score of 101-82. USC leads the all-time series between the two with a head-to-head record of 2-1.

USC Trojans 2025-2026 Schedule

As of now, the game against Cal Poly is the only game that is officially on the Trojans schedule. The other non-conference games will be announced at later dates. As for conference play, USC knows who their opponents are and where they will play them, but not the exact time and dates. They will have a total of 20 Big Ten conference games. Here are USC’s opponents in Big Ten conference play.

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

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

Home and Away: UCLA Bruins, Oregon Ducks, Washington Huskies

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Can USC Trojans Get Back to NCAA Tournament?

Mar 1, 2025; Eugene, Oregon, USA; USC Trojans head coach Eric Musselman during a time out in the first half against the Oregon Ducks at Matthew Knight Arena. Mandatory Credit: Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images | Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images

USC has failed to make the past two NCAA Tournaments in 2024 and 2025. Prior to this, the Trojans made the tournament three consecutive times, including an Elite Eight run in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Much has changed since.

Former USC coach Andy Enfield is now coaching the SMU Mustangs and Eric Musselman has made the move from the Arkansas Razorbacks to USC. While last season was Musselman’s first in Los Angeles, he also has not made the tournament since 2023 when he was coaching Arkansas. In his final season in 2023-2024, Arkansas missed the tournament.

Prior to that, Musselman and the Razorbacks made the tournament in 2021, 2022, and 2023. They made it all the way to the Elite Eight in 2021 and 2022 and then the Sweet 16 in 2023.

Now with one season under his belt as USC coach, Eric Musselman will try to get the Trojans back in the NCAA tournament. USC made a big splash in recruiting this past offseason when the signed five-star recruit Alijah Arenas. Alijah Arenas is the son of former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas. Arenas is ranked as the top shooting guard and the No. 7 overall recruit in the class of 2025 according to 247Sports Composite rankings.