USC Announces 2019-20 Men's Basketball Schedule With Pac-12 Pairings

Home games against 2019 NCAA Tournament team Temple and defending Summit League champion South Dakota State, road games at postseason teams Nevada and TCU, a neutral site game against SEC champion and NCAA Sweet 16 team LSU as well as the always challenging Pac-12 gauntlet of games highlight the 2019-20 USC men's basketball schedule announced today (July 22). In addition, the Trojans will host FGCU, the school where USC's Andy Enfield began his head coaching career. The exact date of the Pac-12 Conference games and the times and television assignments should be announced by mid-September.

In all, USC is scheduled to face four defending conference champions, play 15 games against teams which reached the 2019 postseason and 14 games against teams which won 20 or more games last season.

USC went 16-17 last season and ranked tops in the Pac-12 in three-point field goal percentage, assist and assist to turnover ratio, while being one of the conference's highest scoring teams. The core four of Jonah Mathews, Nick Rakocevic, Elijah Weaver and Charles O'Bannon Jr. will be joined by nine newcomers which includes one of the top recruiting classes nationally.

USC will open the season with three consecutive home games, hosting Florida A&M of the Mid-East Athletic Conference on Nov. 5, Portland of the West Coast Conference on Nov. 8 and Summit League champion South Dakota State on Nov. 12. The Jackrabbits went 24-9 and played in the NIT last season.

The Trojans will play their first road game of the season at Nevada on Nov. 16. Nevada was 29-5 last season, won the Mountain West Conference and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

A pair of home games will be next as USC hosts Pepperdine of the West Coast Conference on Nov. 19, followed by Temple on Nov. 22. The Owls of the American Athletic Conference went 23-10 last season and played in the NCAA Tournament.

USC will then travel to Orlando, Fla. to play in the 2019 Orlando Invitational to be held Nov. 28-Dec. 1 at the HP Field House. USC will open up facing Fairfield of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference on Nov. 28. The winner of the game will face the winner of the Davidson/Marquette game on Nov. 29, with the other two teams facing off that day also. USC's final game at the Orlando Classic will be on Dec. 1 vs. one of four teams: Harvard, Maryland, Temple and Texas A&M. The stocked field includes five teams which played in the 2019 postseason and four teams which won 23 or more games a year ago.

USC will play its second nonconference road game against TCU of the Big 12 in Fort Worth, Texas on Dec. 6. The Horned Frogs went 23-14 last season and reached the NIT semifinals. The contest will be the first collegiate basketball game to be played in Fort Worth's new multipurpose Dickies Arena.

A game at Galen against Long Beach State of the Big West follows on Dec. 15. USC will then take on defending Southeastern Conference champion LSU at the Staples Center as part of the Hoophall LA, USC's fourth consecutive season participating in the downtown event. LSU was 28-7 last season and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16.

The Trojans will close out the nonconference slate at home against Florida Gulf Coast of the Atlantic Sun Conference on Dec. 19. FGCU is where Enfield began his head coaching career, leading the Eagles to the Sweet 16 in 2013.

USC will open up Pac-12 play on the road the week of Jan. 1-5 playing at Washington State and Washington. USC will host the same two schools the week of Feb. 12-16.

The Trojans will then face off with crosstown rival UCLA at Pauley Pavilion the week of Jan. 8-12. USC will host the Bruins at the Galen Center during the final week of the regular season, March 4-7.

USC's first conference homestand will be the week of Jan. 15-19 when it hosts Stanford and California. Those will be the only two games against Stanford and California during the regular season due to the rotating Pac-12 schedule.

Oregon and Oregon State are the other Pac-12 schools USC is scheduled to face only once this season. The Trojans will play at Oregon and Oregon State the week of Jan. 22-26.

USC will host Colorado and Utah the week of Jan. 29-Feb. 2 and will face the same schools on the road the week of Feb. 19-23.

The Trojans will play at Arizona and Arizona the week of Feb. 5-9 and host those schools at the Galen Center the week of Feb. 26-March 1.

Fans interested in purchasing tickets can go to USCTrojans.com/tickets or may call 213-740-GOSC (4672). Season tickets are on sale now.

2019-20 USC Men's Basketball Schedule

Non-Conference Games:

Nov. 5: Florida A&M
Nov. 8: Portland
Nov. 12: South Dakota State
Nov. 16: at Nevada
Nov. 19: Pepperdine
Nov. 22: Temple
Nov. 28: ^vs. Fairfield (Orlando Invitational)
Nov. 29: ^vs. Davidson/Marquette (Orlando Invitational)
Dec. 1: ^vs. Harvard/Maryland/Temple/Texas A&M (Orlando Invitational)
Dec. 6: at TCU
Dec. 15: Long Beach State
Dec. 21: vs. LSU (Hoophall L.A. at Staples Center)
Dec. 29: FGCU

^ Orlando Invitational (USC, Davidson, Fairfield, Harvard, Marquette, Maryland, Temple, Texas A&M)

Pac-12 Conference Games:

Jan. 1-5: at Washington State, at Washington
Jan. 8-12: at UCLA
Jan. 15-19: Stanford, California
Jan. 22-26: at Oregon, at Oregon State
Jan. 29-Feb. 2: Colorado, Utah
Feb. 5-9: at Arizona, at Arizona State
Feb. 12-16: Washington, Washington State
Feb. 19-23: at Utah, at Colorado
Feb. 26-Mar. 1: Arizona State, Arizona
March 4-7: UCLA

March 11-14: Pac-12 Tournament (T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nev.)

Players Mentioned

Jonah Mathews

Nick Rakocevic

Elijah Weaver