New USC Basketball schedule rumor means Trojans will be ready for Big Ten play

It's almost time for the Muss bus to arrive, and the Trojans' newest opponent proves that they want to take on real competition this season. USC is reportedly finalizing a deal to add a matchup with Texas Tech on December 13th at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.

Texas Tech finished third in the Big 12 last year and lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament to No. 4-seed Alabama. The Red Raiders finished No. 21 in the AP Top 25 poll last season, while the Trojans only appeared twice last season at No. 24.

USC Basketball has no excuses this year

In Eric Musselman's third season as head coach, he needs to prove that USC can be a contending team in the Big Ten. In two years, he has a 35-32 record, and the team seems to be starting from square one every season.

Last season was trending upward for the team as they started on a 10-game winning streak. But then, they got into their conference play and couldn't find much success. The team finished 12th with a 7-13 record in the Big Ten and ended their season on an eight-game losing streak.

Part of the decline for the Trojans was that their star players had injuries. Promising freshman Alijah Arenas was out for a good half of the season due to a series of injuries. Then, their leading scorer, Rodney Rice, sustained a season-ending shoulder injury in December. Chad-Baker Mazara, who replaced Rice as the leading scorer, also ended up injured in February.

Still, regardless of injuries, USC probably wasn't ready for Big Ten basketball because of its non-conference schedule. On its 10-game winning streak to start the year, it faced Loyola Marymount University, Manhattan and Illinois State.

Having two easy games to start the season isn't a bad thing, but having too many doesn't prepare teams for conference games. When the Trojans were starting to get into conference play, they still weren't playing good teams in between. For example, they dominated UC Santa Cruz 102-63, just to lose to No. 2 Michigan 96-62 the next game.

Nonconference schedule so far for USC Basketball

Having a tougher schedule is needed for the ceiling that this team can have this year. CBS's Jon Rothstein ranked the team fourth in the conference. So, clearly others are expecting a huge turnaround this year. Rice and Arenas are back in the lineup, along with some key transfers and a recruiting class that's coming in, so the team looks like a real contender this year.

Along with the Texas Tech rumor, the Trojans will play in the Acrisure Series in Palm Springs during Thanksgiving week. It's not known which three teams they'll be playing, but the options are: Arizona State, LSU, SMU, South Carolina and Utah State. This will be the second time USC takes part in this series. During Musselman's first year, he took the team down to Palm Springs, but they lost two games to New Mexico and Saint Mary's.

If the team wants some competition, then they should hope to take on Utah State, SMU and LSU. While these options are better than last year's, USC still needs to get some more competition to really put this team to the test. Having the Red Raiders on their schedule hints that they want to have tougher opponents on the schedule.

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