USC participation in Ally Tipoff confirmed with NC State named as opponents

It won't be too long before the USC women's basketball season is underway. Fans still await official news or updates as to how JuJu Watkins is progressing. Regardless of who ends up taking the court for the Trojans, coach Lindsay Gottlieb will have her team ready to compete for a Big Ten title and a deep March Madness tournament run.

While the entirety of the schedule is yet to be released, USC's first game has been confirmed. The Women of Troy will take part in the Ally Tipoff. They will face NC State at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The game will take place on November 9th.

 This game is part of the efforts run by the Charlotte Sports Foundation. CSF is an organization that aims to help spur economic growth in its local area while highlighting the efforts of student-athletes. Also playing a role in the Duke's Mayo Bowl, ACC football championship, and Charlotte Invitational, this non-conference beginning of the season game is becoming a staple in their yearly events.

For coach Gottlieb, it will be a good early test against a team in the Wolfpack that annually makes it into the NCAA tournament. Certainly the BIG schedule will be difficult and tough for all teams to navigate.

This should be a good early litmus test to see how the new-look Trojans will play and attack the season early on. As could be seen by the CSF post, Kennedy Smith is returning and expects to feature prominently on this roster as a sophomore.

Roster with a lot of potentially preparing for upcoming USC season

Between Smith, the transfers like Kara Dunn and Londynn Jones, as well as true freshmen, such as Jazzy Davidson, this promises to once again be a highly competitive side under the guidance of coach Gottlieb.

Being asked to be a part of this emerging event of significance and going up against a good NC State team is only a further testament to how strong of a program USC continues to build in Los Angeles.