USC is wielding an impressive amount of talent on their roster

TL;DR

USC Trojans are enhancing their roster with top talent, including guard Alijah Arenas, who announced his return for a second season after a challenging freshman year.

Key points

USC Trojans are enhancing their roster
Alijah Arenas returns for a second season
Arenas averaged 14.1 points per game last season
USC missed the NCAA tournament
UCLA Bruins had a modest offseason

USC TrojansUCLA BruinsAlijah Arenas

While the UCLA Bruins are in the midst of a modest offseason in terms of adding talent to their roster, the USC Trojans are loading up. Guard Alijah Arenas announced on Monday that he’d be returning to the Trojans for a second season.

Wasn't the smoothest start

This past year wasn’t the freshman season Arenas envisioned, playing in 14 games for a USC team that missed the NCAA tournament. Arenas scored 14.1 points per game on 34.1% shooting from the field.

Alijah Arenas was a top recruit in 2025

The son of NBA star Gilbert Arenas came to the Trojans as a five-star recruit and was 247 Sports No. 1 shooting guard in the country. While USC head coach Eric Musselman hasn’t had a ton of success on the court, with a career record of 35-32 with the Trojans, but he has built an insane roster.

USC's bringing back plenty of scoring

Arenas isn’t the only USC star heading back for another season with the Trojans, Rodney Rice, who scored 20.3 points per game in his six games with USC this past season. Rice needed shoulder injury, which shut his season down early but the veteran guard gives USC a premier scorer. In the transfer portal, USC added KJ Lewis out of Georgetown, who put up 14.9 points per game this past season.