Five USC women’s basketball’s games to keep on your radar


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Junior guard Kyra White dribbles the ball against Oregon State in a game during the 2021 season.
Junior guard Kyra White dribbles the ball against Oregon State in a game during the 2021 season. USC will face the Beavers Jan. 28. (Peter Gastis | Daily Trojan)

After an 11-12 record in the 2020-2021 season and an 8-10 record in Pac-12 play, the women’s basketball team has a lot to improve in their offseason. Last season, USC missed out on the NCAA tournament. The team will need a strong conference play record to convince the selection committee to send a tournament invitation to the Trojans. 

With the complete 2021-2022 season schedule announced on Oct. 11, here are the five most important Pac-12 games on the Trojans’ schedule.

Dec. 28 at No. 20 UCLA

The Trojans kick off Pac-12 play with a marquee matchup against their cross-town rivals. It’s a game that could give either USC momentum for a successful season or put the Trojans on the wrong path. 

Last year, the Trojans lost the last two games against the Bruins by a combined 63 points, but USC may have a chance against UCLA with the loss of forward Michaela Onyenwere to the New York Liberty during the WNBA draft. Onyenwere scored 49 total points against USC last season, so UCLA will need another player to step up in her absence.

Jan. 28 at No. 14 Oregon State

The Beavers had a successful 2020-2021 season and shut down the Trojans offense in the one game between the two teams. Forward Alissa Pili was the only player capable of putting up double-digit points against Oregon State, and after a trip to the Round of 32, the Beavers are expected to have an even better season this year. 

The Oregon State game will prove pivotal for the Trojans because it comes in the middle of a three-game stretch where USC will face No. 20 UCLA, No. 14 Oregon State and No. 10 Oregon. The Trojans will be lucky to win one game in this stretch but just one victory would be a huge resume boost and could be the reason the Trojans are selected for the NCAA tournament. 

The game against the Beavers is the most important of the three games since it starts the Trojans’ road trip and could prevent the team from spiraling into two-straight losses before taking on Oregon.

Feb. 4 vs UC Berkeley

USC’s game against UC Berkeley comes during the Trojans’ roughest patch of the season, making the game of the utmost importance. The Trojans will play the Golden Bears after facing No. 20 UCLA, No. 14 Oregon State and No. 10 Oregon and immediately before hosting the No. 3 Stanford Cardinal. 

USC could very well go 0-4 against those teams and to prevent the Trojans from letting the season snowball into disaster, USC will need a victory over California. The Trojans enjoyed its second-largest win of last season when the team beat the Golden Bears 77-54, but nothing is guaranteed, especially in the middle of that difficult stretch of the season. The matchup is also the first time Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb will play the former school she coached.

Feb. 6 vs No. 3 Stanford

Stanford went on to win the National Championship last season and ended USC’s season in the process with a 92-53 win over the Trojans in the second round of the Pac-12 tournament. 

The Trojans also lost both regular season games against the Cardinal by a total of 47 points. USC would be fortunate to come out of the Feb. 6 game with a close loss, but a win may be the tipping point to get the Trojans selected for its first NCAA tournament berth since 2014. 

This will be no easy feat as the Cardinal dropped only two
Pac-12 games last season and have the winningest women’s college basketball coach in NCAA history in Tara VanDerveer. 

Feb. 26 at No. 22 Arizona

The Trojans end their season with a difficult road game against the 2021 NCAA tournament runner-up No. 22 Arizona. 

USC will come off one of its easiest stretches of the season after matching up against five-straight unranked teams, at least in the preseason rankings. The Wildcats will be the last opportunity to get a quality win for the Trojans. In the 2020-2021 season, Arizona narrowly defeated USC 78-77 and only six Wildcats scored with Aari McDonald and Cate Reese combining for 55 points. 

Luckily for the Trojans, Arizona’s highest scorer from that game with 30 points, Aari McDonald, moved on to the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream, giving USC a shot at redeeming themselves from last year’s nailbiter loss.