USC Men's Basketball Hosts Manhattan In A Sunday Matinee

Sunday, November 9

Los Angeles, Calif.

3 p.m.

USC

Manhattan

Tickets

Rodney Rice dribbling in a game against Cal Poly

USC Men's Basketball Hosts Manhattan In A Sunday Matinee

November 07, 2025 | Men's Basketball

Game Notes (PDF)

The Trojans come into this game 1-0 on the season.

LOS ANGELES – USC Men's Basketball (1-0) returns to the Galen Center on Sunday, Nov. 9, to take on Manhattan University beginning at 3 p.m. This will be the first meeting ever between these two teams.

WHEREABOUTS
GAME #2 vs Manhattan
Sunday, Nov. 9 at 3 p.m.
Galen Center | Los Angeles, Calif.
TV: B1G+ | Pregame show begins at 2:55 p.m. with tip at 3:01 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
The Trojans opened the season in the Galen Center on Monday, Nov. 3, against Cal Poly. Although the Mustangs hung tight in the first half, the Trojans dominated in the final 20 minutes, backed by Jacob Cofie and Ezra Ausar, who secured 19 points each in the second half alone. With this performance, USC closed out its first game of the season with a 94-64 win.

Cofie led all players on the court with a career-high 23 points and 10 rebounds for the third double-double of his career. Rodney Rice and Ausar also showed up for the Trojans as they both scored 21 points apiece. They also grabbed new career-highs in assists as Rice finished with eight and Ausar secured four.

SCOUTING THE JASPERS

Head Coach John Gallagher is in his third season with Manhattan. Gallagher led the third-best improvement season-over-season in program history, going from 7-23 (.233) in year one to 17-14 (.548) in year two.
The Jaspers are 1-0 heading into Monday's game, winning 125-59 over St. Joseph's Brooklyn on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
In that win, graduate guard Terrance Jones scored a team-high 21 points on five three-pointers, while sophomore forwards Fraser Roxburgh and Marko Ljubibic finished with double-doubles. Seven Jaspers recorded double-figure points.
Manhattan finished the 2024-25 season with an overall record of 17-14 (.548) and 12-8 (.600) in conference play.
The Jaspers return nine members from last year's squad, welcoming three transfer players and six freshmen.
Last season, sophomore Will Sydnor led Manhattan in scoring, averaging 13.9 points per game and had a team-high 33 blocks.
Manhattan's last bid to the Big Dance was in the 2014-15 season.

STAR POWER
USC has nine different players who started in at least 20 games in their careers so far -- Rodney Rice, Ezra Ausar, Amarion Dickerson, Chad Baker-Mazara, Terrance Williams II, Jordan Marsh, Ryan Cornish, EJ Neal Jr. and Jaden Brownell. When adding all of the numbers together, it adds up to a total of 419 starts. This is the third-most starts on a roster in the NCAA.

WINNING EXCELLENCE
Both Chad Baker-Mazara and Terrance Williams II know what it's like to win games. After the Trojans' first win of the season, Baker-Mazara now has 92 career wins, while Williams currently boasts 86 wins.

BOUNCE BACK KIDS
Heading into the 2025-26 season, Andy Katz ranked USC second on his list of teams that are most likely to have a bounce-back year following a 17-18 record last season.

OTHER NOTES

Head Coach Eric Musselman coached his 350th college game against the Mustangs, securing his 239th career win.
Coach Musselman has won the first two games of every season he has coached except his second season at Nevada. That season, they lost the season opener to Saint Mary's.