USC’s backcourt is finally whole, and it showed. Rodney Rice scored 32 points and Alijah Arenas added 30 as No. 21 USC beat Wichita State 93-86 on Sunday at the Caesars Lake Tahoe Classic, as first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
That’s 62 points from two guards who never shared the floor last season. Arenas, the son of former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas, missed the first two months of his freshman year with a knee injury from a car accident, and Rice went down with a shoulder injury during USC’s Maui Invitational run, per Field Level Media. Both chose to come back to Los Angeles for 2026-27, and so far that bet is paying off.
“Their chemistry’s been really good,” head coach Eric Musselman said before the game.
The IAHHM Take
Agent Zero’s kid is officially cooking. Alijah came to USC as a five-star recruit with a famous last name and a lot of noise around him, then had to watch from the sideline while he got right. Dropping 30 on a Wichita State team picked to win the American is the kind of game that changes the conversation from “Gilbert’s son” to “Alijah Arenas, problem.”
The bigger picture: USC finally has the one-two punch Musselman planned for a year ago. If Rice and Arenas stay healthy, the Trojans have the firepower to make noise in the Big Ten and snap a tournament drought that dates back to 2022-23. And with JuJu Watkins already back on the women’s side, Troy is suddenly a must-watch hoops school.
Is Alijah Arenas a lottery pick after this season, or does he need another year in Troy? Let us hear it.
Source: Los Angeles Times
