LOS ANGELES — They need to play with some characteristics of the Big Ten, Eric Musselman emphasized. Physicality. Rebounding. Discipline.
But Musselman’s teams, dating to Arkansas and Nevada, have long taken on an identity wholly unto themselves, playing with much of the unbridled energy he carries inside his 5-foot-7 frame. They are long. They are athletic. They play fast, on both ends. And Musselman, speaking about the men’s basketball program he wanted to build at USC in his introductory presser earlier this month, made clear the Trojans’ style will be a fusion of all concepts.
“Stylistically, we got to have some of the Big Ten characteristics, but also we want to be different,” Musselman said, “so that when we play teams in conference – maybe it’s not a steady diet of what they see every night.”
USC, any way you slice it, is set to be far different than what the Big Ten is accustomed to, a hastily constructed, transfer-heavy roster in the wake of a massive coaching change. And on Wednesday, the Big Ten released the first look into those conference matchups, solidifying the skeleton of USC’s schedule and who they’ll play at home and on the road in their first foray into a new conference.
In keeping with all other 18 members of the conference, USC will play 20 games in the Big Ten. Fourteen individual matchups will be split evenly between home and away, with six home-and-away matchups against a set of old foes: UCLA, Oregon, and Washington, preserving their former Pac-12 ties in the new Big Ten.
Dates and times will be released at a later date.
Here’s the breakdown of USC’s 14 individual Big Ten opponents, with last year’s overall and conference records:
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HOME
Iowa (19-15, 10-10)
Michigan (8-24, 3-17)
Michigan State (20-15, 10-10)
Minnesota (19-15, 9-11)
Ohio State (22-14, 9-11)
Penn State (16-17, 9-11)
Wisconsin (22-14, 11-9)
AWAY
Illinois (29-9, 14-6)
Indiana (19-14, 10-10)
Maryland (16-17, 7-13)
Nebraska (23-11, 12-8)
Northwestern (22-12, 12-8)
Purdue (34-5, 17-3)
Rutgers (15-17, 7-13)
