USC Women's Basketball Has Acquired Major Star Power for 2026

The University of Southern California Trojan women's basketball squad will start the regular season on Monday, Nov. 2 against the UNLV Lady Rebels. The game will take place at T-Mobile Arena as part of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame series.

ESPN has USC listed as the No. 6 team in the country in their Early-Poll. USC finished unranked last season, and lost to South Carolina in the second round of the NCAA tournament. 

USC head coach Lindsey Gottlieb is in her sixth year of coaching at USC. Gottlieb is 111-50 with a .689 winning percentage, and she might have her best team yet in 2026. 

Gottlieb has already taken USC to multiple NCAA tournaments. She has also won Big Ten Coach of the Year. Now Gottlieb must focus on taking the next step.

That next step is winning the national championship, which is something USC hasn't done since 1984.

Gottlieb has done an outstanding job in recruiting while at USC. She has signed the No. 1 player in high school in each of the last three years. Juju Watkins (2024), Jazzy Davidson (2025), and Saniyah Hall (2026), were all the top players in the country, and all came to USC in consecutive years. These three (plus Kennedy Smith), will be the core of USC’s team in 2026.

JuJu Watkins has already won every major college award you can earn. She has won the: Naismith College Player of the Year, John Wooden Award, and the AP Player of the year. She is a two-time First Team All American, and has been named to the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award as the nation's top guard.

Last season, freshman Jazzy Davidson was named National Freshman of the Year, Big Ten Freshman of the Year, First Team All Big Ten. She was also named to the Big Ten All-Defensive Team. Davidson is a scorer who is relentless on the defensive side of the ball.

Saniyah Hall will be a freshman at USC this season. In high school she was the FIBA U19 World Cup Most Valuable Player. She led USA basketball to a gold medal averaging 19 ppg. Hall was the McDonald’s All American Game MVP, and was twice state player of the year in Ohio.

Kennedy Smith is a defensive specialist who was made the Big Ten Freshman Team in 2025, and Big Ten All-Defensive team in 2026. USC will lean on her to guard the opposing team's best player, and to be a force on the boards. 

Prior to the match up with UNLV, USC will play the Cal Bears in the Bahamas in the Baha. The game will be played on Sunday, October 25. 

USC is scheduled to play 26 games on national television in 2026. The initial game against UNLV will tip off at 4 p.m. ET in Las Vegas.