USC Trojans

The Trojans were 12-1 before Christmas in 2025-26 and lost their last eight games. USC covered 13 of 31 lined games, a rate 299 Division I teams beat.

A season that turned

USC’s first 13 games produced 12 wins, among them the Maui Invitational, where the Trojans beat Boise State, Seton Hall and Arizona State on three straight days. The other 19 went 6-13. January was 4-5, February 2-5, March 0-3.

The end was the worst of it. From 11 February the Trojans lost eight in a row, and from the 101-65 home loss to Illinois on 18 February they failed to cover seven straight.

The spread all year

Against the number USC was 13-18. Only 58 teams covered less often, and seven covered at the same rate. At home it was 6-9, away 5-6. Even the strong start did not pay much on the spread: November was 7-0 straight up and 4-3 against it.

Home prices that lost

The moneyline finished 5.61 units down over 30 priced games, and 5.43 of that came at home, where only 26 teams lost more. Three home defeats came with USC favored: Washington 84-76 at -218 in December, Northwestern 74-68 at -298 and Oregon 71-70 at -245. As favorites they won 14 of 17, and the moneyline on them broke even, 0.02 units up over 16 priced games. As underdogs the Trojans went 3-11; the best of the three wins was 73-71 at Wisconsin at +285.

Washington and UCLA

Washington beat USC three times and covered all three, the last 83-79 in the second round of the Big Ten tournament. UCLA won both meetings, by 19 and 21.

The total

USC games went over 17 times and under 14. The Trojans scored 78.59 a game and allowed 77.94, close to even over the year.

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