This article was updated with quotes on Nov. 9, 2026 at 12:24 p.m.
It was the Rodney Rice and Alijah Arenas show on Sunday, as the senior and sophomore guards scored a combined 62 points to propel No. 21 USC to its second win of the season over Wichita State University at the Tahoe Blue Event Center in Stateline, Nevada.
The Trojans’ play certainly wasn’t comparable to the beautiful, majestic scenery surrounding Lake Tahoe, but they still emerged victorious with a 93-86 win in the fourth and final game of the inaugural Caesars Lake Tahoe Classic tournament.
Sunday night’s choppy, high-scoring contest featured plenty of whistling, with the Trojans and Shockers committing 56 personal fouls and taking 78 trips to the free-throw line combined.
Freshman center Darius Ratliff, junior forward Jacob Cofie and senior guard KJ Lewis, each a key piece for USC, each played less than half the contest and all fouled out before the game’s closing minute.
“When players are injured and out, what that does is it gives other players confidence and minutes and repetition,” head coach Eric Musselman said in a postgame interview. “Having three guys out, I’m super happy that some of the other guys got an opportunity and they came through. That gives them possibly more opportunities moving forward.”
But Rice and Arenas picked up the slack, taking over and proving too talented for Wichita State to handle down the stretch.
Rice scored a career-high 32 points in an all-around dominant performance. He did most of his damage from the foul line, knocking in 17 of 18 attempts at the charity stripe. Rice got anything he wanted around the basket, constantly attacking inside.
“[The key was] staying in attack mode: taking advantage of the screen, the pick and roll, getting to my spots and making plays,” Rice said in a postgame television interview.
Arenas continued his strong start to his sophomore campaign with a career-best scoring output, pouring in 30 points. Arenas shot 50% from the field against the Shockers, already improving his efficiency this season after struggling to see his shots fall at times last season.
“I always [have] got to be more aggressive,” Arenas said in a postgame television interview. “I’ve always got to get better: stay disciplined, humble myself. I’ve got to get on the boards a lot more, be communicative, talk on defense, just be more active.”
But the Trojans were plagued by sloppy turnovers, struggled to defend the three-point line and, after a big effort from Wichita State’s bench, fell behind early, trailing by as much as 11 late in the first half. But a furious 13-2 run to close the half, mostly at the free-throw line, kept USC within striking distance at halftime.
At over 6,000 feet above sea level, the Trojans came out of the locker room trailing and elevated their game in the second half. Rice, the only Trojan with more than two assists, controlled the pace in the final 20 minutes, dishing out seven of his game-high nine in the second half as his squad took a small but insurmountable lead.
“This is a really big win for us,” Musselman said. “[Wichita State], it’s a team [that] openly said that they talked about playing us all summer, and so I think they gave us their best shot. We got to clean up and rebound the basketball a little bit better.”
While Rice was USC’s leading scorer before his season-ending injury last year, his distribution has been his biggest weapon in 2026, opening the campaign with 18 assists in just two games. With the Trojans unable to find their stroke from beyond the arc, Rice’s ball movement and willingness to push the pace in the paint were a welcome sight.
While freshman forward Adonis Ratliff wasn’t as effective as a scorer as in last week’s debut performance, he was still instrumental on the glass, grabbing 13 rebounds, eight more than any other USC player.
“We still need to get better,” Rice said. “We’re moving in the right direction. We still need to get a little tougher, on the boards, especially. Defensive stops, we need more of those, but we’re moving in the right direction.”
After the nerve-wracking win over Wichita State, the Trojans will look to remain undefeated in nonconference play when they wrap up their two-game road trip on Wednesday, Nov. 11, against their first Power Four opponent of the year, UC Berkeley at Haas Pavilion at 8:00 p.m.
Edited by Adriana Brady and Bennett M. Weinschenk