Iowa vs. USC men’s basketball glance: Time/TV/game info (Jan. 28, 2026)

What: Iowa (14-5, 4-4 Big Ten) vs. USC (15-5, 4-5 Big Ten), men’s basketball

When/where: Wednesday, Jan. 27 at 6 p.m. CT at Carver-Hawkeye Arena

TV: BTN (Kevin Kugler, Jordan Taylor and Andy Katz)

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network affiliates

Series: Iowa leads the all-time series against USC with a 5-3 advantage. USC won the last meeting between the two programs, but the Hawkeyes are 2-0 when facing the Trojans at home.

Iowa’s next game: Saturday, Jan. 31 at Oregon at 7 p.m. CT

What to know: Returning from its bye week, Iowa men’s basketball hosts USC in one final game before venturing out West for a pair of games in the Pacific Northwest. The Hawkeyes haven’t played since their 68-62 win over Rutgers on Jan. 20.

This is the first time since 1982 that USC is heading to Iowa City, when the Hawkeyes won that game 66-55. Last season, the two programs played in Los Angeles in a 99-89 Trojan victory.

Both programs also will honor former head coach George Raveling, who led both Iowa and USC before his passing on Sep. 2. Raveling coached Iowa from 1983-86 before joining the Trojans for eight years. He retired from coaching after his time in Los Angeles, becoming a global basketball sports marketing director with Nike.

USC is nation’s leader in free throw attempts, taking 567 shots from the charity stripe and knocking down 71.4-percent. The Trojans are also ninth in blocks, averaging 5.7 per game — also good for second in the Big Ten.

“I think part of it was just getting a mental break from having to prepare for games,” Iowa head coach Ben McCollum said. “I think then it's just like, ‘OK, this is the stretch where we’ve got 11 guaranteed games,’ and so we just need to make sure that we use some of the stuff that we did throughout that break and become a little better for it.”

The Trojans have two active players averaging double figures — Chad Baker-Mazara leading with 19.2 points per game and Ezra Ausar in second with 16.2 points per game. Rodney Rice led USC with 20.3 points per game for six games before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in December.

Baker-Mazara and Iowa guard/forward Tavion Bank both played together at Northwest Florida State College during the 2022-23 season, making an appearance in the NJCAA National Championship Game before the two went their separate ways.

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