Three key players are out due to injury and USC Desperate for depth, the Trojans take the rare step of adding reinforcements midseason.
Point Guard Cam Woodswho last played at Robert Morris, was added to the Trojans' roster and cleared to play Thursday, even though USC's basketball season is already a dozen games into its season.
Woods could make an immediate impact for coach Eric Musselman after averaging 14.9 points, 5.2 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game last year at Robert Morris, where he played alongside current Trojan Amarion Dickerson. Woods is expected to immediately join USC's rotation after the Trojans lost their starting point guard. Rodney Rice for the season.
What's unclear is why Woods was still in the transfer portal two months into the college basketball calendar. USC showed some interest in Woods in the offseason, according to a person familiar with the program who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, but Woods never signed with the team despite being selected to the All-Horizon League second team.
Because he was still in the transfer portal and had already graduated, Woods is the rare case outside of a national team or junior college player who could be considered a midseason addition.
Woods played college basketball for five years, bouncing between five schools during that time. He started at Troy in the 2020-21 season before attending Northwest Florida State College for the 2021-22 season. He then transferred to North Carolina State where he played moderately over 13 games.
Woods joined Robert Morris last season and became the Colonials' leading scorer, winning the Horizon League and earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
So, considering this is his sixth year, how can Woods join another team? From an eligibility standpoint, he actually falls into the same category as Trojans leading scorer Chad Baker-Mazara, who is entering his sixth season of college basketball in 2025-26.
Due to the recent decision in the Diego Pavia case, Woods' college season does not count toward his five years of eligibility. Additionally, since Woods was a freshman in 2020-21, he has an extra year of eligibility due to the pandemic.
If Woods had played for another team during the first two months of the season, he would not have been eligible to join the Trojans in December.
For the University of Southern California, this could be a particularly fortuitous coincidence. Without Rice, USC used a combination of Jerry Easter, Jordan Marsh and Ryan Cornish at point guard. Woods will be the most experienced of the group.
Five-star freshman Alijah Arenas is also expected to be in the picture in the coming weeks. Arenas was expected to return to training this week and is expected to be cleared to play sometime in January.
