The USC men’s basketball team is on a five-game losing streak, and the 18-11 Trojans just suffered another big blow entering the final week of the 2025-26 regular season.
USC announced on Sunday that sixth-year senior guard Chad Baker-Mazara is no longer with the team.
According to The Los Angeles Times‘ Ryan Kartje, “A person familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly said that it wasn’t any one incident, but an accumulation of issues that led to Baker-Mazara’s departure.”
It became clear something was amiss during the Trojans’ 82-67 loss to the 25-4 Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday. With around 17 minutes remaining in the second half, Baker-Mazara blocked a shot and fell hard on the court afterward. He was immediately substituted out of the game, and when he returned to the floor, he sat among fans rather than on the USC bench for the remainder of the game. After the game, per Kartje, USC head coach Eric Musselman relayed that Baker-Mazara had told coaches he was “unable” to return to play.
Baker-Mazara averaged 18.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.3 blocks across 26 games in his lone season as a Trojan.
Baker-Mazara announced his transfer to USC in April 2025. The 26-year-old began at Duquesne in 2020, then played for San Diego State as a sophomore before stopping at Northwest Florida State College at the junior college level for the 2022-23 season. Baker-Mazara won the 2021-22 Mountain West Conference Sixth Man of the Year while at San Diego State.
Baker-Mazara recaptured the potential he showed in San Diego for two seasons at Auburn. He was named to the 2024 All-SEC Tournament Team and the 2025 All-SEC Third Team.
It would appear this will be how Baker-Mazara’s collegiate career ends.
As for USC, ESPN’s Neil Paine projected the Trojans’ chances of making the men’s NCAA tournament at just 14%.
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