USC men take rare step by adding point guard at midseason

With three key players out due to injuries and USC in desperate need of depth, the Trojans are taking the rare step of adding reinforcements mid-season.

Point guard Kam Woods, who last played at Robert Morris, was added to the Trojans’ roster and cleared to play Thursday, despite USC already being a dozen games into the basketball season.

Woods could make an immediate impact for coach Eric Musselman, 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 should immediately enter the rotation with USC, after the Trojans lost 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 schedule. USC had shown some interest in Woods during the offseason, according to a person close to the program who is not authorized to speak publicly on the subject, but Woods never signed with a team, although he was a second-team All-Horizon League selection.

Since he was still in the transfer portal and has already graduated, Woods is the rare case, outside of an international player or junior college player, who qualifies to be a mid-season addition.

Woods played five years of college basketball, bouncing between five schools during that time. He started at Troy in 2020-21, before taking the junior college route at Northwest Florida State Community College during the 2021-22 season. He then transferred to North Carolina State, where he played sparingly for 13 games.

Woods landed with Robert Morris last season and became the Colonials’ leading scorer by winning the Horizon League and earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

So, since this is his sixth year, how is Woods eligible to join another team? In terms of eligibility, he’s actually in the same category as the Trojans’ leading scorer, Chad Baker-Mazara, who is playing his sixth season of college basketball in 2025-26.

Due to the recent ruling in the Diego Pavia case, the season Woods spent playing in college does not count toward his five years of eligibility. Additionally, since Woods was a freshman during the 2020-21 season, 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 be eligible to join the Trojans in December.

For USC, this fit could be particularly fortunate. 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 should also enter this picture in the coming weeks. Arenas was expected to return to practice this week and will likely be cleared to play in January.