The USC basketball team is coming into this season with a lot of hype, and they lived up to it in their season opener on Monday. The Trojans got their 2023-24 campaign started against Kansas State in Las Vegas, and USC made an early season statement. The Wildcats made it all the way to the Elite 8 last season, and while they are expected to take a step back this year, this game was supposed to be a tight one. That was not the case, however, as the Trojans ended up winning the game convincingly. The final score was 82-69, and USC is now 1-0 on the year.

Monday's game against Kansas State was a great showing by USC basketball, and they were without a key player as Vincent Iwuchukwu did not play because of a back injury. The Trojans are hoping to have him back for game two against Cal State Bakersfield, and he received an injury update on Thursday.

Vincent Iwuchukwu will be a game-time decision on Thursday night for USC, according to a tweet from Jon Rothstein. Iwuchukwu is in his second season with the Trojans, and he averaged 5.4 PPG and 2.5 RPG a year ago.

If this USC basketball team can find a way to remain healthy, they should have a successful season. Iwuchukwu shouldn't be out for long as he could return the lineup in game two, but the major health/injury news regarding this team involves Bronny James. James had a scary incident a couple of months ago that resulted in him going into cardiac arrest. Thankfully he is okay, but he will obviously have to miss some time this season. He does still plan on making his USC debut later this year.

USC and Cal State Bakersfield will get going at 9:00 ET on Thursday night and it will be airing on the Pac-12 Network. The Trojans are hoping that Iwuchukwu will be good to go for this one.