USC Men's Basketball Separates From Sixth-Year Guard Chad Baker-Mazara With Two Games Left in Regular Season

On Sunday, March 1, 2026, USC announced that sixth-year guard Chad Baker-Mazara was no longer a member of its men's basketball team. The announcement came one day after USC lost 82-67 to Nebraska, in which Baker-Mazara scored 14 first-half points before going down hard on the baseline while chasing a play three minutes into the second half. He was substituted out and did not return. He later sat on the baseline near the USC bench rather than with teammates on the bench proper, which coach Eric Musselman attributed to a shortage of chairs. Musselman told reporters Baker-Mazara said he could not return and that Musselman had not spoken with a trainer about the player's condition.

USC offered no official explanation for the separation. A source familiar with the situation told reporters it was not any single incident but an accumulation of issues. Baker-Mazara, 26, was born in the Dominican Republic and was in his sixth collegiate season and first at USC. He led the team with 18.5 to 18.6 points per game and had previously played at Duquesne, San Diego State, Northwest Florida State College, and Auburn.

USC entered the final week of the regular season on a five-game losing streak at 18-11 overall and 7-11 in the Big Ten. The team had two regular-season games remaining before the Big Ten Tournament. Their NCAA Tournament prospects were already uncertain, and the absence of Baker-Mazara further complicates that picture. Leading scorer Rodney Rice had also been out since November with a shoulder injury.

The actual reason for Baker-Mazara's departure remains unconfirmed. The single anonymous source describing an 'accumulation of issues' is vague and unverified, and no party on record has elaborated. It is unclear whether the hard fall in the Nebraska game was medically significant or incidental to the departure decision.

Coverage generally does not explore what specific issues may have existed between Baker-Mazara and the program, whether there was a mutual agreement or a unilateral decision, or what Baker-Mazara's own perspective on the separation is. His transfer history and age are noted by most outlets but not connected to any contextual explanation of the departure.