Good morning, Trojan Family! USC broke ground on a state-of-the-art training facility, the Bloom Football Performance Center, which will serve as the new home of Trojan Football and allow USC Athletics to reimagine the John McKay Center to best serve its entire student-athlete population.

🎥 Listen to Lincoln Riley’s full speech at the groundbreaking ceremony

What else can you find in today's edition of The Three Torches?

🏀 Men’s basketball improves to 2-0
⚽️ Soccer falls in the semifinals in PK's
⚔️ And much, much more!

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Down To The Wire. USC men’s basketball received a hard-fought battle from Idaho State, but Saint Thomas hit the dagger three with 17 seconds left in the game to secure the 75-69 win. Josh Cohen led the Trojans in scoring with 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field while Wesley Yates III added 13 points off the bench. Now sitting at 2-0 on the season, USC will welcome UT Arlington to the Galen Center for their next matchup on Wednesday at 8 p.m.

🔼 All The Way To PK’s. Despite dominating possession and outshooting Rutgers 26-11, the No. 4 USC women's soccer team was ousted from the Big Ten Tournament on penalty kicks Thursday afternoon. The semifinal match ended in a 1-1 draw, but the Scarlett Knights moved on thanks to a 3-0 PK shootout. The Women of Troy now await their NCAA Tournament draw with the NCAA Women's Soccer Selection Show scheduled for Monday at 1 p.m.

🔼 Glad To Be Back. After earning a win across the pond against Ole Miss, the No. 3 USC women’s basketball team is back in Los Angeles to set up for their home opener at Galen Center, hosting Cal Poly at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The Trojans had two players record double-doubles (Kiki Iriafen and JuJu Watkins) in a season opener for the first time since 2010. USC leads the all-time series, 19-10, with the last meeting ending in a 76-51 win at home in 2021.

🔼 Time’s Up. USC men’s tennis freshman Niels Hoffmann returns home after going 1-1 at the ITA Conference Masters tournament. After winning his round of 32 match in straight sets, Hoffmann fell to the No. 1-seeded player in the tournament. Following his successful fall, Hoffmann finished 11-4 overall. 

🔼 Road Tripping. The No. 4-ranked USC men’s water polo squad is taking a break from MPSF play to compete in a nonconference road trip this weekend, facing No. 14 UC Santa Barbara in a 1 p.m. matchup on Sunday. After a hard-fought pair of matchups last weekend that resulted in a close loss and overtime win, the Trojans will look to improve their 17-4 record and add a 79th all-time win against the Gauchos.

Today’s Top Tier Performance presented by ARCO goes to Trojan women’s basketball trio Kiki Iriafen, Talia von Oelhoffen and JuJu Watkins. The three Women of Troy were added to the prestigious Preseason Top 50 Watch List for the John R. Wooden Award.

This season, Abbott and the Big Ten are pitting school against school in the largest blood donation competition of our lifetime to fight the largest blood shortage in a generation.

Want USC to win? Then don't give up. Give blood. Every donation scores one point for your school on the leaderboard.

The winning school will receive $1 million to advance student or community health. Individual donors will be offered a free one-month subscription to B1G+ and will be entered to win a trip to the 2024 Discover® Big Ten Football Championship Game on December 7, 2024. Learn More and Give Blood Today.

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A Whole Lot of Room. The new Bloom Football Performance Center will more than double the size of the current facility and will feature USC’s 11 national championships, eight Heisman Trophies and will include a space for each Trojan All-American.

Our question today: how many Trojans have been named All-Americans in the history of USC football?

Think you got it? Scroll down to the bottom of this email for the answer!

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📅 THE WEEKEND AHEAD

Friday, November 8
🎾 Men’s Tennis @ ITA Conference Masters Championships in Rome, GA
🎾 Men’s Tennis @ ITA Sectional Championships in Malibu, CA
🎾 Women’s Tennis @ ITA Sectional Championships in Los Angeles, CA | Watch
🏊️ Men’s & Women’s Swim & Dive vs. Arizona @ 1 p.m. in Los Angeles, CA
🏐 Volleyball vs. Illinois @ 3 p.m. in Urbana, Champaign, IL | B1G+

Saturday, November 9
🎾 Men’s Tennis @ ITA Conference Masters Championships in Rome, GA
🎾 Men’s Tennis @ ITA Sectional Championships in Malibu, CA
🎾 Women’s Tennis @ ITA Sectional Championships in Los Angeles, CA | Watch
🏀 Women’s Basketball vs. Cal Poly @ 2 p.m. in Los Angeles, CA | Tickets | B1G+ | Listen

Sunday, November 10
🎾 Men’s Tennis @ ITA Conference Masters Championships in Rome, GA
🎾 Men’s Tennis @ ITA Sectional Championships in Malibu, CA
🎾 Women’s Tennis @ ITA Sectional Championships in Los Angeles, CA | Watch
🤽‍♂️ Men’s Water Polo vs. UC Santa Barbara @ Noon in Santa Barbara, CA
🏐 Volleyball vs. Indiana @ 1 p.m. in Bloomington, IN | B1G+

⚔️Click here to view the full USC Trojan Athletics Calendar

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: 176!

From USC football’s first All-American, Brice Taylor (1926), to the most recent selection in Zachariah Branch (2023), the Bloom Football Performance Center will host a space to feature all 176 Trojan All-Americans.

⚔️ Have a great weekend, everyone!