Alijah Arenas is making progress after car crash. © Pamela Smith-Imagn Images

USC Five-Star freshman Alijah Arenas Suffers Devastating Injury

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Hunter Hodies | Last updated Jul 23, 2025 9:18 PM ET

The USC Trojans men's basketball program got some tough news regarding top 2025 recruit Alijah Arenas on Wednesday.

According to senior NBA insider Chris Haynes, Arenas has suffered a torn meniscus, which has put his status for the 2025-26 men's college basketball season in serious jeopardy.

Arenas committed to the Trojans in January and is the top recruit in his home state (California), per 247Sports composite rankings. He is also the top shooting guard recruit in the nation and the seventh-best overall recruit.

The Trojans have been expecting big things out of him this upcoming season since he was their top recruit in this year's recruiting class.

Arenas is the son of former NBA star Gilbert Arenas and was involved in a nasty car crash in April. He was driving back from the gym in the Los Angeles area when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed. Thankfully, he didn't suffer any significant injuries and was able to fully recover before Hayes reported that Arenas had suffered a torn meniscus on Wednesday.

USC has missed the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons and only won 17 games this past year. The last time the Trojans won an NCAA Tournament game was during the 2020-21 season when they got to the Elite Eight.

Stay tuned for more details on this developing story.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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