Preview: Oklahoma Sooners vs. South Carolina Gamecocks

Oklahoma will have the chance on Wednesday to make amends for arguably its worst loss of the 2025-26 season.

The Sooners, seeded No. 11 in the SEC Tournament, will open the conference tourney against 14-seed South Carolina. OU must win multiple games — likely three — in Nashville to realistically have a chance at making the NCAA Tournament as an at-large.

Oklahoma and South Carolina squared off just once during the regular season. The Gamecocks led the entire game and eventually earned an 85-76 win on their home court. 

That loss on Jan. 20 marked the Sooners’ fifth in a row, and they dropped four more consecutively after it.

How to Watch Oklahoma vs. South Carolina

Date: March 11
Time: 8:30 p.m.
Location: Bridgestone Arena (Nashville, TN)
TV: SEC Network
Radio: 107.7 FM The Franchise

The Sooners went 7-11 in regular-season SEC play and now enter the conference tournament with a 17-14 overall record. OU won six of its final eight regular-season contests and took down a handful of teams — Georgia, Vanderbilt, Missouri and Texas — that will likely make it to the Big Dance.

Of the OU’s 11 conference losses, only two of them came against teams that likely won’t make the NCAA Tournament: South Carolina and Mississippi State. If the Sooners simply took care of business in those two games, they would likely be on the right side of the bubble.

But they didn’t. OU, though, still has a path to the tourney, as coach Porter Moser has said since the beginning of the Sooners’ end-of-season surge.

And Moser feels confident about where his team is at heading into the SEC Tournament.

“We’re playing better basketball,” Moser said. “Getting that feeling of all the investment that they keep doing day in and day out, getting rewarded with a win. That losing streak… there were some gut punches.”

In their first meeting with the Gamecocks, the Sooners struggled defensively.

OU allowed South Carolina to shoot 49 percent from the field. The Sooners also gave up nine 3-pointers on 20 attempts as Myles Stute and Elijah Strong combined for a 6-of-9 clip from deep.

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Since that game, Oklahoma has tightened up its defense. The Sooners have held their opponents below 80 points in four of their last five contests, and the only exception was their 88-85 win against Texas (OU allowed only 77 points during regulation).

“They’re getting confidence in their defense,” Moser said. “I think the guys are really seeing the effects of guarding better.”

If Oklahoma can beat South Carolina, the Sooners will face Texas A&M in the second round. The Aggies, a lock for the NCAA Tournament, are 2-0 against OU this season, but the Sooners lost those games by a combined 11 points.

After that, Oklahoma would face Arkansas, the No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament. OU lost 83-79 to the Razorbacks in January.

It won’t be easy, but there is certainly a pathway for OU to reach the NCAA Tournament. But that starts with earning a win against South Carolina, something that the Sooners couldn’t do earlier in the year.