Jennie Baranczyk’s squad faces a grueling slate featuring seven ranked programs and a home-and-home series with South Carolina as the Sooners chase another deep postseason run
The SEC dropped the home and away opponents for the 2026-27 women’s basketball season on Tuesday, and Oklahoma’s slate is a tough one, as expected.
The Sooners will host Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas, and Vanderbilt at Lloyd Noble Center. On the road, they’ll travel to Arkansas, Florida, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas A&M.
This marks the 18th straight year of the 16-game SEC schedule. Each team plays a single round-robin (14 games) plus a rotating opponent for two games.
This year, that opponent is South Carolina. The Gamecocks have reached the last six Women's Final Fours, however, the Sooners did win in their one regular season meeting last season in Norman, 94-82 in overtime.
Out of the games we now know, OU will face seven teams ranked in ESPN’s Way-Too-Early Top 25. Four of those ranked teams are coming to Norman: No. 1 South Carolina, No. 8 Texas, No. 11 Vanderbilt, and No. 17 Kentucky. Oklahoma checks in at No. 24 in that same poll.
Last season, Jennie Baranczyk’s team went 11-5 in SEC play and reached the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. The Sooners would go on to win two NCAA Tournament games, before they were eliminated in the Sweet Sixteen.
OU will look to build on that in 2026-27 with a strong mix of returning talent and newcomers. The Sooners bring back national freshman of the year Aaliyah Chavez and senior All-SEC performer Sahara Williams, along with five other players who saw meaningful minutes last year.
They also added seven new faces, three freshmen and four transfers, which should add depth and competition to the roster.
The full 2026-27 schedule with dates and times will come out later, but we already know a couple of big non-conference games. OU will open the season in Paris, France against North Carolina on November 2, then face Syracuse in New York on December 3 as part of the SEC/ACC Challenge.
Here’s the full list of home and away opponents with all-time series records:
2026-27 SEC Home Opponents
- Alabama (OU leads 2-1)
- Auburn (OU leads 2-1)
- Georgia (UGA leads 5-4)
- Kentucky (UK leads 5-2)
- Missouri (OU leads 33-29)
- South Carolina (OU leads 4-3)
- Texas (TEX leads 41-29)
- Vanderbilt (VU leads 2-1)
2026-27 SEC Away Opponents
- Arkansas (OU leads 12-8)
- Florida (OU leads 4-1)
- LSU (LSU leads 3-1)
- Ole Miss (OU leads 4-3)
- Mississippi State (OU leads 2-1)
- South Carolina (OU leads 4-3)
- Tennessee (UT leads 6-2)
- Texas A&M (OU leads 30-21)
This is a challenging schedule, but that’s the reality in the SEC. Getting four top-25 teams at home is a big positive for building momentum and getting Lloyd Noble rocking early. Road games at LSU, Tennessee, and Texas A&M will be tough environments.
With Aaliyah Chavez back and playing at a high level, plus Sahara Williams’ leadership and experience, this group has the potential to make another step forward. The addition of transfers and freshmen should help with depth as well.
Overall, this slate gives Jennie Baranczyk and her staff a good mix of winnable home games and tough road tests. It’ll be interesting to see how the full non-conference schedule shapes up around the known games in Paris and New York.
The 2027 SEC Tournament is set for March 3-7 in Greenville, S.C. Another deep run there would be a great goal for this group.
