Diving into the Three Toughest Games for 2026-2027 Oklahoma Men's Basketball

It seems like a do-or-die season for Porter Moser. The Sooners have only made the NCAA Tournament once out of his five seasons as head coach. In three of the four seasons where the Sooners missed out, they were among the First Four Out in the NCAA Tournament bubble. This includes this past season where Oklahoma was the first team out. 

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports predicts Oklahoma to land 13th in his SEC preseason power rankings, which would most likely put the Sooners right in the bubble once again. However, with the tournament expansion going into affect this upcoming season, Oklahoma will arguably have a better shot at making the big dance and less excuses to not make the postseason.

There are multiple matchups on the schedule that could give Oklahoma a huge boost on its tournament resume. Here are my three toughest games on the Sooners' schedule.

1. Texas (Both Home and Away): The Longhorns reloaded after a Cinderella run to the Sweet 16 last season. They came in as one of the Last Four In by the committee. Not only did they defeat NC State in the play-in round, but they also managed to upset BYU and Gonzaga. Despite the 79-77 heartbreaking loss to Purdue in the Sweet 16, this postseason run might have been the boost that Texas needed. The Longhorns may have one of the best backcourts in the country that feature five-star signee Austin Goosby and Colorado transfer Isaiah Johnson. Goosby will make a huge presence with his athleticism at 6-foot-5 while Johnson just came off an incredible freshman season at Colorado. Johnson at 6-foot-1 averaged 16.9 points a game last season while shooting 48.6% from the field and 37.8% from 3-point range. The Sooners will have their hands full against these two elite playmakers. While a sweep would be massive, a split in the series would still help Oklahoma's case for the NCAA Tournament. The Longhorns are ranked No. 7 in ESPN's latest Way-Too-Early rankings. 

2. Kentucky (At Home): While every SEC game is crucial, this may be one of the most important matchups of the season. The Wildcats have not made it past the Sweet 16 since the 2018-2019 season, but they still have huge value. Kentucky has made the Big Dance 14 out of the last 16 seasons (didn't count the 2019-2020 season because of COVID). Mark Pope took over as head coach for the 2024-2025 season after his tenure at BYU from 2019-2024. While Kentucky hasn't reached the level that Wildcat fans were used to seeing during Calipari's tenure, Pope still managed to get Kentucky to the NCAA Tournament in his first two seasons as head coach. That's not easy to do when you're entering a new program. Most notably, the Wildcats reached the Sweet 16 in Pope's first season after they finished 6th in the SEC regular season standings. Despite losing four out of the five starters from last season, the Wildcats did solid in the transfer portal. The most notable transfer was former Iowa State star Milan Momcilovic. The 6-foot-8 senior forward has had an excellent career, playing all of his first three seasons with the Cyclones before transferring to the Wildcats. He's an accurate 3-point shooter can stretch the floor with his height and athleticism. Milan has shot 42.8% from 3-point range in his collegiate career with last season being his best at 48.7% (Average 3.7 out of 7.5 attempts). With other additions of offensive threats like Zoom Diallo (15.7 PPG) from Washington and Alex Wilkins (17.8 PPG) from Furman, this Wildcat squad could exceed the 2025-2026 team. With this matchup being in Norman, this could be a statement SEC win for the Sooners. 

3. Purdue (at the Ft. Myers Tip-Off Classic): While the Boilermakers lost four out of their five starters from last season, they finished No. 14 in 247Sport's 2026 high school recruiting rankings. Of the five signees, four of them were four-star prospects. Purdue has recently been known for finding solid big men. From Zach Edey to Oscar Cluff to now Sinan Huan. Huan, a 7-foot four-star center, was the No. 8 high school center in the country and the No. 3 center in Maryland. Even if Huan doesn't produce during this offseason, Purdue has more options for inside. Raleigh Burgess (6-foot-11 redshirt sophomore) and Daniel Jacobsen (7-foot-4 junior) look to be key contributors in the paint with Oscar Cluff graduating last season. This will be a great challenge early in the season for the Sooners, especially for the frontcourt. Will it be Khani Rooths that makes an impact in this matchup? Or will it be Derrion Reid starting where he left off last season? Or will it be someone else in the frontcourt? While Purdue will be rebuilding, a non-conference win against the Boilermakers would boost Oklahoma's confidence before SEC play. 

With the new tournament format, there will be 76 teams instead of 68. In place of the four play-in games that we have been used to seeing, there will now be 24 teams competing in the play-in round. While 12 of the teams will be the lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers (meaning the 12 lowest seeded conference champions), the other 12 featured teams will be the lowest-seeded at-large qualifiers (meaning the last 12 to make the field overall).