A Look at Oklahoma’s First SEC Basketball Schedule

The Sooners will start their first SEC season at Alabama and cap the inaugural season with a trip to Austin to play Texas a second time.

Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser / Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports

Oklahoma’s first SEC schedule on the court is here. 

The SEC on Tuesday released Oklahoma’s inaugural schedule in the conference. Opponents and locations had already been announced, but now with dates, the Sooners can start making real plans. Weekend dates are set, but exact dates for weekday games will be announced later, with two possibilities. The schedule includes an even nine games at Lloyd Noble Center and nine road contests. 

Here’s a look at the Sooners’ first SEC slate: 

𝚂𝙴𝙲 𝚂𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙻𝚘𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 📈@SEC | #BoomerSooner ☝ pic.twitter.com/ZhpQAxolDI

— Oklahoma Basketball (@OU_MBBall) August 20, 2024

The Sooners will begin their time in the SEC on the hardwood in Tuscaloosa to play Alabama on Jan. 4. The Crimson Tide are coming off a Final Four appearance for the first time in program history. OU has beaten Alabama in their last two meetings, though, both of which were in Norman, including a 93-69 thumping during the 2022-23 season. That was a season in which Bama won the SEC title. OU holds the series record lead, 7-3, with two of the losses coming in Tuscaloosa. 

Other road trips for the Sooners include Georgia, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Auburn, Missouri, Florida, Ole Miss and a regular-season finale against Texas. OU has lost seven straight to Texas and hasn’t beaten the Longhorns in Austin since its last Red River Rivalry win on Jan. 26, 2021. The Sooners will get Texas at home before then, though. 

OU’s first SEC game in Lloyd Noble Center will be against Texas A&M for a weekday game on Jan. 7 or 8. As former conference foes in the Big 12, OU holds a commanding 32-10 lead in the series. The two haven’t met, though, since the NCAA Tournament in 2016, when OU won 77-63. The Sooners have won the past three straight meetings. 

The Red River Rivalry will then be in Norman on Jan. 14 or 15 for another midweek meeting. The Sooners will not play in Lloyd Noble Center on a Saturday until Jan. 18 against South Carolina. 

Other visitors to Norman include Vanderbilt, Tennessee, LSU, Mississippi State, Kentucky and Missouri. 

While OU plays Texas, Missouri and Texas A&M twice, the Sooners meet everyone else in the conference once. The season will mark the first time OU will play South Carolina and only the second time playing Tennessee, with the first meeting coming in 1968. 

As of right now, the only nonconference contest set on the Sooners’ schedule is against Georgia Tech on Dec. 3 as part of the SEC/ACC Challenge.