The Oklahoma men head out on the road this week, taking along a four-game losing streak and facing a critical point in the season only a third of the way through a demanding and difficult SEC schedule.
First stop is South Carolina on Tuesday, a team like the Sooners that finds itself struggling to keep its head above water at the bottom of the conference standings. OU, South Carolina and LSU all share the cellar spot with identical 1-4 records.
This may be the best Oklahoma team in Porter Moser's five season as the Sooners' head coach, but once again, following a solid start in the nonconference portion of the schedule, the season has taken a quick turn for the worse once conference play got underway.
The Sooners have never had a winning record in conference play under Moser in either the Big 12 or last season in the SEC, and it appears that this year's team, with four newcomers in the starting lineup, might be headed toward the same fate unless things start changing, and quickly. Unfortunately, the schedule doesn't offer much relief.
The importance of the game at South Carolina is underscored by Oklahoma's upcoming schedule. The Sooners' six games after South Carolina are against three teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 (Vanderbilt, Georgia and Tennessee), as well as a road game at Missouri, a home game against surging Red River rival Texas and a game at iconic Rupp Arena against the always tough Kentucky Wildcats.
Oklahoma (11-7) and South Carolina (10-8) have identical conference records and are both looking to break multi-game losing skids. While the Sooners have lost four consecutive games, including a heartbreaking 83-81 loss at home to Alabama last weekend, the Gamecocks have lost three in a row and four of their last five.
The Sooners own a 5-1 record in the all-time series against South Carolina, including an 82-62 win a year ago in Norman. Before last season, Oklahoma's first in the SEC, the two teams had not faced each other on the hardwood since 1992. The Sooners have never played at Colonial Life Arena, the current home of South Carolina basketball.
Oklahoma is No. 70 in the current NCAA NET rankings, while South Carolina is No. 93.
The Tuesday night game in Columbia, South Carolina, will be televised on SEC Network beginning at 6 p.m. CT with Kevin Fitzgerald and Daymeon Fishback announcing.
Oklahoma will be in another Columbia -- Columbia, Missouri, casually referred to as "ComMo" -- on Saturday for a game against longtime Big 12 foe Missouri.
What to know about South Carolina
South Carolina is led in scoring by senior guard Meechie Johnson, who averages 14.8 points a game. Utah transfer Mike Sharavjamts adds 11.8 per game and forward Elijah Strong 11.2 a game. The Gamecocks average 78.5 points as a team and are 7-1 this season when they score 80 or more.
The Gamecocks and Sooners are comparatively close in most major offensive and defensive statistical categories, including their 1-4 conference records. The two areas where there is a notable difference favoring South Carolina are in free-throw percentage and 3-point percentage defense. South Carolina leads the SEC and ranks 14th in the nation shooting 78% at the free-throw line. The Gamecocks are limiting their opponents' made 3-point percentage to just 29.1%. That's second-best in the SEC and 16th among Division-I teams.
A win over Oklahoma would be South Carolina's first at home this season at Colonial Life Arena against an SEC opponent. The Gamecocks lost previously this month to No. 11 Vanderbilt (83-71) and No. 18 Georgia (75-70).
What to know about Oklahoma
Oklahoma has four starters scoring in double figures, led by starting guards Xzayvier Brown and Nijel Pack, averaging 16.0 and 15.5 points per game, respectively. One or both of this backcourt duo has led the Sooners in scoring in 14 of 18 games this season. Brown, a transfer from St. Joseph's, has scored more than 20 points in six of the last nine games.
The Sooners are averaging 83.9 points a game, the team's highest scoring average through 18 games since 2017-18.
Oklahoma is 3-5 away from home this season and 1-3 in true road games. The Sooners' one true road win was over over Wake Forest, which is 8-3 at home in 2025-26. By comparison, South Carolina, ranked 93rd in the latest NCAA NET rankings, is 9-3 in home games this season.
When OU protects the ball and wins the turnover battle, the Sooners have generally fared well this season. Despite several double-digit outings in recent games, Oklahoma still is among the top three teams in the SEC averaging 9.9 turnovers per game and single-digit giveaways in 10 of 18 games..
Stat to watch
Oklahoma ranks fourth in the SEC in made 3-point shots this season and fifth in 3-point field-goal percentage (35.1). South Carolina is No. 2 in the SEC in challenging 3-point shots, allowing just a 29.1% success rate.
Prediction:
Despite being the road team in this SEC matchup, Oklahoma is a slight favorite, according to a number of Las Vegas handicappers. If this is a close game, as most are predicting, the last thing the Sooners want to happen is find themselves trailing late and forced to put one of the country's best free-throw shooting teams on the charity stripe with the game on the line.
Oklahoma wins by -5