'I Just Know How Good my Team is Too': Oklahoma Looking Forward to Potential Rematch With South Carolina

Sooners knocked off Gamecocks during the regular season but know a second win won't come easy.

Aaliyah Chavez (2) cheers after a basket and foul during the women's college basketball game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the South Carolina at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Thursday Jan. 22, 2026. | SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

NORMAN — It didn’t take long after Oklahoma’s 77-71 win over Michigan State on Sunday that attentions turned toward the Sweet 16 matchup.

Barring a monumental upset by USC on Monday night in Greenville, S.C., the Sooners will take on top-seeded South Carolina on Saturday in Sacramento, Calif.

The Gamecocks will face the ninth-seeded Trojans at 7 p.m. Monday.

South Carolina is a power in the sport, winning three national titles in the last decade and making the Final Four in each of the last five tournaments.

But the Sooners aren’t backing down from the potential matchup with Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks, and it’s not just because of Oklahoma’s 94-82 victory over South Carolina on Jan. 22 in Norman.

“They’re a great team — I’m not knocking them — but I just know how good my team is too,” Sooners’ junior forward Sahara Williams said in the locker room. “I’m just gonna be confident in the 10 girls that I have on this roster and the coaching staff.”

Heading into that game against the Sooners, South Carolina had won 12 consecutive games while Oklahoma had dropped three consecutive games.

But the Sooners didn’t back down from the challenge.

They used a big third quarter to take the lead, then forced overtime before freshman Aaliyah Chavez took over.

Chavez scored 15 points in the extra period to help Oklahoma take down the SEC’s current power.

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As she has in almost all of the Sooners’ biggest victories this season, Raegan Beers played a massive role, with 18 points and 14 rebounds.

Plenty of teams come into games against the Gamecocks already beat, falling pretty to the mystique Staley has created around the program.

Oklahoma, with Beers setting the tone inside, Payton Verhulst and Williams adding to Beers’ experience in high-level games, and Chavez’s fearlessness, might not come out on top against South Carolina, but the Sooners certainly won’t be beat before they step on the floor.

Oklahoma is also not coming into the game overly confident against a team that is 32-3 going into Monday’s game.

“Experience can’t hurt you, right? It can only help you,” Sooners coach Jennie Baranczyk said. “It wasn’t too long ago we also got beat by 40 against South Carolina and then we got beat by 30, and then obviously you know what happened here this year. So for us, you’ve got to play every minute. It you go against a team like a South Carolina or anybody from here on out, you’ve got to play every single possession.”

OU recognizes the work it’ll take to pull off an upset, but they’re looking forward to the matchup.

“It’ll be fun,” Williams said. “It’ll be exciting. We match up really well with them and I think they’re going to bring their best A game, we’re going to bring our best game and I think it’ll be a really good game.

“We’ve just got to play together and play Oklahoma basketball. … I think with the way we play and how good this team is, if we just be us and be Oklahoma, I’m really confident.”