Three Ways to Assess Oklahoma State Cowgirls Non-Conference Basketball Schedule
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The Oklahoma State Cowgirls basketball team is taking advantage of the new NCAA rule that allows them to play up to 14 non-conference games.
Head coach Jacie Hoyt and her staff have put together a schedule that is one of the toughest the program has faced as she enters her fifth season. It includes a road trip to a three-time national champion, a Big East foe, the Bedlam game with Oklahoma and a trip to Fort Myers, Fla.
Here are three ways of looking at the schedule as the Cowgirls return Stailee Heard and have one of the best transfer classes in the country, including Audi Crooks and Liv McGill.
The BIG Trip
If there's a single game that will test the Cowgirls and show Hoyt just what she has, it will be the trip to South Carolina on Dec. 6.
The Gamecocks are led by head coach Dawn Staley and have been one of the best teams in women's college basketball for the past decade. South Carolina has won three national championships and is coming off a trip to the NCAA championship game this past April.
One way of looking at this game is to go back two seasons when TCU played South Carolina in a neutral site game in Fort Worth. Those Horned Frogs were led by guard Hailey Van Lith, center Sedona Prince and guard Madison Conner. The Horned Frogs reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. South Carolina won their neutral site matchup, 85-52.
Hoyt and the Cowgirls are hoping for a better result this coming December.
More Time Away from Home
Seven of Oklahoma State’s 14 games are away from home. Along with the South Carolina showdown, the Cowgirls have road trips to Tulsa and South Dakota State in a four-day span from Nov. 12-15. The South Dakota State should be a challenge. The Jackrabbits have been to the NCAA Tournament four of the last five years.
OSU also has four neutral site games. The Cowgirls will face Wichita State on Nov. 22 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, the home of the Big 12 Tournament. OSU plays two games at Coconut Hoops in Fort Myers, Fla., on Thanksgiving weekend and then faces Oklahoma in the Bedlam Series game in Oklahoma City on Dec. 12
Playing half the schedule away from home should get the Cowgirls ready for Big 12 play.
Seven at Home
Oklahoma State will play its first four games at home, including their exhibition game with Langston on Oct. 27. OSU opens the regular season with three games in a seven-day span, as it will host Southern, Morgan State and Northwestern State.
The most notable home game is the Nov. 18 showdown with St. John's. The Red Storm went 22-12 last season and reached the WBIT. The Cowgirls went to New York City last year to play St. John's and lost the first leg of their home-and-home matchup. They're hoping for a bit of revenge this time around.
OSU plays its final non-conference game on Dec. 14 at home against North Texas, another team the Cowgirls visited last year but won, 73-55. If last year's schedule is any indication, the Cowgirls are likely to play their Big 12 opener a week later.
Oklahoma State 2026-27 Non-Conference Schedule
Home games in Bold
Oct. 27 vs. Langston (exh.)
Nov. 2 vs. Southern
Nov. 6 vs. Morgan St.
Nov. 9 vs. Northwestern St.
Nov. 12 at Tulsa
Nov. 15 at South Dakota State
Nov. 18 vs. St. John's
Nov. 20 vs. Little Rock
Nov. 22 vs. Wichita State (at Kansas City, Mo.)
Nov. 27 vs. Coconut Hoops (at Fort Myers, Fla.)
Nov. 29 vs. Coconut Hoops (at Fort Myers, Fla.)
Dec. 1 vs. Oral Roberts
Dec. 6 at South Carolina
Dec. 12 vs. Oklahoma (at Oklahoma City, Okla.)
Dec. 14 vs. North Texas
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Matthew Postins is the publisher of Oklahoma State on SI. He is an award-winning sports journalist who was formerly the editor of the College Football America Yearbook and covers the Big 12 Conference for Heartland College Sports.
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