Oklahoma State University Athletics
SEC/Big 12 Challenge Pairings Released
May 07, 2014 | Cowboy Basketball
May 7, 2014
STILLWATER — In a return game from last year's inaugural event, Oklahoma State's men's basketball team will travel to Columbia, S.C., on Saturday, Dec. 6, to face South Carolina in the second-annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge. The Cowboys defeated the Gamecocks 79-52 last season in Stillwater, tying the all-time head-to-head series at 1-1.
South Carolina finished with a 14-20 record in 2013-14, but won four of its last five games, including a 72-67 victory over Kentucky (lost in national championship game). The Gamecocks won two games in the SEC Tournament before falling to Tennessee in the quarterfinals. South Carolina returns five players who started at least 20 games last season, including rising sophomore guard Sindarius Thornwell who was named to the 2014 SEC All-Freshman Team.
All games in the Challenge are scheduled over a four-day span, December 3-6. ESPN will provide exclusive coverage of all 10 games on its networks. Additional components of the event, including start times and exact network information, will be announced at a later date. The Big 12 won seven of 10 meetings in last year's Challenge.
Other games included in this year's Challenge include: Auburn at Texas Tech (Dec. 3), Arkansas at Iowa State (Dec. 4), Baylor at Vanderbilt (Dec. 4), LSU at West Virginia (Dec. 4), TCU at Mississippi (Dec. 4), Florida at Kansas (Dec. 5), Missouri at Oklahoma (Dec. 5), Texas at Kentucky (Dec. 5), and Kansas State at Tennessee (Dec. 6).
