Gators Travel To Oklahoma For Thursday Tilt Against No. 10 Sooners

Thursday, February 12

Norman, OK

7 p.m.

Florida Gators

Oklahoma

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Nyadieng Yeitch drives the lane against Arkansas

Gators Travel To Oklahoma For Thursday Tilt Against No. 10 Sooners

Tuesday, February 10, 2026 | Women's Basketball

By: John Maxwell

Norman Okla. — There are five games left in Florida's regular season, and as teams continue to jostle for SEC Tournament seeding, the Gators (15-11, 3-8) are making their move up the conference standings. Wins in each of the last two games heading into Thursday's road contest at No. 10/10 Oklahoma (17-6, 5-5) moved the Gators up two spots to 13th, just a half game behind Mississippi State (3-7), and a game back of Missouri (4-7). Tip against the Sooners at the Lloyd Noble Center is at 7 p.m. EST.

Most recently, Florida beat Arkansas, 75-69 as Liv McGill once again flirted with a triple-double finishing with 25 points, a career-high 14 rebounds, and eight assists. Me'Arah O'Neal added 16 points and six rebounds in the victory.

The Gators are ranked seventh in the SEC in field goal percentage against conference competition (.426), and eighth in three-point field goal percentage (.320). Defensively they are 11th in field goal percentage against (.336), and sixth in three-point field goal percentage against (.303)

Preseason All-Conference selection Liv McGill continues to be one of the best all-around players in the country. She and Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo are the only two players in the country averaging at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists on the season. Me'Arah O'Neal, who is averaging 14.0 points and 5.6 rebounds against SEC teams, has found her stroke from beyond the arc of late. She is making 44.2 percent of her shots from distance in conference, and has made 18 of her last 35 shots from three-point range.

Oklahoma went 12-1 in non-conference play with its lone loss coming against UCLA, currently ranked second in the nation. The Sooners opened SEC competition with wins over Texas A&M and Mississippi State, but they are 3-5 since then.

The Sooners are the fourth highest scoring team in the nation at 88.0 points per game, and play at one of the fastest paces in the country. Their 73.1 field goal attempts per game are second most among Division I programs, and they shoot 45.6 percent from the field (32nd in the country).

SEC teams have kept Oklahoma's offense in check more than the Sooners' non-conference opponents, as conference foes limit Oklahoma to 42.5 percent from the field (8th in the SEC), and 26.8 percent from distance (13th). The Sooners are dominant on the boards, boasting a rebound margin of +11.6 which is fifth best in the nation. Defensively, Oklahoma is holding SEC opponents to 24.9 percent from three-point range which is the best figure in the league.

Aaliyah Chaves is the Sooners' leading scorer in SEC games at 17.5 points per game, but she only makes 33.9 percent of her shots from the field. Raegan Beers is averaging a 16.2-point, 10.7-rebound double-double on the year while making 61.0 percent of her field goal attempts. Her rebound and field goal percentage figures are both league highs.

Florida and Oklahoma have squared off against one another just three times in their history, with the Sooners winning the last two, including an 89-65 decision in Gainesville on Feb. 27, 2025. Six different Oklahoma players scored in double-figures in last year's game, led by Payton Verhulst's 17. Liv McGill's 14 points paced the Gators, who were outrebounded by the Sooners 52-39. The first two games between the clubs were held prior to Oklahoma joining the SEC.

OKLAHOMA (17-6, 5-5)

Date: Thursday, Feb. 12
Time: 7 p.m. EST
Site: Lloyd Noble Center, Norman, Okla.
Listen: WRUF 98.1 FM / 850 AM
Watch: SECN+
Live stats: StatBroadcast

A FLORIDA WIN WOULD …

Improve the Gators' record to 16-11 on the year, and 4-8 in the SEC.
Potentially move Florida (3-8) ahead of Mississippi State (3-7 and hosting Georgia Thursday) into 12th place in the SEC standings, and potentially move the Gators into an 11th-place tie with Missouri (4-7 at Tennessee).
Improve Florida's record to 2-7 on the road this season.
Improve the Gators' record to 2-2 vs. Oklahoma.

POSTSEASON PICTURE

The 2026 SEC Women's Basketball Tournament is being held at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C. from March 4-8.
All 16 teams make the tournament
The top four seeds have a double bye into the quarterfinals on March 6.
The five through the eight seeds have a bye into the second round on March 5.
The nine through 16 seeds play in the first round on March 4 with 9 playing 16, 10 playing 15, 11 playing 14 and 12 playing 13.
Entering Thursday's game, Florida is in 13th place at 3-8, a half game back of Mississippi State in 12th (3-8), a game back of Missouri (4-7) in 11th, and 2.5 games behind Kentucky in 10th, although the Wildcats own the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Gators.
With five games remaining in the regular season, the Gators' remaining schedule consists of games against Oklahoma (9th seed heading into Thursday's games), Mississippi State (12th), Alabama (7th), Ole Miss (6th), and Georgia (9th).

TALE OF THE TAPE

Florida		Oklahoma
73.8	PPG	78.0
65.5	OPP PPG	65.5
+8.3	SCORING MARGIN	+22.4
44.6	FG %	45.6
39.6	OPP FG%	33.8
28.3	3 FG%	30.6
28.6	OPP 3 FG%	27.5
5.3	3FG/G	7.2
70.2	FT %	71.9
38.5	REBOUNDS/G	49.2
36.6	OPP REBOUNDS/G	27.7
+2.0	REB MARGIN	+11.6
13.5	ASSISTS/G	20.5
16.8	TURNOVER/G	10.0
+0.80	A/TO RATIO	+1.27
9.8	STEALS/G	10.4
4.12	BLOCKS/G	5.43

PROJECTED FLORIDA STARTERS

	No.	Ht.	Pos.	Class	Hometown/Previous School
Me'Arah O'Neal	8	6-4	F	So.	Houston Texas
Daviane Mindoudi	12	6-1	G	So.	Bilbao, Spain
Laila Reynolds	13	6-1	G	Jr.	PG County, Md.
Caterina Piatti	14	6-4	F	Fr.	Scandiano, Italy
Liv McGill	23	5-9	G	So.	Minneapolis, Minn.

GATOR BITES

Through games of Monday, Feb. 9, Florida is … 12th in the SEC this season in points per game (73.8) … 12th in scoring defense (65.5) … 12th in scoring margin (+8.3) … 11th in field goal percentage (.446) … 10th in field goal percentage defense (.396) … 13th in three-point field goal percentage (.283) … 4th in three-point field goal percentage defense (.286) … 13th in free throw percentage (.702) … 9th in offensive rebound percentage (.358) … 14th in defensive rebound percentage (.657) … 12th in assists (13.5) … 9th in steals (9.77) … 9th in blocked shots (4.12).
In SEC games, Florida is ranked 11th in scoring (68.4), 12th in scoring defense (75.5) seventh in field goal percentage (.426), 11th in field goal percentage defense (.436), eighth in three-point field goal percentage (.320), and sixth in three-point field goal percentage defense (.303).
The Gators have held 17 of 26 opponents below 70 points this season.
Florida is 40thth in the nation in free throws made per game (14.7), and 40th in free throw attempts per game (20.9) through games of Monday, Feb. 9.
Florida's NET rating, which helps determine which teams make the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship, is No. 54 through games of Monday, Feb. 9.
Liv McGill became the 28th player in Florida Women's Basketball history to score 1,000 points in her career when she connected on a free throw line jumper in the second quarter Jan. 11 at Auburn. She is now in 23rd place with 1,144 career points, 70 points behind Haley Lorenzen in 22nd with 1,214.
Liv McGill was named to the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Award Mid-Season List along with Kentucky's Tonie Morgan, NC State's Zoe Brooks, Nebraska's Britt Prince, Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo, Oklahoma's Aaliyah Chavez, South Carolina's Raven Johnson, TCU's Olivia Miles, Texas' Rori Harmon, and UCLA's Kiki Rice.
Liv McGill and Me'Arah O'Neal have each earned SEC Player of the Week honors this season.
Liv McGill became the first player in Gators women's basketball history to be named a US Basketball Writers Association National Player of the Week on Tuesday, Nov. 11. She averaged 27.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and 5.00 steals while connecting on 40.9 percent of her three-point field goal attempts in Florida's three wins. She also was named the SEC Player of the Week for her performance during that same stretch of games.
Liv McGill was named the most outstanding player of the Grand Cayman Classic over Thanksgiving weekend when she averaged 27.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.00 steals and 1.00 blocked shots.
Liv McGill has three games this season of at least 25 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals. The other 4,500-+ players competing in women's basketball at the Division I level have ten 25-5-5-5 games.

PROJECTED OKLAHOMA STARTERS

	No.	Ht.	Pos.	Class	Hometown / Previous Schools
Aaliyah Chavez	2	5-10	G	Fr.	Lubbock, Texas /
Zya Vann	3	5-9	G	So	Edmond, Okla. /
Sahara Williams	6	5-11	F	Jr.	Waterloo, Iowa /
Payton Verhulst	12	6-1	G	R-Sr.	De Soto, Kan. / Louisville
Raegan Beers	15	6-4	C	Sr.	Littleton, Colo. / Oregon State

SOONERS QUICK HITS

Members of the media tabbed Oklahoma to finish fifth in the SEC this season, while the coaches picked the Sooners to finish fourth.
Coaches and media both named senior center Raegan Beers to the Preseason First Team All-SEC, and the coaches selected redshirt senior guard Payton Verhulst to the Second Team.
Jennie Baranczyk has been at the Sooners helm for five seasons, and in each of her first four years, she led Oklahoma to the NCAA Tournament, and a top-25 ranking in the final AP poll of the year.
The Sooners went 12-0 in non-conference play.
Oklahoma averages 88.0 points per game, which is the fourth highest average in the nation. In SEC competition, they are scoring 77.2 points per game, which is the fourth highest in the league.
The Sooners make 45.6 percent of their field goal attempts on the year (32nd in the nation), and take the second most shots in the country at 73.1 per contest.
Oklahoma is making 30.6 percent of its three-pointers this season, but just 26.8 percent against SEC opponents.
The Sooners grab an average of 49.2 rebounds per game (second highest in the nation), while allowing 37.7. That marks the fifth largest rebound differential in the country (+11.6).
Defensively, Oklahoma is holding SEC opponents to 24.9 percent from three-point range which is the best figure in the league. The Sooners are also holding all of their opponents this season to 33.8 percent shooting from the field (fifth best in the nation), and 37.6 against conference foes.
Aaliyah Chaves is the Sooners' leading scorer in SEC games at 17.5 points per game, but she only makes 33.9 percent of her shots from the field. Raegan Beers is averaging a 14.0 point, 10.8 rebound double-double in conference play, and making 61.0 percent of her field goal attempts.