Thankfully, Blake Griffin won't be suiting up in Syracuse's ACC/SEC Challenge battle

Syracuse men's basketball will face the Oklahoma Sooners on the road in the upcoming season's ACC/SEC Challenge, per releases on Friday from SU Athletics and the Atlantic Coast Conference.

It will be the first time that the Orange has played at Oklahoma in their short all-time series together. The match-up is set for Tuesday, Dec. 1, at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla.

In the 2025-26 campaign, the 'Cuse went 15-17 overall, the team's second straight losing season. This past March, SU parted ways with head coach Adrian Autry and his staff, while hiring Gerry McNamara as the Orange's new head coach.

Porter Moser is entering his sixth term as the Sooners' head coach. In 2025-26, Oklahoma went 21-16 overall and reached the title game of the College Basketball Crown, where it fell to West Virginia. He previously guided Loyola Chicago to Final Four and Sweet 16 appearances.

Syracuse basketball will head to the Midwest for its ACC/SEC Challenge encounter.

In their all-time series together, the Orange is tied 2-2 with the Sooners. Their most recent affair came during the Sweet 16 of the 2009 NCAA Tournament. Oklahoma, a No. 2 seed, defeated the 'Cuse, a No. 3 seed, by a final score of 84-71 at the South Region in Memphis, Tenn.

Former NBA star Blake Griffin, a big man, was the Sooners' top player in the 2008-09 season. He swept all the major national player of the year awards. In Oklahoma's victory over Syracuse basketball, Griffin tallied 30 points on 12-of-15 shooting from the field, to go along with 14 rebounds.

But let's cast aside that Sweet 16 setback and reminisce about the 2003 NCAA Tournament. A source with knowledge of the situation tells me that the Orange fared well in that Big Dance. Wink, wink.

As far as Oklahoma goes, the Sooners were the No. 1 seed in the 2003 East Region, but Carmelo Anthony's 20 points and 10 rebounds helped propel the No. 3 seed Syracuse over OU in the Elite Eight, 63-47. The Orange would go on to win the program's first and only national championship.

In their all-time series together, which began in the 1948-49 campaign on the Hill, the 'Cuse and the Sooners are tied at 1-1 in games in Syracuse and also 1-1 in contests during the NCAA Tournament, making the 2-2 overall mark.

Much like the Orange, Oklahoma's roster for the 2026-27 stanza will feature returnees, college transfers and high school prospects. Two Sooners' guards to monitor are Xzayvier Brown, a rising senior who averaged 15.4 points per game last year for Oklahoma, and Texas A&M transfer Pop Isaacs, a rising senior who has scored 1,277 career points in stops at Texas Tech, Creighton and the Aggies, according to SU Athletics.

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