Oklahoma State officially learned its two opponents for the Rays Children's Charleston Classic and the selections have an impact on the Cowboys’ non-conference basketball schedule.

The Cowboys will face Minnesota on Nov. 20 at 11:30 a.m. central time in a game to be broadcast on ESPN2. Two days later, on Nov. 22, Oklahoma State will face Virginia Tech at 2:30 p.m. central and a game to be broadcast on ESPN.

Based on the non-conference schedule posted at Oklahoma state's web site, those are the first two games to have times and television designations for the 2026-27 season. The Cowboys will learn their Big 12 schedule later this month. They already know their opponents.

Here is how the updated schedule impacts the Cowboys in non-conference.

High Major Games

The announcement solidifies that Oklahoma State will have five non-conference games against teams from college basketball's other biggest conferences — the ACC, the Big East, the Big Ten and the SEC. Along with the Big 12, they’re considered the high-major conferences in college basketball.

Along with Minnesota and Virginia Tech, the Cowboys will play Texas A&M in College Station, along with neutral site contests against Oklahoma in Oklahoma City and Northwestern in Tulsa. It means the Cowboys won’t play a Big East team in non-conference.

In assessing the full schedule, the Cowboys will play 18 Big 12 games, which means by the time it gets to Kansas City for the Big 12 Tournament, Oklahoma State will have played 23 high-major opponents out of its 32 games.

That’s a slight jump from 21 such games a season ago.

Television Ramifications

Both games were selected for ESPN networks and that's not always a given with multi-team events (MTEs). There's a good chance Oklahoma State could have at least a half-dozen non-conference games on linear outlets as opposed to ESPN+.

The games against Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Northwestern are all candidates to land on a linear outlet. Since the Oklahoma State-Northwestern game is a neutral side there is a chance that game could land on Fox, which holds the Big Ten contract.

Two other games could get selected for a national broadcast. Those are the home games against Saint Mary's and Grand Canyon. Both schools are prominent mid-major teams and are good television draws. That could bring two more national telecasts to Stillwater in December.

It’s possible that half of Oklahoma State’s non-conference games could reach a national audience, which would help the Cowboys from a recruiting and transfer portal standpoint in terms of exposure.