The Oklahoma State Cowgirls landed a showdown with South Carolina this season. It’s a big deal for the program.

Earlier this week, head coach Jacie Hoyt said that she expects South Carolina to be the nation’s No. 1 team — or close to it — when the game is played on Dec. 6 in Columbia, S.C. It’s the kind of game Hoyt wants on her schedule every year.

This matchup is going to get the ABC treatment, per an ESPN release on Thursday.

Oklahoma State’s Big Non-Conference Game Set

ESPN announced its men’s and women’s college basketball schedule for ABC this season, which features nine women’s games and four men’s games. All the ABC women’s games feature at least one SEC team. Oklahoma State is the only Big 12 team that made the cut. The Cowgirls will face the Gamecocks at 3 p.m.

The Gamecocks are one of the best programs in the country, led by head coach Dawn Staley. She’s taken the program to three national championships. Last season the Gamecocks won 36 games and reached the national championship game before losing to UCLA. USC has been to each of the last six Final Fours.

Hoyt said earlier this week that she and Staley really don’t have much of a relationship but said that her respect level for the former Virginia guard, U.S. Olympian and WNBA star is off the chart.

“I have so much respect for her, what she has done for women's basketball as a player, as a coach. I mean it's incredible,” Hoyt said. “I'm just really excited to get the opportunity to you know coach against her and get to see kind of what we're made of.”

In non-conference, the Cowgirls will get out of Stillwater more than normal as they take trips to Tulsa and South Dakota State in November, along with a trip to Kansas City to face Wichita State and an appearance in Coconut Hoops in Fort Myers, Fla., during the Thanksgiving holiday break. The annual Bedlam game will be in Oklahoma City against Oklahoma the Saturday after the South Carolina game.

Oklahoma State will open its Big 12 schedule at Kansas on Dec. 20 and will host Arizona in its Big 12 opener on Dec. 30.

The Cowgirls and the rest of the Big 12 teams will learn their remaining national television assignments later this month. Hoyt and selected players will be at Big 12 media days in Kansas City Oct. 20-21 to talk about the upcoming season.