Through 18 games, I have the Missouri women’s team sitting at 12-6 and 1-2 in SEC play. Let’s keep the dive into the schedule going with matchups against Florida, Oklahoma and Auburn.

The Tigers face a second beatable opponent after earning their first conference win in my predictions against Georgia.

Florida is coming off a 16-16 season with a 5-11 record in SEC play. The Gators beat the Tigers 86-70 in the regular season, then knocked the Tigers out of the conference tournament with a 66-60 win.

This will be the only regular-season matchup between the programs. Missouri leads the all-time series 11-5, but the Gators have won the past three matchups. Missouri’s last win was Feb. 27, 2022 at Florida.

Florida went to the WBIT and lost to St. John’s in the first round.

Senior center Ra Shaya Kyle (6-foot, 6-inches) is the only returner who averaged double-digit points last season with 12.4 points and a team-high 9.2 rebounds per game, but she played only 14 games because of an injury. She recorded seven double-doubles in her 14 games.

Sophomore guard Laila Reynolds (6-1) also returns after starting 31-of-32 games and averaging 7.0 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.

The Gators do not return any other starters.

Florida added junior forward Alexia Gassett (6-2) from Louisville and four freshmen to fill out the roster.

The Gators open the season Monday hosting Florida Atlantic, then will play Miami and Florida State as they don’t leave their home state until Dec. 5 when they play at Clemson. Florida also plays at North Carolina during the non-conference schedule.

I’m not sure the Tigers have someone to match up with Kyle in the post, but I do think this is a game the Tigers can grab a win from an inexperienced group.

Win No. 2 in conference play for Missouri.

The Tigers face the first of their old Big 12 foes joining the SEC in mid January facing off with a Sooner team that went 23-10 overall last season and 15-3 in Big 12 play. Oklahoma enters the season ranked No. 10 in the AP rankings.

This will be the first matchup between the programs since Missouri joined the SEC, but Oklahoma has used a six-game winning streak in the all-time series to take a 30-29 lead in a series dating to 1977. Missouri’s last win was a 70-64 overtime victory in 2008, otherwise Oklahoma has won every game since 2004 and all but two since 1999.

Fourth-year coach Jennie Baranczyk has had a fantastic start to her tenure in Norman, racking up a 74-26 record and winning the Big 12 regular-season title each of the past two years.

The Sooners return four starters in redshirt senior forward Skylar Vann (6-0), senior guard Payton Verhulst (6-1), redshirt senior guard Lexy Keys (5-7) and redshirt senior guard Nevaeh Tot (5-3).

That’s a lot of returning talent.

Vann led the team with 15.1 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, while Verhulst averaged 12.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.94 assists and 1.0 blocks per game. Keys put up 8.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.33 assists per game, while Tot had 6.6 points,3.3 rebounds and a team-high 4.55 assists per game.

Those four all started at least 32 of the team’s 33 games.

Oklahoma had major wins last season against Ole Miss, Kansas State, Baylor and two each against Texas and TCU. All of those teams were ranked at the time of the matchup with one of the Texas wins coming while the Longhorns were No. 3 and the Kansas State win coming while the Wildcats were No. 2.

The Sooners beat Oklahoma Christian 114-47 in an exhibition on Tuesday and will open the season Monday hosting Southern.

The non-conference schedule looks a bit easier for the Sooners this year with an opportunity to play Kansas State or Duke in the Ball Dawgs Classic the only matchup against a team that enters the season ranked.

Oklahoma should lean on its experienced roster to continue its recent success as it gets into its first SEC season.

Hate to say it, but the Sooners win this one.

Missouri faces another tough matchup against an Auburn team that went 20-12 last season with an 8-8 record in conference play.

Auburn rattled off an eight-game winning streak to end non-conference play last season, but the toughest opponents in the mix were a Clemson team that went 12-19 and a Washington State crew that went 21-15.

Auburn then dropped its first three conference matchups, but finished the regular season on a three-game winning streak to get back to .500 in conference play. The Tigers won their first game in the SEC Tournament and lost as part of the First Four in the NCAA Tournament, trying to earn a No. 11 seed.

Auburn beat Missouri 70-59 in the programs’ only matchup last season. Missouri leads the all-time series 10-7 and had won three consecutive matchups going into last season.

Honesty Scott-Grayson was the lone scorer on last year’s team averaging double-digits, giving the Tigers 17.3 points per game to power an offense that only averaged 66.6. Scott-Grayson graduated after last season.

Graduate forward Taylen Collins (6-1) is the highest-scoring returner after averaging 7.9 points and a team-high 6.3 rebounds last season and shooting 43.7 percent from the field.

Senior guard Mar’shaun Bostic (5-8) is back after averaging 5.9 points and 2.6 assists per game.

Through the portal, Auburn brought in sophomore guard Taliah Scott (5-9), who was a five-time SEC Freshman of the Week last year at Arkansas. She led the Razorbacks in scoring at 22.1 points per game, playing in 20 contests and starting 19. Scott averaged the most points per game of any player in the SEC, but didn’t win the league scoring title because she didn’t play the required minimum games or minutes.

She scored at least 20 points 13 times and poured in 30 points three times.

Auburn also brought in graduate forward Dyona Gaston (6-2) from Texas. Last season, Gaston played in 25 games for the Longhorns, averaging 8.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.

Scott-Grayson was the straw that stirred the drink for Auburn last year and I don’t think the offense will have the same firepower without her, but the team was powered by its defense that allowed 70 points or more only five times and never allowed 80.

I think that defense keeps suffocating teams and Auburn takes this matchup.

That’s another 1-2 stretch in SEC play for Missouri, bringing my season prediction record to 13-8 overall and 2-4 in SEC play as we reach the end of January.

Head on over to the Tiger Walk to discuss the schedule and so much more.