Sun, sand, and some scintillating basketball can only mean one thing — tournament time is upon us in college hoops.

And once again, the Women’s Cancun Challenge is delivering one of the finest fields around.

• Subscribe to FloCollege to watch the 2025 Women's Cancun Challenge

Held annually since 2005 (with the exception of the pandemic-canceled 2020 event), the Women’s Cancun Challenge has acted as one of the sport’s premier holiday college basketball events, and nine teams will descend on the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya this year for an action-packed three-day showcase.

There’s only one place you’ll be able to find these games back in the U.S., however: FloCollege.

Here’s a look ahead at all you need to know ahead of time for the Women’s Cancun Challenge, streamed live and exclusively on FloCollege all event long:

2025 Women’s Cancun Challenge Schedule

 NOTE: All tipoff times listed in Eastern Time.

Thursday, November 27

• North Carolina vs. South Dakota State, 11 a.m.
• Columbia vs. Kansas State, 1:30 p.m.
• NC State vs. Green Bay, 4 p.m.
• Southern Miss vs. UAB, 6:30 p.m.
• Richmond vs. TCU, 9 p.m.

Friday, November 28

• Kansas State vs. North Carolina, 11 a.m.
• South Dakota State vs. Columbia, 1:30 p.m.
• NC State vs. Southern Miss, 4 p.m.
• UAB vs. TCU, 6:30 p.m.
• Green Bay vs. Richmond, 9 p.m.

Saturday, November 29

• South Dakota State vs. Kansas State, 11 a.m.
• North Carolina vs. Columbia, 1:30 p.m.

2025 Women’s Cancun Challenge Team Outlooks 

NOTE: Season stats accurate as of Nov. 13.

Columbia Women's Basketball

The queens of the Ivy League, the Lions have won at least 23 games in four straight seasons plus three regular-season conference titles in a row under coach (and former Columbia player) Megan Griffith, who is already the winningest coach in program history despite only leading her alma mater since 2016. Having won its first-ever NCAA Tournament game last season as an 11 seed — two years after making the WNIT championship game on top of it — the Lions are quickly turning into one of the country’s most feared mid-major squads year after year.

Player to watch: Riley Weiss, G, Jr. 

A returning First Team All-Ivy selection, Weiss stayed with Columbia when she likely would’ve commanded serious interest elsewhere in the transfer portal this past offseason, and the Lions sure are glad she stuck around. The 5-foot-10 dynamo averaged 17.8 points per game a year ago and has immediately hit the ground running early for Columbia in 2025-26, playing all 40 minutes and scoring 27 points in the Lions’ season-opening win at Butler earlier this month. Weiss also rarely makes mistakes when the ball is in her hands, turning the ball over just three times across 65 minutes played thus far this season.

Green Bay Women's Basketball

Long a dangerous mid-major program that reached its peak in 2011 with a run to the Sweet 16, Green Bay returned to March Madness in 2024 after a six-year absence and made it back-to-back trips in 2025, winning 29 games and only losing once in Horizon League play along the way. Second-year coach Kayla Karius has kept up the Phoenix’s energy following the 2024 retirement of program architect Kevin Borseth (509 career wins at Green Bay), and they won’t be shying away from tough nonconference matchups with a pair of ranked/receiving votes teams awaiting their arrival in Cancun.

Player to watch: Meghan Schultz, F/C, R-Soph.

Having played sparingly last season for the Phoenix off of the bench, Schultz has emerged into a major problem for other teams in the low post in her first season as a starter, taking her opportunity and running with it to the tune of 16.0 points per game thus far. Shooting 62.8% from the field through her first four games, Schultz has already scored more points this season (64) than she did across 22 games in 2024-25, highlighted by a 26-point outburst on 11-for-18 shooting in 25 minutes in a Green Bay win against North Dakota on Nov. 11. 

Kansas State Women's Basketball

The post-Ayoka Lee era is here for K-State, with the multi-time All-American center now no longer breaking record after record in the low post. The Wildcats’ adjustment period has resulted in some hiccups, most notably Thursday night when they were defeated in the final seconds by a strong South Dakota team. Still, there’s a lot to like in Manhattan. K-State is holding opponents thus far to a measly 33% clip from the field, and with returning weapons around the court able to deliver on both ends, the Wildcats are coming along with their refreshed identity. 

Player to watch: Taryn Sides, G, Jr.

Quite possibly the best sharpshooter coming down to Cancun, Sides is dynamite as the Wildcats’ main scorer and facilitator. The K-State record holder for assist-to-turnover ratio and a marksman from deep that has shot 41% from 3-point distance across her Wildcats career, Sides — a weapon off of the bench in her first two seasons with the program — has quickly turned into K-State’s leader after Lee, flirting with a triple-double in the season opener against Omaha (15 points, 12 assists, seven rebounds) and proving to be a ball-hawk on the defensive end with two games already in which she’s picked up four steals.

NC State Women's Basketball

Two years removed from a trip to the Final Four, what’s next for Wolfpack hoops? Currently, NC State is positioned to be the highest-ranked team in the AP Poll (No. 10 as of this writing) to make the trip down to Cancun, and with a loaded slate ahead in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Wolfpack will be pushing to make their trek down south as smooth as possible heading into the meat of the season. Things are mostly going to plan so far as NC State already has a top-10 win against Tennessee on its resume, all while holding opponents to just a 24.2% mark from 3-point range.

Player to watch: Khamil Pierre, F, Jr.

A highly coveted offseason transfer from Vanderbilt who led the Southeastern Conference last season in field goals made, NC State won Pierre’s signature among a crowd of other suitors, and she’s done nothing but produce for the Wolfpack so far. Her NC State debut against the Lady Volunteers revealed no problems in adjusting to her new home, as Pierre was integral to a big nonconference victory with a 21-point, 14-rebound double-double. She tallied double-doubles in the two games the Wolfpack has played since then, too, putting her averages at 16.3 points and 14.0 rebounds per game in the season’s early days.

North Carolina Women's Basketball

Though the Tar Heels just missed out on a chance for a marquee early-season victory Thursday against UCLA, it’s a bad idea to cast aside UNC as a legitimate threat in the ACC and a contender to make a deep March Madness run. Coming off of a 29-win season and a trip to the Sweet 16, North Carolina hasn’t missed the NCAA Tournament under coach Courtney Banghart. But with three games in three days on the docket in Cancun, the Tar Heels will need to bring their A-game later on this month in order to come out unscathed.

Player to watch: Indya Nivar, G, Sr.

It’s hard to pick a star Tar Heel, as UNC shares the wealth with eight different players averaging at least six points per game. But Nivar gets the call as a returning starter who is emerging into a reliable option for a team that needs some firepower. A North Carolina native who started her college career at Stanford, Nivar has offered some consistency early in UNC’s season with three straight games of scoring in double figures, but it’s on the defensive end where she’s really shone with four steals against North Carolina Central and six against Elon.

Richmond Women's Basketball

Spider basketball is entering a golden age — if not already in one — and Richmond is ready to make noise in Cancun and make their mark as a yearly force to be reckoned with in the mid-major ranks. Having won its first NCAA Tournament game in program history last season — and giving No. 1-seeded UCLA a scare in the second round, being tied with the Bruins at the half — the Spiders roll into 2025-26 as the two-time reigning Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season champions returning three starters, including their top two leading scorers from last season’s historic 28-win campaign.

Player to watch: Maggie Doogan, F, Sr.

Serious women’s college basketball fans already know how good Doogan is, as last year’s A-10 Player of the Year was the engine behind Richmond’s epic year last season. But if she keeps up the pace she’s currently on, it’s going to be hard to deny the 6-2 Doogan of All-American considerations and/or WNBA interest. The Pennsylvania native has been spectacular out of the gate for the Spiders as she’s averaging a massive double-double (25.0 points, 10.7 rebounds per game) through her first three contests of 2025-26, even taking it right to national title contender Texas earlier in the year with a 22-point, seven-board performance on Nov. 7 in Austin. 

South Dakota State Women's Basketball

The five-time reigning and defending Summit League champions aren’t just a common name at the NCAA Tournament, but a confident, savvy squad that knows how to win at the highest levels against the nation’s best competition. The Jackrabbits haven’t lost a conference game in three seasons and are coming off a 30-win campaign that included a first-round March Madness win as a 10 seed, and they constantly churn out some of the best players you’ll find in mid-major college basketball. It’s all in a night’s work for head coach Aaron Johnston, who’s been steering the ship in Brookings for more than a quarter-century.

Player to watch: Brooklyn Meyer, F, Sr.

Perhaps the former Summit League Player of the Year was motivated a little bit by the fact that she didn’t win back-to-back awards after taking the conference’s top honor as a sophomore in 2023-24. Meyer has been nothing short of fantastic for SDSU through three games, fortifying her position as one of the top two-way bigs in women’s college basketball with 26.3 points per game, including 33 on 14-for-20 shooting in the Jacks’ impressive season-opening win at Creighton. Also one of the nation’s top shot-blockers, Meyer has already tallied five blocks in a game twice and will be a fearsome foe at the rim for the other teams SDSU will face in Cancun.

Southern Miss Women's Basketball

After a 10-21 campaign last season, a 4-0 start is very encouraging for the Lady Eagles, who are under alumna and first-year coach Missy Bilderback — a turnaround specialist who improved a Louisiana-Monroe program from seven wins to 21 during her first year with the Warhawks in 2023-24. Southern Miss hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament in 30 years, and while the Lady Eagles are still a long way away from snapping that drought, a two-game slate in Cancun against UAB and a national power in NC State should give them a good idea on their season’s outlook.

Player to watch: Meloney Thames, G, Sr.

Numerous players on Southern Miss’ roster had previously played for Bilderback at either JUCO Jones College or ULM. Thames has done both, first playing under her current coach at the two-year level before reuniting with her as a Warhawk, then finally a Lady Eagle. It’s obvious that the two have some chemistry because Thames has produced at every level under Bilderback. Southern Miss’s current leading scorer at 13.2 points per game, Thames has lit up the nets from 3-point range with a 9 for 14 (64.3%) mark thus far, being one of five Lady Eagles to average in double figures as she makes for a solid option in the backcourt.

TCU Women's Basketball

Thought the Horned Frogs were going to be bound for a slump after losing so much talent from last year’s team that made the Elite Eight? Think again. Even with the departures of All-Americans Hailey Van Lith and Sedona Prince, TCU has hardly had any trouble with opponents early on this season, even clobbering Tennessee State 122-39 on Wednesday for the largest margin of victory in school history. While team shooting percentages of 54.6% from the field and 45.2% from 3-point range probably won’t last, talent will — and it could lead the Horned Frogs toward another deep run in March.

Player to watch: Olivia Miles, G, Gr.

Widely projected to be the No. 2 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft behind Paige Bueckers, Miles instead went back into the college game for some unfinished business. A three-time All-American at Notre Dame and the only active player in women’s college basketball with at least 25 double-doubles and five triple-doubles, Miles’ otherworldly talent suddenly landed in the Horned Frogs’ lap when she chose them for her final college stop. Predictably, it’s gone great: Miles is averaging 18.3 points per game through three games so far and had her first double-double in a TCU jersey against Tennessee Tech, tallying 17 points and 11 assists.

UAB Women's Basketball

The Blazers have made the WNIT in back-to-back seasons, but ahead of the Cancun Challenge, they will need to sort out a few ongoing kinks if they want to find success down south. UAB lost to Division II West Alabama in its season opener, and while it has since gotten over the hump after toppling Alabama A&M on Wednesday, how it plays in tuneup games prior to Cancun against Chattanooga and Murray State will tell more about how the Blazers’ business trip will likely go. A strong team 3-point percentage through three games (41.8%) can certainly help the Blazers turn the corner before then.

Player to watch: Cali Smallwood, G, Jr.

If you’re a subscriber to FloCollege — and on that note, a fan of D-II women’s hoops — chances are you know about Smallwood already, who was named the Gulf South Conference Freshman of the Year at Montevallo in 2023-24 as she averaged 12.5 points per game. A shortened first season at UAB, then followed as she only played in four games for the Blazers last season, but Smallwood has done well since to make up for lost time. She was awesome against Alabama A&M as she ripped off 29 points with six made 3-pointers, part of her 40% mark from deep thus far this yea,r as Smallwood has done well to adjust to the D-I level.

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