Ohio State’s 2024-25 schedule is now complete after the Big Ten announced the full season slates of each of the 18 conference teams on Thursday afternoon.
The Buckeyes and first-year head coach Jake Diebler begin their 20-game Big Ten slate with consecutive home games in early December, first welcoming Maryland to Value City Arena on Dec. 4 and then hosting Rutgers — who feature two potential NBA lottery picks in freshman guards Ace Bailey Jr. and Dylan Harper — on Dec. 7.
The Terrapins are one of three teams the Buckeyes will play home-and-home series with in 2024-25 as part of the adjusted Big Ten schedule that accounts for the additions of Oregon, Washington, UCLA and USC to the conference. Each team in the Big Ten has seven home and seven away games, and three home-and-away series.
Ohio State will travel to Annapolis to take on the Terrapins on Feb. 6, while they will also play home-and-home series with Nebraska (Feb. 9 away, March 4 home) and Indiana (Jan. 17 home, March 8 away).
After briefly returning to nonconference play to close out the 2024 calendar year, Ohio State will begin the brunt of its Big Ten slate with a home game against Michigan State on Jan. 3. The Buckeyes have won their last two games against legendary head coach Tom Izzo and the Spartans, most recently a last-second 60-57 win in East Lansing last February in Diebler’s third game as interim head coach.
The Buckeyes’ matchup with the Spartans is the beginning of an eight-game January schedule that includes home games against new Big Ten foe Oregon (Jan. 9), the Hoosiers and Iowa (Jan. 27) and road contests against Minnesota (Jan. 6), Wisconsin (Jan. 14) and Purdue (Jan. 21).
Ohio State will welcome Oregon to Columbus in what is the first matchup between the two teams as Big Ten opponents. In a more historic matchup that month, the Buckeyes will travel to Mackey Arena to face off against Matt Painter and Purdue in what will be a rematch of last season’s game in Columbus when the Buckeyes knocked off then-No. 2 Purdue 73-69 in Diebler’s first game as interim head coach.
The Buckeyes will then play eight games in February, a slate that most notably includes a late-month West Coast trip to Los Angeles, where Diebler’s squad will travel to UCLA on Feb. 23 and USC on Feb. 26. Ohio State last played against USC in 1997, when former Buckeye guard Michael Redd scored 30 points in a 79-73 win over the Trojans in Columbus, while the Buckeyes are more familiar with Mick Cronin’s UCLA squad, having beaten them early last season in the CBS Sports Classic.
Ohio State will also welcome new Big Ten team Washington to Value City Arena on Feb. 12, part of a four-game home slate that month that includes games against Maryland on Feb. 6, archrival Michigan on Feb. 16 and Northwestern on Feb. 20.
The matchup with the Wolverines provides much intrigue as it will mark the return of former Ohio State guard Roddy Gayle Jr., who transferred from the Buckeyes to Michigan this offseason, while it will also be a battle between two first-year head coaches, Diebler and Dusty May, who the Buckeyes were interested in hiring this offseason.
Also on the Buckeyes schedule in February are home games against Maryland and Northwestern (Feb. 20) along with a road contest against Illinois (Feb. 2), all coming before the aforementioned home contest against Nebraska and road game at Indiana’s historic Assembly Hall to close out the regular season in March.
These 20 non-conference game now join an 11-game nonconference slate that includes home games against Youngstown State (Nov. 11), Evansville (Nov. 19), Campbell (Nov. 22), Green Bay (Nov. 25), Pittsburgh (Nov. 29), Valparaiso (Dec. 17) and Indiana State (Dec. 29), neutral site contests against Texas (Nov. 4), Auburn (Dec. 14) and Kentucky (Dec. 21) and a road game against Texas A&M (Nov. 15)
All tip-off times and TV networks for each of Ohio State’s 31 regular season games have yet to be determined.
Below is a list of the full conference schedule:
- Dec. 4 Maryland
- Dec. 7 Rutgers
- Jan. 3 Michigan State
- Jan. 6 @Minnesota
- Jan 9 Oregon
- Jan. 14 @Wisconsin
- Jan. 17 Indiana
- Jan. 21 @ Purdue
- Jan. 27 Iowa
- Jan. 30 @Penn State
- Feb. 2 @Illinois
- Feb. 6 Maryland
- Feb. 9 @Nebraska
- Feb. 12 Washington
- Feb. 16 Michigan
- Feb. 20 Northwestern
- Feb. 23 @UCLA
- Feb. 26 @USC
- March 4 Nebraska
- March 6 @Indiana
