The conference schedule for Ohio State men’s basketball has been revealed.
The Buckeyes start Big Ten play on Dec. 2 with a road game against Nebraska at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Four days later, Maryland comes to Columbus for a Dec. 6 showdown between Ohio State and the Terrapins at the Schottenstein Center.
There is a break in the conference schedule after that matchup, with games against Notre Dame (Dec. 12), Stony Brook (Dec. 15), Kansas (Dec. 19) and Mississippi Valley State (Dec. 22) scheduled. Then, OSU has one more December conference game with Oregon making the trip to Columbus this year to visit the Buckeyes on Dec. 30.
The month of January is chock full of conference games, with a contest at Iowa being the first on Jan. 2. The Buckeyes are then back home for one game on Jan. 6, with Northwestern coming to town.
After that, Ohio State has two straight road contests, going to Illinois on Jan. 9 before heading to West Lafayette, Ind., for a matchup against Purdue — a team head coach Jake Diebler has had a lot of success against during his tenure — on Jan. 12.
Then, the Buckeyes are back in Columbus for a three-game homestand, with their first of two games against Penn State on Jan. 17, then Michigan State on Jan. 23 and their second matchup against Iowa on Jan. 26. Their next two games will be on the road against Michigan on Jan. 30 and the second game against Penn State in State College, Pa., on Feb. 6.
Wisconsin heads to Columbus for a Feb. 9 game before Washington is in town for a Feb. 14 matchup with Ohio State. The Buckeyes will then head to Los Angeles for two games, with UCLA hosting them on Feb. 17 and USC hosting on Feb. 20.
Ohio State returns home for a game against Rutgers on Feb. 25 before going on the road for its final two away games of the regular season against Indiana on Feb. 28 and Minnesota on March 4. The regular season closes out with reigning national champion Michigan coming to Columbus for a March 7 matchup with its new head coach.
The Big Ten tournament is all that’s left on the schedule after that, taking place in Indianapolis from March 9 (a Tuesday) through March 14 (Selection Sunday). Depending on how the Buckeyes perform in the regular season during conference play, they could be playing in that event as early as Tuesday, but could also get to wait until Friday if they are a top four team in the Big Ten.
Ohio State is first in action on Oct. 7 for an exhibition game against Cincinnati. It will be an outdoor game for the CareSource Invitational. That game is set to top at 3 p.m. It has another exhibition game at home on Oct. 25 against Butler. There has been no time reported on that contest yet.
The first regular season game is a high-profile matchup against BYU in Salt Lake City, Utah, that will be counted as a neutral-site game on Nov. 2.
