Ohio State releases 2023-24 men's basketball non-conference schedule

Ohio State has released its 2023-24 men’s basketball non-conference schedule. The Buckeyes unveiled the slate of games Tuesday afternoon.

Ohio State will officially tip off the season Nov. 6 with a home game against Oakland. Other notable opponents include Texas A&M and West Virginia, as well as the Emerald Coast Classic, which includes Alabama and Oregon. The Buckeyes will also once again participate in the CBS Sports Classic in December along with Kentucky, UCLA and North Carolina.

“This is the best and most challenging overall schedule we have put together in a few years,” head coach Chris Holtmann said in a statement. “We have a preseason Top 15 opponent coming to the Schottenstein Center in the early part of the year, a couple of preseason Top 25 teams away from home and several good regional mid-major programs in the nonconference. This is all in addition to our tremendous home slate of Big Ten opponents.” 

Here’s Ohio State’s full 2023-24 non-conference schedule. The Emerald Coast Classic is noted with an asterisk.

• Nov. 6: vs. Oakland
• Nov. 10: vs. Texas A&M
• Nov. 15: vs. Merrimack
• Nov. 19: vs. Western Michigan
• Nov. 24: vs. Alabama*
• Nov. 25: vs. Oregon/Santa Clara*
• Nov. 29: vs. Central Michigan
• Dec. 5/6: vs. Miami (OH)
• Dec. 16: CBS Sports Classic (vs. Kentucky, North Carolina or UCLA)
• Dec. 21: vs. New Orleans
• Dec. 30: vs. West Virginia

The date of the matchup with Miami (OH) is dependent on when Ohio State starts Big Ten play. The Big Ten recently announced the matchups for the 2023-24 conference schedule, but date and times have not yet been announced.

Ohio State has some marquee conference games on tap this coming season. The Buckeyes will have seven home-and-away series — against Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Penn State, Rutgers and Wisconsin. They’ll also welcome Illinois, Maryland and Purdue to Columbus in addition to three road games against Iowa, Michigan State and Northwestern.

Ohio State is coming off an interesting 2022-23 season, finishing with a 16-19 overall record and a 5-15 record in Big Ten play. However, the Buckeyes found themselves in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals thanks to three straight victories in Chicago. The season ended at the hands of Purdue, which went on to win the tournament.

Last year’s leading scorer, Brice Sensabaugh, is also out of the picture as he heads to the 2023 NBA Draft. But Ohio State has the No. 8-ranked recruiting class coming in, according to the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Ranking, and dove into the transfer portal to bring in an intra-conference transfer in Jamison Battle. The former Minnesota forward came in at No. 34 in the On3 Transfer Portal Rankings after putting up some huge numbers over the last few years.