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Ohio State to play Alabama in first round of Emerald Coast Classic

IMG_7408by:Andy Backstrom•05/23/23•

andybackstrom

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Jordan Prather | USA TODAY Sports

COLUMBUS — Ohio State will play Alabama in the first round of the Emerald Coast Classic, an early-season tournament that takes place over Thanksgiving Weekend in Niceville, Florida, on the campus of Northwest Florida State College.

The game between the Buckeyes and Crimson Tide will tip off at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 24. Later that night, at 9:30 p.m., Oregon will play Santa Clara.

The loser of those games will play for third place on Saturday, Nov. 25 at 4 p.m. The winner of those games, on the other hand, will play in a “championship” that will be held that same day at 6 p.m.

There are four other teams participating in the Emerald Coast Classic: Mercer, Tennessee State, Southeastern Louisiana and Western Michigan. Those four teams will travel to Alabama, Oregon, Santa Clara and Ohio State, respectively, for “on-campus first-round games.”

The Buckeyes will host Western Michigan on Nov. 19.

Now, back to Ohio State’s marquee, Nov. 24 matchup with Alabama.

The Crimson Tide were the No. 1 overall seed in last season’s NCAA Tournament, but head coach Nate Oats’ team bowed out to Final Four-bound San Diego State in the Sweet Sixteen.

Still, Alabama finished the year 31-6 and as winners of both the SEC regular season and tournament titles. Oats has quite a bit of work to do to put on an encore performance.

Leading scorer and AP first-team All-American Brandon Miller headlines a handful of Crimson Tide players who declared for the NBA Draft this offseason. Factor in a couple transfer departures and the loss of assistant coaches Charlie Henry (Georgia Southern) and Bryan Hodgson (Arkansas State) to head coaching jobs, and you have significant player and staff turnover.

That said, Oats showed last year that a new-look team can win, and even make a run at a national title. In fact, the Crimson Tide carried over just 26.2% of their minutes from 2021-22 to last season’s squad, and those fresh faces accounted for more than 75% of the team’s points.

Alabama will welcome a top-25 recruiting class that’s expected to include three top-100 prospects in the 2023 cycle, according to On3.

What we know about Ohio State’s non-conference slate…

Note: * denotes neutral site games

  • Nov. 6 vs. Oakland
  • Nov. 10 vs. Texas A&M
  • Nov. 19 vs. Western Michigan
  • *Nov. 24 vs. Alabama
  • *Nov. 25 vs. Oregon/Santa Clara
  • *Dec. 30 vs. West Virginia
  • *Dec. 16 vs. TBD (UCLA, Kentucky or UNC) in CBS Sports Classic

For more details, go here.

What we know about Ohio State’s Big Ten Schedule…

Back in April, the Big Ten announced every team’s home and away conference opponents for the 2023-24 season. Ohio State will play 14 league foes both at and away from the Schottenstein Center, three Big Ten opponents only at home and three more only on the road.

Here’s the breakdown:

Home Only

  • Illinois
  • Maryland
  • Purdue

Away Only

  • Iowa
  • Michigan State
  • Northwestern

Home and Away

  • Indiana
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • Nebraska
  • Penn State
  • Rutgers
  • Wisconsin

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