Ohio State reveals most of non-conference slate for 2024-25 season

COLUMBUS — Ohio State revealed most of its non-conference slate for the 2024-25 season Monday. The Buckeyes are working on one more non-conference neutral site game, which is expected to be announced at a later date.

For now, though, here’s the lineup of non-conference games Ohio State will play this fall and winter:

Nov. 4 vs. Texas (T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada)
Nov. 11 vs. Youngstown State
Nov. 15 at Texas A&M
Nov. 19 vs. Evansville
Nov. 22 vs. Campbell
Nov. 25 vs. Green Bay
Nov. 29 vs. Pittsburgh
Dec. 17 vs. Valparaiso
Dec. 21 vs. Kentucky (Madison Square Garden, New York, New York)
Dec. 29 vs. Indiana State

OUTLOOK

+ Ohio State will kick off the 2024-25 season against Texas in Las Vegas for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series. The game will take place on Nov. 4 in T-Mobile Arena, the home of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights. It will be part of College Basketball’s Opening Night 2024, an event that will also feature a highly-anticipated women’s basketball showdown between defending national champion South Carolina and Michigan that same night in Vegas.

FOR MORE ON TEXAS, GO HERE

+ Ohio State will complete its home-and-home series with Texas A&M. Buzz Williams’ Aggies squad took down Ohio State, 73-66, on Nov. 10 last year in the Schottenstein Center. That matchup took place during the first week of the Buckeyes’ season and drew a crowd of 12,704. Texas A&M’s backcourt pairing of Wade Taylor IV and Tyrece Radford combined for 42 points, and the then-No. 15 Aggies overpowered Ohio State on the glass with a 45-35 rebounding advantage. Williams’ team, which finished the season No. 1 in KenPom offensive rebounding percentage, piled up 16 offensive boards, leading to 19 second-chance points.

FOR MORE ON TEXAS A&M, GO HERE

+ On Nov. 25, the Buckeyes will face Green Bay, which is now led by radio personality and former Oklahoma State point guard Doug Gottlieb. Notably, Gottlieb will continue hosting his national radio show while coaching Green Bay, and the five-year contract he signed includes a conflict management plan in attempt to regulate that balance, as reported by the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

+ The ACC/Big Ten Challenge went extinct after the 2022-23 season. But Ohio State has scheduled an early-season matchup with an ACC foe on its own. The Buckeyes will host Pitt on Nov. 29. The Panthers just extended head coach Jeff Capel after narrowly missing out on the NCAA Tournament last season. They did, however, reach The Dance the year before and won games in the First Four and in the Round of 64 after Capel earned ACC Coach of the Year honors. Pitt returns four of its top-six scorers from last season, including guards Ishmael Leggett and Jaland Lowe.

+ In his first season as head coach, Jake Diebler will get to face the program that helped make him into the person he is today. Diebler and the Buckeyes will host Valparaiso on Dec. 17. Diebler played for Valpo from 2005-09. Then he jumpstarted his coaching career there, first serving as a student assistant for Homer Drew — who was still the head coach at the time — and then holding an assistant coach position from 2011-13. Valpo is now led by first-year head coach Roger Powell Jr.

+ Ohio State will take on Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic, which is returning to Madison Square Garden, where the four-team annual event was held during the 2022-23 season as well. The Buckeyes are 5-4 all-time in the CBS Sports Classic. Like Ohio State, Kentucky also has a new head coach. John Calipari left Kentucky to take the Arkansas job, and the Wildcats hired former BYU head coach Mark Pope to replace him.

FOR MORE ON THE CBS SPORTS CLASSIC, GO HERE

Early look at + analysis of Buckeyes’ Big Ten schedule in 2024-25

The Big Ten revealed 2024-25 home and away league opponents for all 18 members in May. Remember, the conference now includes UCLA, USC, Washington and Oregon.

Although there are now four more Big Ten programs, every team in the conference will still play 20 league games next season.

Here’s what Ohio State’s Big Ten home/away split looks like:

HOME ONLY

Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
Northwestern
Oregon
Rutgers
Washington

AWAY ONLY

Illinois
Minnesota
Penn State
Purdue
UCLA
USC
Wisconsin

HOME AND AWAY

Indiana
Maryland
Nebraska

OUTLOOK

NOTE: The dates for each Big Ten game will be released later this year.

+ For reference, Ohio State had home-and-home series with all but six teams in the Big Ten last season. During the 2023-24 campaign, the Buckeyes played Illinois, Maryland and Purdue only at home. And they played Iowa, Michigan State and Northwestern only on the road. This time around, with the expanded conference, Ohio State will play just three in-conference home-and-home series. Those are with Indiana, Maryland and Nebraska.

+ Ohio State will make the trip to California to play both UCLA and USC on the road. Meanwhile, the Big Ten’s new Pacific Northwest programs, Oregon and Washington, are traveling to Columbus to face the Buckeyes.

+ Ohio State lost its first eight Big Ten road games last season. By that point, the Buckeyes were on a program-record, 17-game road losing streak. They finally snapped what ended up being a 420-day drought with a “true” road win at Michigan State, where Baylor grad transfer guard Dale Bonner beat the buzzer for a heroic game-winner. Ohio State then finished the regular season with its second consecutive Big Ten road victory, triumphing at Rutgers.

+ Interestingly enough, though, Ohio State posted a 5-1 record in regular season neutral site games last season. The Buckeyes won the Emerald Coast Classic, picking up an early-season win over Final Four-bound Alabama in the process. Ohio State also scrapped out a win against UCLA in the CBS Sports Classic and outlasted West Virginia in overtime in Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

+ It’s important to note that Ohio State will play Michigan only once next season, and that game will take place in the Schottenstein Center. Guard Roddy Gayle Jr., who transferred from Ohio State to Michigan this offseason, will make his return to Columbus in that meeting.

+ Ohio State is preparing for the first full season under head coach Jake Diebler, who took over as interim head coach after Chris Holtmann was fired on Feb. 14. Diebler then led the Buckeyes to an upset win over national runner-up Purdue, the start of a seven-game stretch in which Ohio State ripped off six wins and knocked on the door of the NCAA Tournament before getting knocked out of the Big Ten Tournament by conference champion Illinois.

+ While Ohio State finished just 9-11 in Big Ten play last season, it still rounded out the year with 22 wins — in part thanks to two victories in the NIT — meaning that the Buckeyes clocked out with their most wins in a season since 2017-18 (25 wins), Holtmann’s first year with the program.

+ In addition to graduating both Bonner and sharpshooting Minnesota grad transfer Jamison Battle, Ohio State lost five players to the transfer portal this offseason. The Buckeyes, however, returned two-time captain Bruce Thornton, starting wing Evan Mahaffey and promising forward Devin Royal, along with guard Taison Chatman, forward Kalen Etzler and center Austin Parks. That said, Chatman suffered a season-ending ACL tear earlier this summer.

+ Ohio State has welcomed in a pair of freshmen, wing Colin White and guard Juni Mobley. The Buckeyes have also brought aboard four transfers this offseason: guard Meechie Johnson (South Carolina), wing Micah Parrish (San Diego State), forward Sean Stewart (Duke) and center Aaron Bradshaw (Kentucky).