Ohio State now knows the road map for its 2026-27 men’s basketball season, and the Big Ten slate gives Jake Diebler’s team a clear picture of what’s ahead.
The Buckeyes will open conference play on Dec. 2 at Nebraska, then return home four days later to face Maryland on Dec. 6.
After that, Big Ten action takes a pause before picking back up with Oregon visiting Columbus on Dec. 30.
Diebler enters his third full season with two starters back from a 21-13 team that finished eighth in the Big Ten at 12-8. Junior guard John Mobley Jr. and sophomore forward Amare Bynum are the headliners among six returnees. Ohio State also brings back junior center Ivan Njegovan, senior center Josh Ojianwuna, junior guard Braylen Nash and redshirt freshman guard Myles Herro.
The roster turnover is sizable, though, with nine newcomers joining the mix. The transfer group includes junior guard Curtis Givens III from Memphis, senior guard Jimmie Williams from Duquesne, junior forward Andrija Jelavic from Kentucky and junior guard Justin Pippen from Cal. The freshmen are wing Anthony Thompson, guard LJ Smith, forwards Alex Smith and Lee Aaliya and center Vuk Lazarevic.
Ohio State’s nonconference schedule is loaded with Power Five opponents. The Buckeyes open the season on Mon., Nov. 2, against BYU at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, about 45 miles from the BYU campus in Provo. The home opener comes Nov. 6 against Youngstown State.
Other Power Five nonconference games include a trip to UConn on Nov. 13, a home date with Vanderbilt on Nov. 24, a road game at Notre Dame on Dec. 12 and the CBS Sports Classic matchup with Kansas on Dec. 19 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The Buckeyes’ exhibition schedule was already set: they’ll face Cincinnati on Oct. 7 outdoors at the Lindner Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, and Butler on Oct. 25 at the Schottenstein Center.
In league play, Ohio State’s biggest rivalry dates are in place as well. The Buckeyes will play Michigan twice, visiting Ann Arbor on Jan. 30 before hosting the Wolverines in the regular-season finale on Sun., March 7. Ohio State also gets home-and-home series with Iowa and Penn State.
The home Big Ten schedule includes Maryland, Oregon, Northwestern, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Washington and Rutgers, while the road-only league trips are Nebraska, Illinois, Purdue, UCLA, USC, Indiana and Minnesota. The West Coast swing takes Ohio State to UCLA on Feb. 17 and USC on Feb. 20.
Weekend home conference games, beyond Maryland and Michigan, are Penn State on Jan. 17, Michigan State on Jan. 23 and Washington on Feb. 14.
The Big Ten tournament runs March 9-14 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The expanded 76-team NCAA Tournament field will be announced on March 14, with the opening-round games set for March 16-17 in Dayton, Ohio, and Wichita, Kan.
The first- and second-round sites will be Pittsburgh; Omaha, Neb.; Fort Worth, Texas; Spokane, Wash.; Charlotte, N.C.; Minneapolis; Louisville, Ky.; and Sacramento, Calif. The South Regional is set for San Antonio, the West Regional for Los Angeles, the Midwest Regional for Kansas City, Mo., and the East Regional for Madison Square Garden in New York City. The 2027 Final Four will be played April 3-5 at Ford Field in Detroit.
In Other News...
Ohio State Has A Ryan Day Problem Fans Cant Ignore
Ohio States recent habit of watching comfortable fourth-quarter leads shrink has turned into more than a bad stretch. The Buckeyes have had the kind of defensive fatigue and late-game confusion that can undo otherwise solid afternoons, and the issue has shown up in consecutive games enough to raise real questions about how the team closes.
Ryan Days program has been especially vulnerable when opponents keep pushing the pace and the defense is forced to hold up under pressure. The loss to Texas only sharpened the concern, since the Longhorns have brought a steadier offensive identity over multiple seasons while Ohio State has struggled to adjust and protect leads when games turn critical. [Read more 🡒]
Ryan Day Just Put Ohio State's Punt Decisions On Notice
Ohio States special teams already had a spotlight on them after the loss to Texas, and Ryan Day only sharpened it when he revisited the punt decision from Texas 39-yard line. The Buckeyes chose to kick on 4th-and-4, and the result was a 26-yard net that left plenty of room for second-guessing. Day still defended the call, while also pointing to punter Joe McGuires talent and framing the issue as more about execution than philosophy.
Robby Discher was brought in this offseason as special teams coordinator with the expectation that this phase would get cleaner, and Days comments suggested the Buckeyes are watching closely to see whether that happens. If the operation stays inconsistent, the comfort level on similar fourth-down decisions may start to change, especially in the kinds of high-leverage spots that can swing a top-end game. The message was clear enough: the punts are not automatic if the returns keep coming up short. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State May Have Found A Young Defensive Difference Maker
Riley Pettijohns role in Ohio States loss to Texas was one of the quieter bright spots for a defense that spent much of the night under pressure. The young linebacker logged a career-high 37 snaps while moving around to multiple spots, and he flashed enough disruption to stand out even in a tough result. He also fit in with a broader theme from the game, as other young Buckeyes like Jay Timmons and Khary Wilder showed they may be ready for bigger chances too.
Ryan Day has already signaled that Pettijohns workload should keep growing, and it is easy to see why the staff is intrigued. The linebacker has shown a knack for slipping blocks and finding the football, the kind of trait that can change how a defense feels from one week to the next. Ohio State still has to sort out the bigger picture after the loss, but Pettijohns emergence gives the Buckeyes something real to build on. [Read more 🡒]