Ohio State Announces Non-Conference Basketball Schedule, Including Game At St. John Arena

The Ohio State men's basketball team will play a regular-season game inside St. John Arena for the first time in eight years this upcoming season. 

Ohio State announced its 12-game non-conference basketball schedule on Tuesday, including a game at the Buckeyes' historic on-campus former home against Cleveland State on Nov. 23, the day before Ohio State's home football game against Michigan.

You asked, we delivered.

November 23

We return to where it all started.#StJohnArena pic.twitter.com/8IfBimpQD4

— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) June 19, 2018

The game at St. John Arena will be part of the Buckeye Basketball Classic, a four-game event staged entirely in Columbus in which the Buckeyes will also play Purdue University Fort Wayne (Nov. 11), South Carolina State (Nov. 18) and Samford (Nov. 20) at Value City Arena.

Ohio State will open its season with an exhibition game against UNC Pembroke on Nov. 1 before its regular-season opener at Cincinnati on Nov. 7. The Buckeyes will also play at Creighton (Nov. 15) as part of the Gavitt Games, host Syracuse (Nov. 28) in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and play December home games against Bucknell (Dec. 15), Youngstown State (Dec. 18) and High Point (Dec. 29), with a trip to Chicago to play UCLA in the CBS Sports Classic set for Dec. 22.

“We are excited about the challenge of this nonconference schedule,” Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said in a statement. “Our hope is that it prepares us for the grind of a 20-game Big Ten season. We believe the schedule includes many exciting matchups that will be tremendous tests and games Buckeye Nation will enjoy.”

As part of the Big Ten's new 20-game schedule, the Buckeyes will play two conference games between Nov. 30 and Dec. 5 before beginning the rest of their conference schedule in January. The Big Ten has not yet announced its conference game schedule for the 2018-19 season.