Right now, Ohio State's online schedule shows just four opponents: Morehead State, Alabama A&M, Notre Dame and North Carolina. Soon, however, it'll feature 27 games.
During a Monday morning appearance on 97.1's Morning Juice, head coach Chris Holtmann revealed the Buckeyes will open the season against Illinois State on Nov. 25 as part of a multi-team event. Provided the event features two other teams joining the Buckeyes and Redbirds, Ohio State will fill out its non-conference slate with three games in the event to go along with the four already-scheduled out-of-conference games that'll precede a 20-game Big Ten schedule.
Illinois State finished 10-21 last season, went 5-13 in the Missouri Valley Conference and lost in the first round of the conference tournament. Led by head coach Dan Muller entering his ninth season, the Redbirds head toward the beginning of the season ranked No. 170 in the nation by Matt Norlander of CBS Sports and No. 194 by KenPom. They return only one of their top-four scorers on last year's team: third-leading scorer DJ Horne, a 6-foot-1 sophomore guard who averaged 8.7 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.
Holtmann said he expects to have the rest of the schedule finalized in the next week and a half.
