It’s a unique year in the world with the coronavirus pandemic turning literally every area of life upside down. That includes the world of sports as well. And so it is with the Ohio State basketball schedule. We received word a couple of months back that the NCAA basketball season could start in late November, then it was announced that the Buckeyes pulled out of the Crossover Classic in South Dakota because of rising COVID-19 cases in that area.
That was scheduled to take place from November 25-27 so it left a big gaping hole in OSU’s early non-conference schedule.
But not any longer.
That’s because head coach Chris Holtmann announced on the local “Morning Juice” radio show that the Buckeyes will be opening the season on November 25 still against Illinois State in a multi-team tournament. No further details were provided, but Holtmann did say that he hopes to have the schedule finalized in the next week and a half.
.@ChrisHoltmann on @MorningJuice971 #Buckeyes will open up the season next week on 11/25 against Illinois State.
— Brandon Beam (@BrandonBeam971) November 16, 2020
If you don’t know much about Illinois State, here’s a primer. The Redbirds finished the season 10-21 last year and play in the Missouri Valley Conference where they went 5-13 a season ago. The team also lost most of its scoring from last year, so it isn’t expected to be much of a banner year this winter.
As more becomes confirmed and available about the remainder of Ohio State’s schedule, we’ll have more on it.