A familiar friend (and university) will be coming to Columbus to scrimmage the Ohio State men's basketball team in a few months.
The Buckeyes are set to host Ohio University for a preseason exhibition game on Oct. 15, sources have told Eleven Warriors. The scrimmage will be open to the public.
In what could be a make-or-break season for Jake Diebler and the Buckeyes, Ohio State will host a Bobcats team that has consistently been in the top half of the MAC ever since head coach Jeff Boals took over in Athens in 2019. Ohio won the 2021 MAC Conference Tournament and has finished with 19 wins or more three of the past four years, though it went just 16-16 in 2024-25.
With a core group of Bruce Thornton, John Mobley Jr. and Devin Royal returning to Columbus for another season, the Buckeyes also added plenty of talent in the transfer portal, with Gabe Cupps, Brandon Noel, Christoph Tilly and Josh Ojianwuna joining the Buckeyes this offseason. Paired with freshmen A’mare Bynum, Mathieu Grujicic and Myles Herro, there are plenty of unknowns but also plenty of hope for Ohio State heading into the upcoming season.
Buckeye fans will get a first-hand look at the new-look squad prior to the start of Diebler's second season. It will also mark Boals' return to Ohio State, where he spent seven seasons as an assistant coach from 2009-16.
