Ohio State vs. Cincinnati: College basketball game preview, TV schedule

In the Wednesday college basketball matchup features two teams that finished at and near the top of their conferences last season. Can Ohio State steal one the road or will Cincinnati stand firm at home?

TV Schedule: Wednesday, November 7, 6:00 p.m. ET, ESPN2

Location: Fifth Third Arena, Cincinnati, Ohio

The Ohio State Buckeyes (25-9, 15-3 Big Ten) finished third in the conference last season behind their leading scorer and rebounder Keita Bates-Diop (19.8 points per game, 8.7 Rebounds Per Game). The Cincinnati Bearcats (31-5, 16-2 AAC) had four players break the 400 point mark on their way to winning the American Athletic Conference.

Now, these two teams will come face-to-face with one another in an early season matchup.

Bates-Diop and Jae’Sean Tate have moved on and now the team will have to rely on the production of the Wesson brothers (Kaleb and Andre) and C.J. Jackson.

I’ll be interested to see how those three play together in live game action especially on the offensive side of the court. Their performance may determine whether Ohio State wins this game or not.

On the flipside, the Bearcats, their only returning top scorer from last season is junior guard Jarron Cumberland. I’d like to see how they play Ohio State defensively. Because Cincinnati will have some new pieces on the roster, I want to see if they’re going to act like freshmen early.

Key Matchup

The key matchup I feel is between both frontcourts. Whoever is the more aggressive team rebounding the basketball and whoever scores more points in the paint will win this game. It will come down to who can win the battle inside. Fast break points will be a deciding factor as well.

Prediction

This will be a close game. I think it will come down to who can gain the upper hand in the last five minutes. I give that to Cincinnati.

Ohio State 80 Cincinnati 85