Busting Brackets
Fansided

Ohio State Basketball: Buckeyes have brutal 2019-20 non-conference schedule

By Ben Andreatta

PORTLAND, OR - MARCH 21: Brutus, the mascot for the Ohio State Buckeyes performs in the second half against the Arizona Wildcats during the third round of the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Moda Center on March 21, 2015 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
PORTLAND, OR - MARCH 21: Brutus, the mascot for the Ohio State Buckeyes performs in the second half against the Arizona Wildcats during the third round of the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Moda Center on March 21, 2015 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Ohio State Basketball has one of the toughest non-conference schedules for next season. Which juggernauts will the Buckeyes be facing?

Ohio State Basketball released their non-conference schedule on Monday afternoon and to sum it up in one word? Brutal. Chris Holtmann will need his Buckeyes to mature very quickly this season with a number of tough tests. When it comes to conference time, the Buckeyes are going to be ready and they’re going to be tough.

The Buckeyes will welcome the Bearcats from right down the road in Cincinnati for their first contest of the 2019 campaign. The Bearcats enter the season with returning American Player of the Year Jarron Cumberland but a new head coach in John Brannen (Should be noted that this will be Brannen’s first game in charge of Cincinnati). The Buckeyes defeated Cincinnati 64-56 in the away portion of their home and home series. The Bearcats will head to the Schott on November 6th.

Ohio State will play UMass-Lowell on the weekend before facing Jay Wright’s Villanova Wildcats at home on that Wednesday, an intriguing matchup for both teams this early in the season and it will be the second tough test for the Buckeyes in just seven days. The Buckeyes round off the rest of the month of November with some “give me” games against Stetson, IPFW, Kent State and Morgan State. All four of those games should be easy wins.

Kicking off the month of December what could be better than a trip to Chapel Hill? A December fourth road matchup against North Carolina will be a hard victory to come by. A talented Tar Heels team will provide Ohio State with another tough test. A game after Southeast Missouri should be another easy game for the Buckeyes before a December 21st matchup with John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats in Las Vegas.  It doesn’t get much easier as just eight days later the Buckeyes will find themselves up against a tenacious West Virginia team and Bob Huggins. Expect some Big 10 conference games to be sprinkled into their schedule come December.

While the dates haven’t been announced yet, we do know that the Buckeyes will only have to see Michigan State once this year. Unfortunately for them, it’s on the road. The Big 10 opponents are pretty straight forward:

Home: Illinois, Purdue, Rutgers

Away: Iowa, Michigan State, Northwestern

Home/Away: Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Penn State, Wisconsin

You can find out the entire Big 10 opponent lists here thanks to the breakdown from BIG10.org.

Next. Breaking down Ohio State's 2019 recruiting class. dark

Plenty of opportunities for Ohio State to add quality wins to their resume, a team that returns Kaleb Wesson will be looking to make some noise this season. With early tests against Cincinnati and Villanova expect the Buckeyes to grow a lot from those two games. In a very difficult Big 10 conference it’s hard to think that if things go south for the Buckeyes that the selection committee won’t take notice of their difficult schedule come March.

Home/Ohio State Buckeyes