Buckeyes will be road warriors in 2024-25 season; Big Ten sets times, TV broadcasts (2025)

The Harlem Globetrotters won't have anything on the Ohio State men's basketball team this winter – at least when it comes to travel. The Buckeyes will play games in three of the nation's four time zones and will travel nearly 21,000 miles as they traverse the country for their 31-game schedule.

The Big Ten and its television partners released the start times and television designations for their games on Wednesday. Most other games on the schedule have been set.

There are two outliers still to be set OSU's Nov. 15 game at Texas A&M and the Dec. 14 game against Auburn at the Holiday Hoopsgiving in Atlanta still need to be finalized. The SEC television contract will likely cover both of those games with an ESPN network or SEC Network as possibilities.

The fully updated schedule is listed below.

Within the games under the Big Ten umbrella (OSU's home games and the 20-game conference slate), here are some notables:

* Ohio State will play five streaming games. That includes one on Big Ten Network-Plus (Nov. 18 vs. Evansville) and four on the Peacock streaming service (Nov. 29 vs. Pittsburgh, Dec. 17 vs. Valparaiso, Jan. 14 at Wisconsin and March 4 against Wisconsin).

* The Nov. 29 game against Pittsburgh is a special Black Friday game with a start time of 2:30 p.m. That game will be played on the eve of the Michigan-Ohio State football game the next day.

* The Buckeyes will be featured on network television six times. That includes once on FOX (a Friday night game, Jan. 3 vs. Michigan State) and five times on CBS (Dec. 21 vs. Kentucky, Feb. 2 at Illinois, Feb. 16 vs. Michigan, Feb. 23 at UCLA and March 8 at Indiana).

OSU is appearing on CBS four times in Big Ten play, which is the maximum a team can appear.

* The Dec. 21 game against Kentucky is part of the CBS Sports Classic. The UCLA-North Carolina will open the action at 3 p.m. with OSU-Kentucky at 5:30 p.m. The CBS Sports Classic is back at New York City's Madison Square Garden, where it drew a sellout crowd of 20,261 two years ago.

* OSU will play 17 games on a variety of cable outlets. That includes one game on TBS (the season opener against Texas on Nov. 4), 10 games on Big Ten Network and six on Fox Sports 1.

* The start times for several games will be later than most OSU fans have come to expect, largely due to the addition of four West Coast schools to the Big Ten.

The season opener vs. Texas will be a 10 p.m. Eastern start (7 p.m. in Las Vegas). There will be various games at 8:30 and 9 p.m. Eastern time. OSU's Feb. 26 at USC will tip at 10:30 p.m. Eastern (7:30 p.m. in Los Angeles).

* There is no television broadcast planned for the Oct. 18 charity exhibition game at Cincinnati. That game will tip at 7 p.m. and will be carried by the Ohio State radio network.

* Ohio State only has two weekend home Big Ten games. And one of those is on Dec. 7 (against Rutgers) and that comes on the day of the Big Ten football championship game in Indianapolis. At least the Rutgers-Ohio State game will be at noon.

Below we have comments from first-year OSU head coach Jake Diebler and veteran guards Bruce Thornton and Meechie Johnson on the schedule.

COMMENTS ON THE SCHEDULE

Diebler said he and OSU officials have had a dialogue with the Big Ten about the lack of weekend home Big Ten games. Typically, OSU draws bigger crowds for weekend home Big Ten games.

"I've been in touch with the Big Ten," Diebler said. "We've talked about our lack of weekend games. We have the best fans in the country. I want them to have as many convenient opportunities to see us as possible. We have a plan in place to make sure that doesn't happen again. In communicating with them, they have been good since then.

"We have one of the best facilities in the country. There are other things happening in our building. We're committed and they're committed, most importantly, to working together to make sure that doesn't happen in the future."

Ohio State was picked eighth out of 18 teams in the preseason media poll. Diebler was asked about what he thinks that 20-game schedule will be like.

"It's going to be interesting to see how the league shakes out at the end of the season," Diebler said. "I would assume we should have a record number of teams in the NCAA Tournament with the depth of this league. I'm really excited about it.

"The requirement to bring your best every single game in this league, that has only been enhanced with the teams we've added. You have to make every game count. We're only getting to play three teams twice. That's an important part of it, too. We are really excited and looking forward to going out to LA. That will be a challenging trip near the end of the season.

"We have four out of our last five games on the road. There are some challenges ahead, certainly. Our biggest thing will be to focus one game at a time and, win or lose, moving on really quickly because you have to get to the next one and get as prepared as you can. Big Ten basketball is a gauntlet, and the gauntlet has gotten harder with the addition of those four teams.

"I'm excited about this league and what it can do in the postseason."

For the second year in a row, Thornton will get to play a game near his hometown with a game in Atlanta. He said the players are looking forward to the season ahead.

"I feel like we're built for it," Thornton said. "He wouldn't make the schedule if he didn't feel like we were built for it. I'm excited because he's trying to throw us in the fire and see how we react. I like our schedule. I like when the pressure comes on when the lights come on. It's 7:30 p.m. and you're at Texas A&M … what you gonna do?

"At the end of the year, our goal is to win the national championship. We have to play tough teams to do that. There's nothing we can't do."

Johnson said, "It's what you want. We're not ducking no smoke. That's what our coach puts on us every day. He said, 'Y'all are doing things people don't think you can't done.' We just want to compete with everybody and get the job done."

One new wrinkle for the season is the two-game road trip to Los Angeles. The team will likely leave for LA on Fri., Feb. 21, for its Feb. 23 game at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion. The team will then cool its heals in LA for two days until its Feb. 26 at USC's Galen Center. The team figures to be back in Columbus finally early in the morning of Thurs., Feb. 27.

"I'm going to try to go to the beach," Thornton said. "I'm not going to lie. I'm a kid from Atlanta, Ga. There ain't no beach there. It's hot with humidity (in Atlanta). You come to Columbus and you get good weather in Columbus sometimes. It gets cold, though. I don't think it gets better than Cali weather, at least that's how people make it seem.

"We're just trying to win games. It's a business trip at the end of the day. Winning those two games would be very important for us."

2024-25 OHIO STATE MEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE

1-Hall of Fame Series at Las Vegas (T-Mobile Arena)

2-Holiday Hoopsgiving at Atlanta (State Farm Arena)

3-CBS Sports Classic at New York City (Madison Square Garden)