For the first time in nearly two decades, the Ohio State’s men’s basketball team will play a conference game in the middle of its nonconference schedule. Actually, the Buckeyes will play two.
Owing to scheduling congestion at the end of the season, all Big Ten teams will play two conference games during the first week of December. For Ohio State, that means Big Ten play kicks off Dec. 2 at Wisconsin before hosting Michigan two days later.
The last time the Buckeyes played a conference foe this early in the schedule was during the 1998-99 season, when they hosted Penn State on Nov. 20.
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The Big Ten plays its postseason tournament at Madison Square Garden this year for the first time. The venue is already booked by the Big East for the final weekend before the NCAA Tournament, and as a result the Big Ten has had to shift games forward in the calendar to compensate for ending its season a week earlier than usual. The tournament will take place Feb. 28 to March 4, and the Big Ten will have conference games played on every day of the week this year.
The conference had unveiled matchups earlier this summer but not dates for the games. Tip-off times and television broadcast partners will be announced later.
Ohio State will close Big Ten play with three of its final four games on the road, culminating with a road game against Indiana on Friday, Feb. 23. It will have a four-game homestand starting Jan. 22 with Nebraska and ending Feb. 4 against Illinois.
In addition, the Buckeyes will play Minnesota at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 20 as part of the Big Ten’s annual “Super Saturday” double-header that also features a hockey game between Minnesota and Michigan State.
Here is the full 2017-18 schedule:
Nov. 5: College of Wooster (exhibition)
Nov. 10: Robert Morris
Nov. 12: Radford
Nov. 16: Texas Southern
Nov. 19: Northeastern
Nov. 23: vs. Gonzaga (at PK80 Invitational, Portland, Oregon)
Nov. 24: vs. Florida or Stanford (PK80)
Nov. 26: vs. TBA (PK80)
Nov. 29: Clemson (ACC-Big Ten Challenge)
Dec. 2: at Wisconsin
Dec. 4: Michigan
Dec. 9: William & Mary
Dec. 16: Appalachian State
Dec. 19: The Citadel
Dec. 23: vs. North Carolina (at New Orleans)
Dec. 30: Miami University
Jan. 4: at Iowa
Jan. 7: Michigan State
Jan. 11: Maryland
Jan. 14: at Rutgers
Jan. 17: at Northwestern
Jan. 20: vs. Minnesota (at New York)
Jan. 22: Nebraska
Jan. 25: Penn State
Jan. 30: Indiana
Feb. 4: Illinois
Feb. 7: at Purdue
Feb. 10: Minnesota
Feb. 15: at Penn State
Feb. 18: at Michigan
Feb. 20: Rutgers
Feb. 23: at Indiana
Feb. 28-March 4: Big Ten tournament (at New York)
ajardy@dispatch.com
@AdamJardy