Duke, Alabama, Pittsburgh Highlight OSU Men’s Basketball Schedule – Ohio State Buckeyes
8/15/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Aug. 15, 2002
COLUMBUS, Ohio-Jim O’Brien could lead the Buckeyes to a school record in 2002-03 with a fifth-consecutive 20-win season as head coach of the Ohio State men’s basketball team. Only O’Brien (1999-2002) and Fred Taylor (1960-63) have put together four-consecutive seasons with 20 or more victories at OSU.
The Buckeyes also hope to continue their streak of NCAA tournament appearances. Ohio State was the Big Ten’s automatic qualifier for the NCAA tournament in 2002 as the league’s conference tournament champion.
Ohio State will play a challenging schedule in 2002-03 with 12 opponents (15 total games) coming off postseason tournament appearances. Eight teams qualified for NCAA tournament play and four squads participated in the NIT.
Ohio State will play a pair of exhibition contests in preparation for the season-opener against Coppin State Nov. 25. The Buckeyes open exhibition play against Team Nike Nov. 12. The Harlem Globetrotters visit Value City Arena Nov. 22, the night before the home football game against Michigan.
Alabama and Ohio State will then battle in the 2002 Tip-Off Classic in Springfield, Mass., Nov. 29. The Crimson Tide is one of three possible preseason Top 10 squads on the Buckeye non-conference schedule. Ohio State and Duke will meet in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge Dec. 3 in Greensboro, N.C., and the Buckeyes will travel to Pittsburgh Dec. 18.
Home games against Seton Hall (Dec. 21) and Louisville (Jan. 4) also add punch to the non-conference slate.
“We will be tested during the non-conference schedule against some of the most prominent teams in the country,” O’Brien said. “Alabama, Duke and Pittsburgh will likely be rated among the Top 10 teams in the country in the preseason polls. I expect Louisville to be much improved and Seton Hall is consistently among the top teams in the Big East.”
The Big Ten season opens Jan. 9 at Michigan State. The Buckeyes will then play the next three contests at home against Indiana (Jan. 11), Michigan (Jan. 15) and Wisconsin (Jan. 18). Ohio State than travels to Indiana Jan. 21 to end a difficult opening stretch of league games. Once again this season every game, home and away, will be televised, including both exhibition contests. Ohio State will play on national television at least seven times with the possibility of more national exposures late in the regular season and during the 2003 Big Ten Tournament in Chicago (March 13-16).
The Buckeyes travel to Illinois (Feb. 9) and will appear on CBS Sports. ESPN will televise games vs. Alabama (Nov. 29), vs. Duke (Dec. 3), at Indiana (Jan. 21), at Michigan (Feb. 15) and against Louisville (Jan. 4). ESPN2 will cover the Michigan State road game Jan. 9. CBS could pick up the OSU vs. Michigan State game in Columbus if the contest is played March 9.
The remainder of the schedule will be televised to a regional or local audience. Local and regional telecasts will be aired on WBNS-TV (Ch. 10), a CBS affiliate in Columbus.
Ohio State will meet Penn State, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin just once this year. The Nittany Lions (Feb. 12) and Fighting Illini (Feb. 9) play host to the Buckeyes. Ohio State welcomes Minnesota (Feb. 5) and Wisconsin (Jan. 18). OSU will face the rest of the Big Ten teams once each home and away.
The Buckeyes finish the regular season at home for the first time since the team began playing at Value City Arena in 1998-99. Ohio State last finished the regular season at home in 1998 in the final game at St. John Arena. Penn State downed the Buckeyes in overtime, 89-85.
Complete 2002-03 Basketball Schedule!
