No. 16 Buckeyes Clash with No. 10 Villanova Wednesday in Columbus
11/12/2019 8:14:49 AM | Men's Basketball
Ohio State Men's Basketball Gameday March 12, 2020
Opponent vs. Purdue (16-15)
Site Bankers Life Fieldhouse (18,500)
Time 6:30 p.m. ET
Television BTN | BTN Plus
Talent Kevin Kugler (Play-By-Play)
Stephen Bardo (Expert Analysis)
Rick Pizzo (Sideline)
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Radio Talent Paul Keels (Play-By-Play)
Ron Stokes (Expert Analysis)
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Starting Five
- The Buckeyes are 1,149-415 all-time when playing in the state of Ohio (.735) … Against Ohio teams, Ohio State is 236-79 (.749) all-time, regardless of location. The Buckeyes face a pair of intrastate foes this season. Ohio State defeated Cincinnati Nov. 6 at Value City Arena (64-56) and plays Kent State Nov. 25 at St. John Arena (6:30 p.m./BTN). Ohio State is 178-30 vs. Ohio teams in Columbus (.856).
- Three current Buckeyes were named Mr. Basketball in their respective states. Junior Kaleb Wesson was named Ohio Mr. Basketball as a senior at Westerville South High School … freshman D.J. Carton was named Mr. Basketball in Iowa in 2019 as a senior at Bettendorf High School and freshman E.J. Liddell was named Illinois Mr. Basketball in both 2018 and 2019 after leading Belleville High School to back-to-back state titles.
- Andre and Kaleb Wesson are one of 16 sets of brothers playing in NCAA Division I this season and one of three sets in the Big Ten. Iowa (McCaffery) and Maryland (Mitchell) also have siblings on the roster.
- Ohio State has 58 players all-time with 1,000 or more career points, the ninth most nationally and the most of any Big Ten school (research credit: Duke). Kaleb Wesson is the next Buckeye on schedule to reach the milestone with 827 career points over his career.
- There were a couple support staff changes during the offseason for the Buckeyes with the departure of Scoonie Penn, director of player development, and Jeff Deits, men’s basketball athletic trainer. Both Penn and Deits left for the National Basketball Association’s Memphis Grizzlies. Penn accepted an assistant coach position and Deits will be the head athletic trainer. Terence Dials will be the director of professional development in place of Penn. The athletic trainer position with the Buckeyes is in the process of being filled.
Gavitt Tipoff Games
The Gavitt Tipoff Games is an annual series between the Big Ten and BIG EAST Conferences and named in honor of Dave Gavitt, founder of the BIG EAST and basketball visionary. The series is in its fifth year and will span eight years with games being played on home sites. The Games will be played in the first full week of the college basketball season. The Buckeyes are 2-0 in the event with wins vs. Providence (72-67) in 2016 and at Creighton (69-60) a year ago.
The Villanova Series
Ohio State has won two of three previous meetings against Villanova. The two schools last played in the 2003-04 season when the Buckeyes knocked off Villanova in the Maui Invitational in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii. Tony Stockman led Ohio State with 23 points in leading the Buckeyes to a 67-66 win. Terence Dials, now the director of professional development with Ohio State men’s basketball, scored 12 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds in the win. Ohio State led by 15 at the end of 20 minutes and survived a late rally by the Wildcats to escape with the win. This season the Wildcats are 1-0 after the season opener vs. Army Nov. 5. Villanova won that one 97-54.
Ohio State vs. the Big East Conference
Ohio State is 66-30 all-time vs. teams currently representing the Big East Conference.
Buckeyes Open 121st Season, 108th in B1G
This is the 108th season of Big Ten membership in men’s basketball for the Buckeyes and the 121st overall for the sport at Ohio State. The Buckeyes are 99-21 in season openers and 102-17 in the first home game of the season. Ohio State is 55-63 in the first true road game of the year. In Big Ten Conference play, the Buckeyes are 58-46 in league openers, 72-33 in the first conference home game of the season and 39-66 in league road openers. Ohio State is 40-20 when the first conference game of the year is at home and 19-26 when opening conference play on the road.
Kaleb Wesson on Preseason Honors Lists
Junior Kaleb Wesson was tabbed a member of the 2019-20 Preseason All-Big Ten squad by conference media Oct. 2. He was one of three unanimous selections on the squad of 10 league players. Wesson also was listed as one of 20 preseason candidates for the Karl Malone Award, given annually by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to the best power forward in the country. Wesson, listed as a center with the Buckeyes, could play his way on to the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award list for the country’s best center when the award lists are reduced to 10 in mid-February and to five in March. He was named to the preseason Top 50 watch list for the Wooden Award Nov. 6.
