Big Ten Releases Conference Basketball Slate

Thad Matta returns for his second season as OSU's men's basketball coach and his team will open Big Ten play at home Jan. 5 against Penn State. The Buckeyes will make six national TV appearances during the conference schedule, including four on CBS.

The Big Ten has announced the conference portion of the men’s basketball schedule for 2005-06. The nonconference slate will be announced within a few weeks.

For Ohio State, the Buckeyes open Big Ten play Thurs., Jan. 5, against Penn State at 8 p.m. at Value City Arena.

Coach Thad Matta returns for his second year as the OSU head coach. He has five returning starters, led by leading scorer Terence Dials. OSU was 20-12 last year, including 8-8 in Big Ten play.

As part of the 16-game Big Ten schedule, OSU will play Illinois and Minnesota only at home and Indiana and Iowa only on the road.

In the Big Ten portion of the schedule, the Buckeyes will appear on CBS four times and on ESPN twice. All other games will be televised by ESPN-Plus either locally or regionally.

Here is OSU’s Big Ten schedule for 2005-06:

Thurs.., Jan. 5, Penn State, 8 p.m. (ESPN-Plus Local)

Sun., Jan. 8, at Indiana, 1:30 or 4:30 p.m. (CBS)

Wed., Jan. 11, at Purdue, 8 p.m., 8 p.m. (ESPN-Plus Local)

Sun., Jan. 15, Michigan State, 1 or 4:30 p.m. (CBS)

Wed., Jan. 18, Wisconsin, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Sat., Jan. 21, at Penn State, 12:05 p.m. (ESPN-Plus Regional)

Sat., Jan. 28, at Iowa, 8 p.m. (ESPN-Plus Local)

Sat., Feb. 4, Minnesota, 3:01 p.m. (ESPN-Plus Regional)

Thurs., Feb. 9, at Michigan, 7 p.m. (ESPN)

Sun., Feb. 12, Illinois, 1 p.m. (CBS)

Wed., Feb. 15, at Wisconsin, 8 p.m. (ESPN-Plus Local)

Sat., Feb. 18, Northwestern, 2:35 p.m. (ESPN-Plus Regional)

Wed., Feb. 22, at Michigan State, 8 p.m. (ESPN-Plus Local)

Sat., Feb. 25, Michigan, 1:30 p.m. (CBS)

Wed., March 1, at Northwestern, 8 p.m. (ESPN-Plus Local)

Sun., March 5, Purdue, noon or 1 or 2 p.m. (ESPN-Plus Local)

March 9-12, Big Ten Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis

Nonconference Slate

Through reports on other sites, we have gleaned several of OSU’s nonconference games. These would include:

Sun., Nov. 13, Exhibition (home)

Tue., Nov. 22, Butler (home)

Mon., Nov. 28, Virginia Tech (home), 7:30 p.m. (ESPN2, ACC/Big Ten)

Sat., Dec. 10, at St. Joseph's (at Palestra)

Sat., Dec. 17, at Iowa State (at Des Moines), 7 p.m. (ESPN2)

Fri., Dec. 23, Tennessee State (home)

Wed., Dec. 28, Gardner Webb (home)

Sat., Dec. 31, LSU (home)