Growing pains were the theme for the Ohio State Buckeyes in 2024-25 on the basketball court. In their first full season under Jake Diebler, the Buckeyes struggled to a 17-15 (9-11) season. A lot more was expected of the team, with plenty of talent acquired from the transfer portal. Despite high hopes for players like Meechie Johnson, Aaron Bradshaw, and Sean Stewart, all three proved to be less than reliable.

The Buckeyes have to avoid another letdown, especially if Jake Diebler is to be believable as the right man in Columbus.

Ohio State Basketball 2025-26 Preview: Buckeyes Must Avoid Another Letdown
Roster Outlook

Despite losing eight players following the 2024-25 season, the Buckeyes certainly bring back some impressive firepower. Led by senior Bruce Thornton, along with the emergence of John Mobley Jr,  how can you forget how important Devin Royal has become for Ohio State?

Those are three huge returners, but the Buckeyes will feature plenty of new faces, including the son of former NBA Champion Andrew Bynum. Yep, the star of the Ohio State 2025 basketball recruiting class is A’mare Bynum. He’s joined by Myles Herro from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Buckeyes also went global by adding Germany’s Mathieu Grujicic.

Obviously, the Buckeyes lost their fair share of players to the portal. But they were also able to grab some important talent pieces themselves. That group is led by Gabe Cupps, who returns to his native Ohio after spending his first two seasons at fellow Big Ten foe Indiana. Cupps will need to get back to the level he showed highlights of during his freshman season.

Christoph Tilly (Santa Clara), Brandon Noel (Wright State), and Josh Ojianwuna (Baylor) all bring plenty of experience via the portal as well.

The rest of the Ohio State basketball roster includes:

Taison Chatman (RS-Soph)

Ivan Njegovan (Soph)

Colin White (Soph)

Braylen Nash (Soph)

Schedule Outlook

Ohio State begins its 2025-26 season with an exhibition match-up with in-state rival Ohio University. From there, the Buckeyes officially open their season against IU Indy on November 3rd. That game is followed up with other home non-conference titlts against Purdue Fort Wayne, Appalachian State, and a huge match-up with Notre Dame.

The rest of November sees home games against Western Michigan and Mount St. Mary’s. Then, the Buckeyes step up the competition level with a road visit to Pittsburgh. In December, Buckeye fans have plenty of neutral-site games to look forward to. It begins with a game against West Virginia in Cleveland. That is followed by a game in Atlanta against North Carolina as part of the CBS Sports Classic.

Ohio State plays Grambling State to finish up its non-conference slate in December. That leads to a tough 20-game Big Ten slate. Value City Arena will host plenty of Big Ten heavy hitters as Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Purdue, UCLA, and USC all come to Columbus.

The rough part for Ohio State is the three teams they will see twice at home and away: Wisconsin, Penn State, and heated rival Michigan. They got an interesting road draw, with trips to Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Northwestern, Oregon, Rutgers, and Washington.

Throw in a February non-conference game against the Virginia Cavaliers in Nashville, and the schedule is going to be interesting, to say the least, for Ohio State basketball.

The Last Word on the Ohio State Buckeyes

I’m not saying that Coach Diebler is on the hot seat, but if his Buckeyes can’t be in the thick of the NCAA Tournament hunt this season, then it has to be getting warm. Sure, his predecessor, Chris Holtmann, was hit or miss, but he did get Ohio State to the Big Dance on more than one occasion. The Buckeyes belong in the conversation; they are too proud of a basketball program not to be near the top half of the Big Ten. Thornton can be the top guy, and this team has plenty of talent. They just can’t get in their own way again.

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