Ohio State to play Cincinnati in outdoor exhibition event with Xavier and Dayton

It’s finally happening. History will be made this fall as, for the first time ever, the big four Ohio schools are getting together for a preseason exhibition event. The interesting twist: this doubleheader will be played outdoors.

On Wednesday, October 7th, Ohio State, Cincinnati, Xavier, and Dayton will meet in the CareSource Invitational set to be played at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio - home of the Cincinnati Open. Ohio State will play Cincinnati, and Xavier will take on Dayton as part of the outdoor doubleheader. 

“This is great for the basketball community in Ohio, and it’s been a long time coming.” Ohio State Head Coach Jake Diebler said on Thursday. “I’ve been vocal about this when I first got the job; I wanted something like this to happen… There are so many moving parts to make something like this happen. It takes a lot of people. And I’m just excited. Everyone got together to make it happen.”

Diebler and a lot of Ohio basketball fans have now gotten their wish, and they will get to take it all in at a unique venue. 

“Getting all four teams together and doing it at a venue like that, it’s exciting. You might as well try something different,” Diebler added. “It’s going to be really early in the preseason, so it’ll be a great time for everybody to get some minutes and just see where you’re at relative to someone else.” 

All four programs featured in the CareSource Invitational have high expectations for themselves, including NCAA Tournament aspirations each year. This sets up for high-quality competition to be played between the schools. 

Playing these exhibition games at an outdoor venue does bring an interesting element to the games, and that is whatever Mother Nature decides to deliver on October 7th. However, that shouldn’t keep the players and coaches from being excited. 

“I’m excited that it’s outdoors. I’ve never been a part of a live game outside like that,” Diebler said. “We used to play outside like growing up. I know it won’t be the same surface as what I played on growing up, but I’m excited about it. You’ll have different things, right? Wind, all that stuff. But who cares? It’s going to be fun to play outside.”

In case there is inclement weather on this scheduled fall Wednesday in October, the games will be moved to UD Arena in Dayton. 

The last time Ohio State played Cincinnati in basketball was also in an exhibition game back in 2024, with the Bearcats taking that game 80-62. The last time the two programs met in a regular-season game was in 2022 at the Maui Invitational, with the Buckeyes winning that contest 81-53. 

It’s great that the big four Ohio programs are finally coming together, and it will be supporting a good cause with Jay’s Light. The next step in this process is to now put this event in the regular season, making it count for something, but this is a step in the right direction. 

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