Ohio State basketball team will play in Madison Square Garden this season

The Ohio State basketball team typically plays a tough schedule. They have one or two marquee non-conference opponents before going into an extremely tough Big Ten schedule. Part of the reasons why they have at least one marquee opponent every year is because of the CBS Sports Classic.

The Buckeyes have played in it since its inception in 2014. This will be the tenth year that the event is being held. It has the same four programs every year: Ohio State, UCLA, Kentucky, and North Carolina. You could make an argument that Ohio State is the outlier program of that group.

We now know who Ohio State's opponent in that event will be this year. The Buckeyes will take on Kentucky. They were supposed to take on the Wildcats in 2021 but it was canceled due to COVID issues within Ohio State. They haven't played since.

This game will be played this year on December 21st and will likely be played in Madison Square Garden according to Jeff Goodman of the Field of 68. That's the same location that Ohio State took on North Carolina and fell by just five points. It's the second time this event will be played at MSG.

If you look at the history of this event, the Ohio State basketball team has actually fared okay in this event. They are 5-4 so far and are looking to improve on that this year. Jake Diebler will have a former Wildcat as his starting center who will surely be looking to show what they are missing.

This Ohio State basketball team in general should be a lot better than they were a year ago. With John Calipari no longer in Lexington, the Buckeyes very well could be favored in this game. We'll see how the beginning of the season goes.