Auburn Adds Ohio State to Already Impressive Schedule

The Auburn Tigers have added the Ohio State Buckeyes to an already impressive slate of out of conference games.

Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl welcomes another challenge in the form of the Ohio State Buckeyes. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Auburn Tigers Men’s Basketball has finalized a non-conference, neutral-site matchup with Ohio State. The game will take place on Dec. 14 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta as part of the 2024 Holiday Hoopsgiving.

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The most recent way-too-early rankings on ESPN have Auburn ranked 11th and Ohio State unranked. 

Auburn finished last season as SEC Tournament Champions and ranked No. 18 in the AP Poll. They lost in the first round of March Madness 78-76 to Yale. 

The event will feature six schools. Alongside Auburn and Ohio State will be Florida taking on Arizona State and Georgia facing Grand Canyon. 

The event expands to six teams after having four the previous year. However, it’s still smaller than the 10 programs that participated in 2022.

This is the fifth annual Hoopsgiving event. Auburn has participated each year. They have been successful in Hoopsgiving appearances so far, posting a 3-1 record. 

In last season’s Hoopsgiving, the Tigers beat Indiana 106-76. 

Their results of the first three Hoopsgiving Games: 

2022: Lost to Memphis 82-73

2021: Beat Nebraska 99-68

2020: Beat Memphis 74-71

Ohio State will be the third opponent that Auburn has played during Hoopsgiving and will be the first time they are participating.

The Tigers have only played the Buckeyes once before back in 1999. Auburn lost 72-64 in the Sweet 16 Knoxville. Ohio State’s win has since been vacated. 

Auburn has been picking up multiple high-profile matchups as of late. Back in June, they scheduled Duke as part of the SEC/ACC Challenge which will take place on Dec. 4. They will also be participating for the second time in the Maui Invitational in late November.

The field for that tournament will also include Dayton, Colorado, Iowa State, Memphis, UConn, UNC and Michigan State. Depending on how the chips fall, more major matchups could be on the way with the tournament on the schedule.