Ohio State Buckeyes Returning to CBS Sports Classic

The Ohio State Buckeyes will have a difficult matchup ahead of them.

Mar 26, 2024; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Jake Diebler yells from the bench during the first half of the NIT quarterfinals against the Georgia Bulldogs at Value City Arena. Ohio State lost 79-77. / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA

Kentucky seeks revenge.

Despite coming from a John Calipari-less background this time around, Kentucky will have the opportunity to snap their two-game losing streak against the Buckeyes in this year's CBS Sports Classic on Dec. 21, which was officially announced to be played at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The last time the Wildcats defeated the Buckeyes, although they play only every few years, was March 25, 2011, in a Sweet 16 No. 11 over No. 1 upset.

However, the last two times, Ohio State has come out on top, both in prior renditions of the same event — winning by a combined 13 points.

As it had been in the previous two bouts, Ohio State will have yet another new head coach running the show in December. The unranked Buckeyes upset then-No. 4 Kentucky under Thad Matta in 2015 — what made this game so special was current Rockets guard Jae'Sean Tate led the Buckeyes past a Kentucky team that contained the likes of Jamal Murray, Isaiah Briscoe, Alex Polythress, Tyler Ulils, Isaac Humphries and Skal Labissiere.

Jae'Sean Tate has been just a handful of Buckeyes to see an NBA court in the last decade. / Brooke LaValley / USA TODAY NETWORK

The next one was a No. 5 over No. 6 win for Chris Holtmann with a young E.J. Liddell, Kaleb Wesson, Justin Ahrens, Justice Sueing, and Kyle Young.

Now, the first-year full-time head coach Diebler will square up with first-year Kentucky head coach Mark Pope, who was at the helm of Brigham Young hoops the last 5 years.

This will be the 11th edition of the Classic, featuring the same four teams it has since 2014: North Carolina, UCLA, Kentucky, and Ohio State.

All four teams placed in the top 20 of Andy Katz's preseason Power 36 rankings.

In their 21 matchups, Ohio State is 2-0 in games played in New York — Diebler can hope to keep both of his program's three-game streaks alive.