This is Ohio State’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2022, and the first with Jake Diebler as head coach.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio State men’s basketball team is a No. 8 seed in the East Region in the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
The Buckeyes will face No. 9 TCU on Thursday. The game will be played in Greenville, South Carolina.
This is Ohio State’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2022, and the first with Jake Diebler as head coach.
Despite finishing the season ranked 8th in the Big Ten conference, Ohio State had a strong finish, winning their final three games and defeating Iowa in the conference tournament before falling to Michigan.
They enter the tournament with 21 wins and 12 losses on the season, with some of their key wins coming against Purdue, Wisconsin and Iowa. TCU is coming in with a similar record — 22-11 overall this season — and wins against Florida and Iowa State.
In their regular season finale against Indiana, guard Bruce Thornton broke the program’s all-time scoring record. Thornton, a senior, took the top spot from previous record-holder, Dennis Hopson, who set the long-standing record at 2,096 points in 1987.
During their Big Ten Tournament game against Michigan, Thornton also set the program record for the most points scored in tournament play.
Other key players for the Buckeyes this season have been freshman forward Amare Bynum, sophomore guard John Mobley Jr. and junior Devin Royal.
The play-in games for the tournament, also known as the First Four, will tip off on March 17-18. The official first round of the tournament will take place on March 19-20, with the second round running from March 21-22.