Ohio men’s basketball released its 2016-17 regular season schedule Tuesday. The Bobcats start their season Nov. 5 with an exhibition game against Rio Grande.
Ohio will play 17 games inside The Convo and 13 on the road, including four teams in last year’s top 100 RPI list from last year.
“As we put together the schedule, we tried to keep with the theme of adding good mid-majors in home-and-home situations to our lineup," Ohio coach Saul Phillips said in a press release. "Overall, the schedule is slightly ramped up from last year. As we move forward, we'll continue to add really good mid-major home-and-home games."
Highlights of the schedule include nonconference matchups with Georgia Tech in Atlanta, at Iona in New Rochelle, New York, and against Western Kentucky in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
According to ESPN, Georgia Tech was ranked 67th and Iona was ranked 87th in RPI last season. RPI is a quantity used to rank sports teams based on a team’s wins and loses and its strength of schedule.
Phillips told The Post that Ohio inked a four-year deal with Iona for the next three seasons and that Western Kentucky could be a potential top 25 team next season after recruiting a top 10 high school athlete and former Buffalo guard Lamonte Bearden.
Ohio and Western Kentucky will play Dec. 21. before finishing its nonconference schedule against Urbana on Dec. 30.
Ohio's conference schedule will start Jan. 3 against Western Michigan before ending on March 3 when it hosts Miami.
Ohio will play Buffalo — the team that knocked it out of last year’s Mid-American Conference tournament — on Jan. 10 and Feb. 28.
“The thing I know about the MAC is that regardless of how you arrange the games and when you play them and where you play them, every night is a grind,” Phillips said. “Every night is a battle, and you just don't get a lot of breathers. This year is no exception. We are excited to have a Saturday game at home against Akron. Ending the year at home against Miami is another chance for a really good crowd.”
The rest of Ohio’s schedule can be found via Ohiobobcats.com.
