Ohio State to play Virginia in Nashville Hoops Showdown on Valentine’s Day

COLUMBUS – Ohio State basketball has added another game to its non conference schedule ahead of the 2025-26 season.

The Buckeyes will take on the Virginia Cavaliers on Feb. 14, 2026. The game against the Cavaliers will take place in Nashville as a part of Nashville Hoops Showdown.

Ohio State and Virginia will be meeting for just the seventh time. The series knotted up at 3-3 with the Cavaliers having won the three most recent meetings in 1981, 2015 and 2016 with last two games both came as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The Buckeyes won the first three games in the series in 1931, 1932 and 1980.

Head coach Jake Diebler released the following statement after the game was officially announced.

“We pushed for a high-level non-conference game in February, and we certainly got that against Virginia,” Ohio State head coach Jake Diebler said. “As we go through the stretch run of Big Ten play, this game will provide us with a valuable big game, neutral site, and NCAA tournament type feel. We are thankful for the work Intersport did to help execute this game and look forward to working with them.”

This season will be the first year of the Ryan Odom era at Virginia. Odom came to Charlottesville from VCU where he led the Rams to an appearance in the 2025 NCAA Championship. Overall, he had a 52-21 record during his two season at VCU.

Almost all of the Cavaliers roster are transfers. The headliner of Virginia’s Transfer Portal haul is former San Francisco guard Malik Thomas. He was a top-60 overall transfer in the portal last cycle, according to On3. Virginia also added former North Dakota State guard Jacari White and former Kansas State center Ugonna Onyenso this offseason. White was standout for the Bison last season while Onyenso was a former highly-ranked recruit that started his college career at Kentucky.

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