Aug. 10, 2007

2007-08 Non-Conference Schedule

ATHENS, Ohio - Recently announced by the coaching staff, the non-conference portion of the 2007-08 Ohio men's basketball schedule has been completed.

After going 19-11 in 2006-07 the Bobcats will take on four teams that participated in last year's NCAA Tournament, including Holy Cross, Kansas, Maryland and New Mexico State.

The Bobcats will open their 101st season at home with New Mexico State in a rematch of last year's ESPNU BracketBusters thriller. The game, which is scheduled for Nov. 9, will be the earliest regular season game in Ohio history, and will settle a 1-1 all-time record between the Bobcats and Aggies.

Ohio will travel to Holy Cross on Nov. 26 to take on the defending Patriot League champions, who went 25-9 last year and 14-0 mark at home. This will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

The Bobcats will travel to senior-to-be Leon Williams' home state to face Maryland on Dec. 12. The Terrapins earned a victory in last year's NCAA Tourney after going 25-9 and 17-2 in the Comcast Center. This will be the second all-time meeting between the Bobcats and Terrapins following a Maryland victory during the 1981-82 season.

Kansas reached the Elite Eight in 2007 and will enter this season as a Final Four favorite after going 33-5. The Bobcats have met the Jayhawks once previously, a Kansas win in the 1985 NCAA Tournament. The game will be one of the first played in Kansas City's new 18,500-seat Sprint Center, which is attached to the new National College Basketball Hall of Fame. Both are scheduled to open this fall.

Another highlight on the 2007-08 non-conference schedule for Ohio will be its participation in the Rainbow Classic, the annual tournament hosted by Hawai'i in Honolulu. The rest of the field will consist of East Tennessee State, Georgia, Hawai'i, Louisiana-Lafayette, Saint Mary's, St. John's and Tulane. The Bobcats will face St. John's in the first round. Ohio participated in the 1999 Rainbow Classic.

The 2007-08 non-conference schedule will provide a number of other challenges as the `Cats prepare for the Mid-American Conference season. Ohio will also travel to Temple (Nov. 29), St. Francis, NY (Dec. 2) and Bucknell (Jan. 2). It will be Ohio's first-ever meeting against each of those programs. The Bison were 22-9 and 10-2 at home last year.

Following the New Mexico State opener, the Bobcats will also welcome Cornell (Nov. 17), St. Bonaventure (Dec. 5) and Delaware (Dec. 8) to the Convocation Center. Ohio is 2-1 all-time against Cornell, 2-5 versus the Bonnies and has never played Delaware.

The 2007-08 season will see the Bobcats attempt to build on a successful three-year run in which they have gone 59-35, the most combined wins in successive seasons since the mid-80s. That record includes a 29-13 mark in non-league games and a 36-5 record at home.

The MAC portion of the 2007-08 schedule will be released at a later date.