Ohio State closes its exhibition schedule Sunday afternoon against Butler at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, with tipoff set for 2 p.m. on B1G+ and a halftime ceremony honoring former coach Thad Matta, the winningest coach in Buckeyes men’s basketball history.
Matta retired following the 2025-26 season with 502 career victories. At Ohio State from 2004 to 2017 he compiled a 337-123 record, won five Big Ten regular-season championships, reached two Final Fours and the 2007 national title game, and was a three-time Big Ten coach of the year. He also coached Butler, his alma mater, in two separate stints.
The exhibition is the third and final tune-up for both teams. Ohio State lost an outdoor exhibition to Cincinnati 79-68 on Oct. 7 in Mason and dropped a closed-door scrimmage at Louisville by nine points on Oct. 17, with official statistics not released. Butler split its home exhibitions, losing to Indiana 96-68 on Oct. 11 and beating Indiana State 81-74 on Oct. 18.
The game also pairs brothers on opposite benches. Ohio State head coach Jake Diebler faces Butler assistant Jon Diebler, who scored 1,536 points at Ohio State from 2007 to 2011 and made 374 career three-pointers, second in Big Ten history. Jake Diebler said the idea to honor Matta came from a summer conversation between the brothers.
Ohio State leads the all-time series 31-11, though Butler has won the last two meetings, including a 67-66 overtime win at the PK80 event in Portland in 2017 after erasing a 15-point deficit in the final minutes of regulation.
Butler is in its first season under head coach Ronald Nored, who succeeded Matta and retained Jon Diebler on staff. The Bulldogs open the regular season Nov. 2 at home against Lafayette, while Ohio State turns its attention to the regular-season opener after Sunday’s final exhibition test.
For Columbus fans, the afternoon offers a last look at the Buckeyes before the games count, and a rare chance to applaud a coach whose banner already hangs in the Schottenstein Center rafters in the building where he built much of that record.
Photo: JonRidinger, CC BY-SA