Report: Notre Dame, Ohio State basketball to start home-and-home series

Notre Dame and Ohio State have only met four times in history on the basketball court. A third of their all-time series will now apparently be coming over the next two seasons.

Per sources speaking to Jon Rothstein at CBS Sports, the Fighting Irish and Buckeyes will play twice in a home-and-home over the next two seasons. That will start this year in Columbus before going to South Bend next year.

“NEWS: Notre Dame and Ohio State are finalizing an agreement to start a home-and-home series next season in Columbus, according to multiple sources. Return game in South Bend in 2026-27,” Rothstein tweeted on Friday morning.

All four of the previous matchups between these two have come since 1999. One came in Columbus (1999), one came in South Bend in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge (2020), and the other two were at neutral sites in Indianapolis (2008) and in New York in the BlackRock Gotham Classic (2013). Ohio State is 3-1 in that series, with the one loss coming in Columbus as the Buckeyes have won the last three since the turn of the century.

Both programs are in so-so spots, especially after the past three seasons, under newer coaches now. Ohio State is 55-48 (.534) the past three years, including being 25-18 (.581) in their last season and a half under Jake Diebler. Notre Dame is then 39-59 (.398) in that same span, with a 28-38 (.424) record through two seasons under Micah Shrewsberry. Both will now try to be better, with key returners for both and a pair of top-thirty recruiting classes incoming respectively, as each try to make their return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022.

Ohio State already has an idea of who they’ll play next season with their Big Ten draw out as well as having non-conference games set or reported now with three teams from the ACC in Pittsburgh, North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic, and now Notre Dame. Notre Dame could as well with another year of the SEC/ACC Challenge and having played last season in the Players Era Festival.

These two schools have also been notably familiar with one another on the football field. They’ve met seven times, with the Buckeyes having swept them all with wins, all-time since 1995. They played a home-and-home in 1995 and 1996, played in the Fiesta Bowl in 2005 and 2015, and have since played another home-and-home in 2022 and 2023 before playing in the national championship three and a half months ago in the 2024 College Football Playoff.

Just 250 miles separate these two schools across the state line. Both programs will now cross that line with Ohio State and Notre Dame playing in the Schottenstein Center this winter before tipping off from Purcell Pavilion the following year.