CINCINNATI — Cincinnati and Ohio State will get an early look at what they have Wednesday afternoon, and they will do it in one of the more unusual settings either team will see all season.
The Bearcats and Buckeyes meet at 3 p.m. at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason as part of the CareSource Invitational, a four-team outdoor exhibition doubleheader featuring some of the state’s biggest basketball programs. Xavier and Dayton will follow in the second game.
For Cincinnati, the matchup begins a three-game exhibition schedule that will also include home games against Illinois on October 17 and Oakland on October 27. The Bearcats enter the new season under head coach Jerrod Calhoun with an opportunity to test themselves immediately against Big Ten competition.
Ohio State brings one of the conference’s top returning perimeter players in John Mobley Jr. The junior guard averaged 15.7 points per game last season and was named to the preseason All-Big Ten team earlier this week after making 97 three-pointers as a sophomore.
The result will not count in the standings, but the matchup should provide both coaching staffs with an early look at rotations, lineup combinations, and how their new pieces fit together before the regular season begins.
The setting will be just as unusual as the matchup. Center Court at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, normally home to the Cincinnati Open, has been converted into an outdoor basketball venue for the event. Proceeds and related initiatives from the CareSource Invitational will support adolescent and young adult mental health and suicide-prevention programs.
Cincinnati and Ohio State tip at 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason. The exhibition is not currently scheduled for television or a live video stream.
And, on a personal note, this scribe will be very uncomfortable for this one.
