Time: 7pm MT
Location: Delta Center | Salt Lake City, UT
TV: FS1
Radio: BYU Sports Network via KSL Newsradio (102.7 FM/1160 AM), BYU Radio on SiriusXM 143, or BYUradio.org

Year three of the Kevin Young era begins Monday night, and the Cougars are wasting no time for a true test to start the season. No. 25 BYU takes on Ohio State in a game that should be a good matchup.

It’s the eighth meeting between the schools and the first since BYU’s 72-65 win at the 1997 Rainbow Classic. Ohio State leads the series 4-3.

KenPom predicts an 82-81 Ohio State win, so it could be a coin flip to decide who comes out on top.

A new-look Buckeye roster

Ohio State head coach Jake Diebler went 17-15 in Year 1 and improved to 21-13 last season, where his team finished 17th in offensive efficiency and 52nd in defensive efficiency on KenPom.

With Buckeyes star Bruce Thornton now gone, the program returns just four players who played for Ohio State last season. That much turnover for a team usually means it will take time for the group to gel.

Just like other programs, Ohio State got a chance to see the roster together in a few exhibition games. And just like most exhibitions, not everything was perfect. The Buckeyes went 1-1 in public exhibitions against Cincinnati and Butler respectively.

Ohio State was outrebounded in both games and had 16 turnovers in each, so the team will hope to clean things up against BYU. On the flip side, the Cougars’ opponents averaged 18 turnovers in their two public exhibitions, so that will be something to monitor going into the season opener.

Ohio State’s key players

John Mobley Jr. (G): The Buckeyes’ go-to scorer averaged 15.7 points last season and shot about 41% from three. He has 174 career threes in two seasons, so he is not afraid to let it fly. He rolled his ankle late in the Butler exhibition but is expected to play against BYU.

Amare Bynum (F): As a freshman, he averaged 9.7 points and 4.9 rebounds. The 6-foot-8 forward can score in the paint and beyond the arc. He had 23 points in the exhibition against Butler.

Justin Pippen (G): The son of Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen, he comes in as a transfer from California, where he averaged 14.2 points, 4.6 assists and 1.9 steals. He is good at getting downhill and making plays, while also playing good defense on the other end. However, he is not the most efficient shooter.

Anthony Thompson (F): The 6-foot-9 McDonald’s All-American has a 7-foot-4 wingspan. The five-star freshman played well during the team’s summer trip to Puerto Rico but he wasn’t much of a factor in the exhibitions, scoring just 7 points on 3-8 shooting. He will be key to Ohio State’s success against BYU.

The center spot: The Buckeyes don’t have an elite center, but they do have a couple of options there. Andrija Jelavic averaged 5.5 points and 4 rebounds at Kentucky last year and had a decent preseason. Josh Ojianwuna shot 77% from the field as Baylor’s starter in 2024-25 before tearing his ACL and transferring to Ohio State, where he sat out last season while he recovered.

The bench: LJ Smith, another highly-rated freshman, reclassified from the 2027 class and will likely be the Buckeyes’ best shooter off the bench. Duquesne transfer Jimmie Williams averaged 15.1 points last season, while Curtis Givens averaged 9.4 points at Memphis. Freshman guard Myles Herro is the younger brother of Milwaukee Bucks star Tyler Herro.

Familiar faces

There are a lot of connections between the two rosters. Rob Wright played with Givens in high school on that Montverde Academy team with Cooper Flagg. Wright was also Ojianwuna’s teammate at Baylor in 2024-25, the season Ojianwuna’s knee injury cut short.

Collin Chandler and Jelavic were teammates at Kentucky last season. As a freshman, Chandler also played a few minutes in Kentucky’s 85-65 loss to Ohio State in December 2024, a game in which Mobley scored 15.

Jaxon Kohler has played against several Buckeyes. While at Michigan State, he faced Mobley, Njegovan and Bynum in Big Ten play. In last season’s Champions Classic, he scored 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting in an 83-66 win over Kentucky, a game in which Jelavic went scoreless in 10 minutes off the bench. In March 2025, Kohler’s Spartans also beat a Michigan team that featured Pippen, then a freshman reserve.

During the 2026 McDonald’s All-American game, Bruce Branch and Thompson were both on Team East together.

The marquee matchup

All eyes will be on the battle of five-star freshmen and projected 2027 lottery picks in Branch and Thompson. Both are talented wings who could give each other problems, and one getting the best of the other could be what ultimately decides the game.

In preseason, Branch looked ahead of schedule and very comfortable on the floor, so BYU will hope to see more of the same against Ohio State.

Keys to the game for BYU

Crash the offensive glass. No weakness has shown up more consistently for Ohio State this preseason, getting outrebounded by 19 across the Cincinnati and Butler games. Kohler, Branch, and Khadim Mboup will be key to winning the battle on the boards. That alone will put BYU in a great position to win.

Attack the paint and draw fouls on the bigs. Cincinnati got whatever it wanted inside, and Ohio State’s centers got into foul trouble, so BYU needs to be aggressive early. The Buckeyes will likely play tighter defense on the perimeter since they know the Cougars will take a lot of threes, so that should open up some driving lanes for BYU. Kohler’s footwork in the post could give Ohio State’s bigs a lot of trouble as well.

Pressure the ball. Ohio State had more turnovers than assists in both public exhibitions. BYU has been applying full-court pressure in the preseason, so expect to see more of that against the Buckeyes.

Slow down Ohio State’s backcourt. UNLV’s guards punished BYU several times and got to the rim too easily. Mobley and Pippen are more talented, so the Cougars will need to shore up their paint protection and avoid getting exposed there again.