UC vs Ohio State to Open Remodeled 5/3rd Arena

UC just announced that their first opponent in the newly remolded 5/3rd arena will be the Ohio State Buckeyes.

UC just announced that their first opponent in the newly remolded 5/3rd arena will be the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Good for Coach Holtmann...strong move!! Well done by UC bringing in a high profile opponent to re-christen the building.

The University of Cincinnati will start both the 2018-19 and 2019-2020 men's basketball seasons against Ohio State, the programs announced Tuesday. The Bearcats will open a newly renovated Fifth Third Arena against the Buckeyes in 2018 with Ohio State playing host in Columbus in 2019. Although dates for the games have not been determined, the game will take place on the first allowable date of competition in each of the next two years.

"This is a great thing for Ohio, for basketball in Ohio and for the fans of these great universities," UC head coach Mick Cronin said. "I want to thank everyone involved in making this happen. We are very excited about reopening our arena next season. Supporting this and agreeing to play Cincinnati in a home-and-home series is a first class move by Ohio State, Coach (Chris) Holtmann and the OSU administration."

Holtmann, the first-year head coach of the Buckeyes, said the two historic programs opening the season against each other is a tremendous opportunity to showcase each program.

"We have great respect for the UC program and Coach (Mick) Cronin," Holtmann said. "The idea of challenging ourselves in the nonconference while also providing an attractive game for our collective fan bases certainly made sense to us. We understand the challenge of opening the season on the road vs. a high-caliber opponent with a younger team provides some risk but we felt like it was the right decision at this time.

"We will continue to work to put together a challenging and attractive nonconference schedule in the future within the constraints of the Big Ten schedule as well as the games that have already been contracted," Holtmann said.

University of Cincinnati Official Athletic Site

UC will play Ohio St, UCLA, and Xavier next year in the renovated 5th/3rd Arena.

Would have been cool to get Xavier as the first game there or a big-time team but within the state, it doesn't get much bigger than this.

Would have been cool to get Xavier as the first game there or a big-time team but within the state, it doesn't get much bigger than this.

Two of the top 20 programs in the history of college basketball are starting a home and home series for the first time in 98 years. There is no better opponent UC could have signed to reopen 5/3 Arena...

Two of the top 20 programs in the history of college basketball are starting a home and home series for the first time in 98 years. There is no better opponent UC could have signed to reopen 5/3 Arena...

I can think of one...

Not one that would have agreed to come...

Too bad they will take a butt whipping in their first game in the new arena.

Too bad they will take a butt whipping in their first game in the new arena.

Who? UC? Ohio State is terrible.

Who? UC? Ohio State is terrible.

Yeah, I should've done a little more fact checking on that last post.

Not one that would have agreed to come...

Exactly.

I will get tickets for this! I'm excited for UC to finally get a much needed arena fix!

Will the arena be ready in time?

Two of the top 20 programs in the history of college basketball are starting a home and home series for the first time in 98 years. There is no better opponent UC could have signed to reopen 5/3 Arena...

No propaganda, hearsay, or accusations...just facts. Why have Cincinnati and Ohio State been so reluctant to play each other over the last century?