The Michigan–Ohio State men's basketball rivalry is a college basketball rivalry between the Michigan Wolverines and Ohio State Buckeyes that is part of the larger rivalry between the University of Michigan and Ohio State University. The athletic rivalry includes the football rivalry, known as The Game, but extends to almost every sport, as well as many other endeavors and forms of achievement. Both teams are members of the Big Ten Conference.
Series history The Michigan-Ohio State basketball rivalry dates back to February 17, 1909. Ohio State currently leads the series 108–87.
The teams met for the first time in postseason play in the 1992 Elite Eight, with the one-seed Buckeyes led by the first two-time Big Ten Men's Basketball Player of the Year and consensus First Team All-American Jim Jackson, while the six-seed Wolverines were in the midst of a season dominated by the notorious Fab Five recruiting class, featuring USBWA National Freshman of the Year, and eventual #1 overall NBA draft, Chris Webber and fellow future first round NBA draft selections Jalen Rose and Juwan Howard. Despite the Buckeyes winning both regular season contests by double-digits, the Wolverines advanced to the Final Four thanks to a 75–71 overtime victory. This victory began a stretch in the rivalry where the Wolverines would win 11 of 12 (including the Elite Eight meeting).
Michigan and Ohio State would meet for the first time in the Big Ten Tournament in 1999, the second iteration of the conference's tournament. The Buckeyes, who finished the season in second place, defeated the tenth-seeded Wolverines 87–69. Starting with this game, running through 2012, the Ohio State would win their first six meetings with Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament. This stretch includes the teams' meeting in the 2010 Big Ten Tournament, when Evan Turner hit a near-half-court shot to send his one-seed Buckeyes over the eight-seed Wolverines, 69–68, resulting in one of the most famous shots in the series' history.
The March 18, 2013, ESPN The Magazine issue centered principally around the February 5th encounter between the #3 Wolverines, at home, against the #10 Buckeyes in its second 'One Day, One Game' issue. Michigan won the meeting in overtime, 76–74.
On February 21, 2021, for the first time in the series' 185 game history, both teams met while ranked in the Top 5. The Wolverines (15–1, 10–1 Big Ten) were ranked No. 3 in the AP Poll and Coaches Poll, while the Buckeyes (18–4, 12–4 Big Ten) were ranked No. 4 in the AP poll and Coaches Poll. Michigan won the game, 92–87.
Rival accomplishments The following summarizes the accomplishments of the two programs. Team Michigan Ohio State National titles 2 1 Final Four appearances 9* 11* NCAA tournament appearances 33* 36* NCAA tournament record 74–31* 58–35* Big Ten tournament titles 4* 5* Big Ten regular season titles 16 22* Consensus first-team All-Americans 11 15 Naismith Players of the Year 1 1 Big Ten Players of the Year6 7 All-time record 1,767–1,129* 1,905–1,211* All-time winning percentage * * Through April 6, 2026
Due to player eligibility violations from the University of Michigan basketball scandal, Michigan was forced to vacate 117 games, including six wins against Ohio State, as well as three NCAA Tournament appearances, two Final Four appearances, one NIT Championship and one Big Ten tournament title. See Wikipedia:WikiProject College football/Vacated victories for further details for how vacated games are recorded. Due to player eligibility violations, Ohio State was forced to vacate 113 games, including six wins against Michigan, as well as four NCAA Tournament appearances, one Final Four appearance, two Big Ten regular season championships, and one Big Ten tournament title.
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