BYU basketball opens the 2026-27 season with one of the best non-conference matchups in the opening week. The Cougars will face the Ohio State Buckeyes at Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Monday night.

This will be an interesting battle for both teams from beginning to end. BYU and OSU were single-digit seeds last year in the NCAA Tournament. However, neither one made any noise after being a one-and-done. There are new players on both rosters.

Most notably, AJ Dybantsa became the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, opening the door for Bruce Branch III and Rob Wright III to take over in Provo. BYU's offense will be more uptempo this season. Wright will be the floor general to feed Branch as the wing replacement for Dybantsa.

According to EvanMiya.com, BYU is one of four NCAA Division I men's basketball teams entering this season with five elite shooters. Wright, along with Collin Chandler, Dawson Baker, Jaxon Kohler and Tyler Betsey are in the 90th percentile or better for projected 3-point field goal percentage. The other four schools are Oklahoma, Texas Tech, West Virginia and Creighton.

Wright was a preseason All-American pick and goes up against Ohio State guard John Mobley Jr., who earned preseason All-Big Ten honors. This matchup also features two of the best newcomers with Branch and Ohio State’s Anthony Thompson. Both of them were five-star talents ranked in the Top 10, according to 247Sports.

BYU basketball head coach Kevin Young tips off his third season in Provo. The former NBA assistant is 2-0 all-time against schools from the Big Ten, both of those wins coming against Wisconsin, including a 98-70 victory over the 23rd-ranked Badgers at the Delta Center last season. The 28-point margin of victory is the third-highest all-time in program history.

This showdown will be the eighth all-time meeting between BYU and Ohio State. The two programs last met in the 1997 Rainbow Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii. This resulted in a 72-65 victory for the Cougars. The Buckeyes lead the all-time series 4-3 with three of those victories coming in Columbus, while two of the Cougars' three victories have come at neutral sites.

A win over Ohio State would give Young 50 victories in 72 games, tied for the sixth-fastest head coach to reach the mark in BYU history.

Date: Monday, November 2, 2026

TV: FS1

Tip-off: 9 p.m. ET

Venue: Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah

Stream: FOX Sports App

Head Coach: Kevin Young (Third season at BYU)

Record: 49-22

Young’s record against Ohio State: 0-0

Head Coach: Jake Diebler (Third season at Ohio State)

Record: 46-31

Diebler’s record against BYU: 0-0