UW basketball team will face rough road stretch
MADISON – Although basketball championships are won in March, Wisconsin’s most demanding stretch of its 20-game Big Ten schedule might come in February.
Greg Gard's team plays four of its seven games in February on the road, including twice playing consecutive games that fall within a span of four days.
After hosting Maryland on Feb. 1, UW has road games Feb. 6 at Minnesota and Feb. 9 at Michigan.
After home games Feb. 12 against Michigan State and Feb. 18 against Illinois, UW has another two road games in a span of four days – Feb. 23 at Northwestern and Feb. 26 at Indiana.
The Badgers open Big Ten play Nov. 30 at Iowa, which is the day before the Big Ten football title game in Indianapolis.
They follow that with a home game Dec. 3 against Rutgers before resuming nonconference play Dec. 8 at Marquette.
The full Big Ten schedule was released Tuesday.
Last season UW finished in ninth place in the league with a 7-11 record. That marked the first time since the 1997-’98 season UW finished with a sub.500 record in Big Ten play.
The Badgers finished 15-18 overall and failed to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 1997’98 season.
BTN analyst Shon Morris chose UW as his under-the-radar team.
"Yes, you return Ethan Happ," Morris said Tuesday during the BTN schedule show. "That is huge for them as he returns for his senior year and the versatility he provides, not just offensively but his ability to guard multiple positions.
"This is a team that was bitten by the injury bug a year ago. Let’s not forget guys like Kobe King and D’Mitrik Trice, who would have provided some outside shooting to take a little bit of the load off Ethan Happ, were out for long periods of time."
UW opens the season Nov. 6 against visiting Coppin State.
That is one of just five home nonconference games. The others are Nov. 17 against Houston Baptist, Nov. 27 against North Carolina State, Dec. 13 against an undetermined opponent and Dec. 22 against Grambling State.
The Badgers have six nonconference games away from the Kohl Center. They are Nov. 13 at Xavier, three games in the Battle 4 Atlantis, beginning with Sanford on Nov. 21; Dec. 8 at Marquette and Dec. 29 at Western Kentucky.
UW closes Big Ten play with two of its final three games at the Kohl Center. Penn State visits March 2, followed by Iowa on March 7.
UW closes league play with a March 10 game at Ohio State.
The Big Ten tournament moves back into its normal slot on the calendar after being played a week earlier last season. The tournament is set to be held March
13-17 at the United Center in Chicago.