MADISON, Wis. – Five Friday night contests and five weekend games at the Kohl Center highlight a loaded 2023-24 schedule for Wisconsin Basketball, which was finalized Tuesday with the release of the league schedule by the Big Ten.

UW’s 20-game league schedule begins December 5 with a road game at Michigan State, but the slate is favorable with only one set of back-to-back road games (at Michigan and Rutgers in early February) and playing three of its final five games at home.

Due to the league’s unbalanced schedule, UW only hosts Illinois, Maryland, and Northwestern while only playing at Michigan, Minnesota, and Penn State. The Badgers play Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State, Purdue, and Rutgers twice. The breakdown will become further diluted next year with the addition of Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington to the conference.

UW’s home Friday night Big Ten games include Indiana (Jan. 19) and Michigan State (Jan. 26) while Purdue (Feb. 4) and Illinois (March 2) fall on the weekend.

UW finished a disappointing 11th last season, its worst finish since the conference expanded to 14 teams in 2014-15. Finishing at 20-15 overall, the Badgers missed the NCAA Tournament for only the second time since 1998 but advanced to the finals of the National Invitational Tournament, losing 56-54 to North Texas in Las Vegas.

The Badgers will return six of their seven rotational players from the team, including senior forwards Steven Crowl and Tyler Wahl and guard Max Klesmit, as well as junior point guard Chucky Hepburn and sophomore guard Connor Essegian. The Badgers also added wing A.J. Storr from the transfer portal after he was an All-Big East freshman selection at St. John’s.

The Badgers will host an exhibition on Nov. 1 against UW-Stevens Point, before opening their season on Nov. 6 at the Kohl Center vs. Arkansas State. UW’s nonconference schedule slate features home games against Tennessee (Nov. 10) and Marquette (Dec. 2), plus a road contest at Arizona (Dec. 9) and a neutral site game against Virginia (Nov. 20) at the Fort Myers Tip-Off.

In total, Wisconsin's schedule features 13 teams that qualified for last season's NCAA tournament, nine of which will play a game at the Kohl Center.

Nov. 1 – UW-STEVENS POINT (exhibition)

Nov. 6 – ARKANSAS STATE

Nov. 10 – TENNESSEE

Nov. 14 – at Providence

Nov. 17 – ROBERT MORRIS

Nov. 20 – vs. Virginia (Fort Meyers Tip-Off)

Nov. 22 – vs. SMU/West Virginia (Fort Meyers Tip-Off)

Nov. 27 – WESTERN ILLINOIS

Dec. 2 – MARQUETTE

Dec. 5 – at Michigan State

Dec. 9 – at Arizona

Dec. 14 – JACKSONVILLE STATE

Dec. 22 – CHICAGO STATE

Jan. 2 – IOWA

Jan. 6 – NEBRASKA

Jan. 10 – at Ohio State

Jan. 13 – NORTHWESTERN

Jan. 16 – at Penn State

Jan. 19 – INDIANA

Jan. 23 – at Minnesota

Jan. 26 – MICHIGAN STATE

Feb. 1 – at Nebraska

Feb. 4 – PURDUE

Feb. 7 – at Michigan

Feb. 10 – at Rutgers

Feb. 13 – OHIO STATE

Feb. 17 – at Iowa

Feb. 20 – MARYLAND

Feb. 27 – at Indiana

March 2 – ILLINOIS

March 7 – RUTGERS

March 10 – at Purdue

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