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Four things to know about the Wisconsin men's basketball team's Big Ten schedule

mark stewart, milwaukee journal sentinel
·2 min read

MADISON – Wisconsin’s first run through the newly expanded Big Ten Conference will begin with plenty of home cooking.

The Badgers men's basketball team opens league play Dec. 3 against Michigan at home and will have four of its first six conference games at the Kohl Center. That home-heavy start was among the highlights of UW’s 20-game conference slate, which was revealed with the rest of the league schedule Thursday.

Start times and broadcast information will be announced on later date.

Here are some other highlights of the Badgers’ Big Ten schedule.

A fast start is possible for the Badgers

Not only does Wisconsin play four of first six league games at home, but the majority of them – Michigan (Dec. 3), at Illinois (Dec. 10), Iowa (Jan. 3), at Rutgers (Jan. 6), Minnesota (Jan. 10) and Ohio State (Jan. 14) – are against teams that finished in the bottom half of the league last season.

Illinois, which finished second in the standings behind Purdue, and Iowa, which tied Indiana and Michigan State for sixth place, are the highest finishers from last year in that early portion of the schedule.

Connor Essegian returns to Kohl Center in January

After playing his first two seasons at UW, guard Connor Essegian transferred to Nebraska. The Cornhuskers come to town for the only regular season meeting between the teams on Jan. 26.

Badgers head to California this season, Pacific Northwest next

Wisconsin’s meetings with new members USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington come in pairs.

The Badgers will play at USC on Jan. 18 and UCLA on Jan. 21. UW will travel to the other newbies next season but will host Oregon on Feb. 22 and Washington on Feb. 25.

Badgers face three teams twice

Wisconsin faces each Big Ten team once except for Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. The Badgers play host to the Golden Gophers on Jan. 10 and travel to Minneapolis on March 5. The Fighting Illini host Wisconsin on Dec. 10 and come to Madison on Feb. 18.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin men's basketball 2024-2025 Big Ten schedule announced