Wisconsin basketball announces neutral site game against a Big East powerhouse
The Wisconsin Badgers are quietly putting together a phenomenal non-conference schedule for the 2025-2026 season. Earlier this week, the program announced a home-and-home series with BYU starting this winter in Salt Lake City, Utah, with a return game in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 2026-2027. Today, the Badgers announced yet another neutral-site non-conference game, this one against the Villanova Wildcats at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on December 19th. CBS' Jon Rothstein reports a return matchup at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 2026-27.
This matchup would be the first time the Badgers have faced the Wildcats since Wisconsin's upset win in the 2017 NCAA Tournament. The No. 8-seed Badgers defeated the No. 1-seed and reigning national champion Wildcats on a last-second basket from forward Nigel Hayes.
2025-26 will be Kevin Willard's first season as the head coach of the Wildcats after leaving Big Ten rival Maryland after the 2024-25 season. Willard went 2-3 against Wisconsin while coaching at Maryland, most recently defeating the Badgers 76-68 in College Park this past January.
With games against BYU, Marquette, Kansas/Florida/Providence (Rady's Children's Invitational), and now Villanova, Wisconsin's non-conference schedule has become extremely competitive for this upcoming season. It should provide the team a golden opportunity to stack quality wins early in the season.
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