UW opens Big Ten Ten hoops play Dec. 2 vs. visiting OSU, faces brutal January run

MADISON – Wisconsin coach Greg Gard will learn quickly how competitive a young squad will be in the Big Ten in 2017-’18.

The Badgers, who are replacing four senior starters off a Sweet 16 team, open league play on Dec. 2 against visiting Ohio State. 

Just two days later, they face host Penn State, a game scheduled to accommodate UW’s nonconference road game Dec. 6 against Temple.

The front end of the Big Ten schedule, which was released Wednesday, is more compact in 2017-’18 because of the decision by commissioner Jim Delany to hold the league tournament in New York.

The tournament is scheduled to be held Feb. 28 through March 4, one week earlier than usual, at Madison Square Garden.

“We went from a 10-week season to a nine-game season,” Mark Rudner, Big Ten senior associate commissioner for television administration, said Wednesday on BTN. “And we moved some games into early December to relieve some of the compression.

“But there is still compression and there always will be when you are taking 112 games and trying to fit them into a 55-day period, which we’ve done.”

After facing Temple, UW then gets two days to prepare to host rival Marquette on Dec. 9. The Badgers play three more nonconference home games — Dec. 13 against Western Kentucky, Dec. 23 against UW-Green Bay and Dec. 30 against UMass Lowell — before resuming Big Ten play on Jan. 2 with a home game against Indiana. 

That game kicks off a month that should be taxing for UW.

After facing the Hoosiers, UW plays Jan. 5 at Rutgers, Jan. 9 at Nebraska and Jan. 16 at Purdue, which is expected to challenge for the regular-season title.

RELATED: 2017-18 UW schedule

UW then hosts Illinois on Jan. 19 before hitting the road to face Iowa on Jan. 23 and Michigan State, which should be picked to win the league crown, on Jan. 26. 

Nebraska visits the Kohl Center on Jan. 29.

That is six road games in the first 10 league games. 

"We have a lot of early Big Ten road games on our schedule," Gard said in a UW release. "But at the end of the day you get nine at home and nine on the road, so it really doesn't matter when they occur.

"In fact, the funny thing is, we're on a five-game road trip right now in New Zealand and Australia. So we'll be prepared."

The back end of the schedule features five home games and three road games but the opponents are formidable.

UW hosts Northwestern, coming off its first NCAA tournament appearance, on Feb. 1. 

Trips to Maryland on Feb. 4 and Illinois on Feb. 8 follow before UW plays four of its final five games against teams expected to challenge for the league title.

Michigan, the defending tournament champion, visits UW on Feb. 11, with Purdue set to visit on Feb. 15. The Badgers then host Minnesota, which finished 11-7 in the league last season, on Feb. 19. 

The Badgers then play Northwestern on Feb. 22 in Rosemont, Ill., before hosting Michigan State on Feb. 25.

UW opens the season Nov. 10 against visiting South Carolina State. The most demanding part of the nonconference schedule likely will be a stretch in which UW plays five games in 12 days. 

That run begins with a home game Nov. 16 against Xavier and ends with a trip to Virginia on Nov. 27 for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Between those games, UW faces Baylor on Nov. 20 in the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Mo. UW then plays either UCLA or Creighton on Nov. 21 in Kansas City and then hosts UW-Milwaukee on Nov 24. 

"As is usually the case, by the time the calendar hits 2018 we will be well tested," Gard said. "Our non-conference schedule this season will be as challenging as ever.

"The addition of the two Big Ten games in December will also no doubt expedite our growth in the early stages of the season."

Can the Badgers extend their streak of top-four regular-season finishes to 17 and qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the 20th consecutive season?

Stay tuned.