Wisconsin Basketball’s roadmap for 2026-27 continues to come together piece by piece.
The Badgers recently announced their in-season tournament for next fall, as they’ll compete in the Baha Mar Hoops Championship in Nassau, The Bahamas.
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The Big Ten also recently dropped its slate for the 2026-27 season as the conference announced home, away and doubled-up opponents for each team.
Now, Wisconsin knows its season opener, per a report from college basketball writer Rocco Miller. The Badgers are reportedly slated to open the season against Denver on Nov. 2 at the Kohl Center.
As Wisconsin continues to fill its out-of-conference game slots, here’s some quick takeaways from the Badgers’ reported opener against Denver:
Wisconsin gets what should be an easy first test
The Badgers tend to start their seasons against a severely overmatched mid-major, but Denver is a particularly putrid program that hasn’t put together a winning season since 2017, when the Pioneers went 16-14.
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Denver is coming off a 15-17 season last year (8-8 in the Summit League) and lost to the two high-major teams they faced (Washington and Arizona) by a combined 44 points.
Badgers still draw tough individual matchup
Denver as a team shouldn’t be anything for Wisconsin to lose sleep over, but the Pioneers do return a stud guard who could give the Badgers problems in the Kohl Center.
6-foot-1 guard Carson Johnson returns for Denver after a sophomore campaign in which he averaged 20.1 points, 1.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists while posting 46/88/42 shooting splits, taking 6.6. three-pointers per game. The guard is an absolute bucket, and he’ll immediately challenge Wisconsin’s on-ball defense.
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Wisconsin looks to stay hot in openers
The Badgers have won six straight season openers and will look to make it seven in a row against Denver. The last lost they suffered came at the hands of St. Mary’s to tip-off the 2019-2020 season.
That wasn’t an isolated incident, however – Wisconsin has slipped up in buy game openers before. In 2015-2016, it dropped its opener to Western Illinois. The last time the Badgers opened their season against a fellow high-major program was St. John’s in 2013-2014, resulting in a 86-75 win over the Johnnies.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/wisconsin as Report: Wisconsin Basketball’s 2026-27 Season Opener Announced .
