Wisconsin opens its 2026-27 regular season against Denver on Monday night at the Kohl Center, turning a strong exhibition finish into the first result that counts. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m., with the game available on B1G+ and on the Badger Radio Network with Matt Lepay and Brian Butch.
The quick turn from an 82-65 exhibition win over Oklahoma State to a season opener is why this game is drawing attention now. Owen Foxwell led Wisconsin with 19 points in that final tuneup, 16 before halftime, while Eian Elmer added 11 and made three three-pointers as the Badgers hit 18 shots from deep and shot 43.9% from beyond the arc.
That perimeter output matters because Wisconsin built last season’s offense around the long ball. The Badgers made 409 three-pointers, the most in Big Ten history, and finished fourth in the country in made threes while averaging 11.7 per game. If that pace carries over, Monday’s opener could look less like a reset and more like a continuation.
Nolan Winter is one reason the matchup carries extra weight. The senior from Lakeville, Minnesota, averaged 13.1 points and 8.5 rebounds per game last season, was named earlier this month to the Preseason All-Big Ten Team and was also placed on the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Preseason Watch List, which recognizes the top centers in Division I men's college basketball.
Denver does bring one wrinkle Wisconsin cannot ignore. The Badgers have faced the Pioneers only twice before and are 2-0, but Austin Rapp is the lone Wisconsin player with experience against them after scoring 20 points for Portland in a 101-90 win over Denver on Dec. 1, 2024. That familiarity is limited, and it leaves Wisconsin leaning more on its own habits than on a scouting history that barely exists.
There is still one more reason the opener feels familiar in one way and unfamiliar in another. Wisconsin has won 27 of its last 28 home openers and 10 straight, including a 96-64 opening win over Campbell last season in which Winter had 17 points and 12 rebounds. Monday is the next test of whether that home form travels from record to reality, and whether a team that looked sharp in the exhibition can do it again when the season starts for real.
