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The Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team generally has a pretty light schedule during the second half of December. With final exams, graduation, winter break and Christmas all happening, UW usually only has a couple of games, often against non-conference opponents.
Well, the No. 24 Badgers will need to find a new opponent for Thursday evening as the Morgan State Bears will not be able to come up to Madison due to COVID-19 issues within their program.
Here is the full press release from UW:
MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin men’s basketball team is seeking a new opponent for Thursday at the Kohl Center after being notified that Morgan State is unable to travel to Madison due to COVID-19 complications within its program.
The Badgers and Bears were scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. (CT) on Thursday, Dec. 23 as part of a men’s and women’s doubleheader at the Kohl Center. The women’s game vs. Eastern Illinois is still scheduled for Noon and the men’s team is now actively seeking a new opponent for the evening time slot.
Additional updates will be shared as soon as they are available.
The UW men’s basketball is ranked No. 24 in the latest AP Top-25 after opening the season with a 9-2 record.
While the Badgers are actively looking for a new opponent, here are a couple of suggestions off the top of our heads:
- UW-Milwaukee has a game on Thursday afternoon against something called St. Xavier (Ill.). Maybe they should cancel that and come play Wisconsin instead! It would be a much better test for potential NBA Lottery pick Patrick Baldwin, Jr.
Men’s college basketball is up to 40 programs that have had to go on COVID pause this season, with 35 of those programs currently unable to play a game as of 3 p.m. ET. pic.twitter.com/faUPXT8h1I
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) December 20, 2021
- Rick Pitino and Iona have been clamoring online for games and even though they play on Tuesday night against Delaware, maybe they’d want to come out and play Wisconsin.
- One of the worst teams in America, IUPUI, has Thursday off. Maybe they want some extra game experience? I don’t know!
- Kansas State? Belmont has a big gap in their schedule that they might want a game to fill in? This is tough! Hopefully Wisconsin is able to work something out and get a game set up for this week.