Wisconsin women’s basketball: non-conference schedule released

Basketball season will be here before we know it, and on Tuesday, the Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball program released their non-conference schedule consisting of the first eleven games that will be played under first-year head coach Marisa Moseley. Of the eleven games, five will be played against teams that played post-season basketball last season, either in the NCAA Tournament (Virginia Tech, Bradley) or the WNIT (Milwaukee, Colorado, Illinois State).

The 2021-2022 season will kick off with two contests at the Kohl Center coming against St. Thomas on November 10 and NJIT on November 14. The Badgers will hit the road for the first time on November 19, traveling across state lines to Peoria, Ill. to take on Bradley.

On November 22, the Badgers will return to the Kohl Center to play the third of seven non-conference games to be played at home. They will take on Chicago State. On November 24, the Badgers will travel east to play their annual non-conference game against in-state rival Milwaukee.

This year the Badgers will be spending Thanksgiving weekend in Boulder, Colo., playing two non-conference showdowns as part of the Colorado Invitational. Wisconsin will be met by the Boise State Broncos on November 27, and the host team, the Colorado Buffaloes, on November 28. These two games combine to be the Badgers first back-to-back of the season.

Following Thanksgiving in Boulder, the Badgers will return to Madison for their final four non-conference contests, all of which will be played at the Kohl Center.

As part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, which will be played for the first time since 2019, Virginia Tech will be coming to town to take on the Badgers. This matchup is sure to be a great test for the Badgers, as Virginia Tech advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2020, further than all other teams that the Badgers will face before starting their Big 10 conference schedule.

The Badgers will take some much needed time off following the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, and will jump right back into action on December 12 with a home game against state rival Green Bay. The non-conference schedule is wrapped up with games against Illinois State on December 16 and Eastern Illinois on December 23. Both games will be played at the Kohl Center.

Coming off a disappointing 5-19 season, head coach Marisa Moseley is looking forward to starting strong in her first season and using non-conference games to prepare her team for the Big Ten schedule that follows...

Although you never want to read too far into the results of non-conference games, this schedule will hopefully mark the beginning of a new era, and new culture of women’s basketball in Madison under Marisa Moseley.