11/4 UW-R. Falls W, 101-46 11/13 Western Ill. L, 67-69 11/15 Siena W, 92-65 11/17 North Dakota W, 78-64 11/20 Georgetown * L, 61-71 11/22 VCU * W, 74-73 11/25 Prairie V A&M W, 85-67 11/29 Oklahoma L, 48-65 12/2 Syracuse W, 66-58 12/5 Temple W, 76-60 12/9 Milwaukee L, 67-68 12/12 Marquette L, 55-57 12/15 TA&M CC W, 64-49 12/23 Green Bay W, 84-79 12/29 Purdue L, 61-55 1/2 Rutgers 1pm 1/5 Indiana 6pm 1/9 Maryland TBA 1/12 Northwestern 6pm 1/17 Michigan St. TBA 1/21 Penn State 7pm 1/26 Indiana 6pm 1/31 Illinois 6:30pm 2/4 Ohio State 6pm 2/10 Nebraska 6pm 2/13 Maryland 5pm 2/18 Michigan St 8pm 2/21 Illinois TBA 2/24 Iowa 8pm 2/28 Michigan TBA 3/2 Minnesota 8pm 3/5 Purdue TBA Key: times CT Home Game Road Game * 2K Classic Printable Schedule 0 Will Decorah Jr. G 1 Brevin Pritzl Fr. G 2 Jordan Smith R-Sr. G 3 Zak Showalter R-Jr. G 4 Matt Ferris So. G 5 Aaron Moesch R-So. F 10 Nigel Hayes Jr. F 11 Jordan Hill R-So. G 13 Jackson Bax Fr. G 15 Charlie Thomas Fr. F 20 T.J. Schlundt R-Fr. G 21 Khalil Iverson Fr. G 22 Ethan Happ R-Fr. F 24 Bronson Koenig Jr. G 25 Alex Illikainen Fr. F 30 Vitto Brown Jr. F 33 Andy Van Vliet Fr. F 35 Riley Dearring R-So. G Complete Roster Wisconsin Men's Basketball - Like the team on Facebook  - Twitter: @BadgerMBB - Instagram: @badgermbb - All-Access Media | Photos - Notes | Record Book

BADGERS BEGIN BIG TEN PLAY
After the Greg Gard era officially got underway last week with an 84-79 win over in-state foe Green Bay, the Badgers (8-5) return from the holiday break to focus on beginning Big Ten play. Wisconsin will do so at home this week, welcoming No. 14 Purdue to the Kohl Center on Tuesday night for a 6 p.m. (CT) tip on BTN. Rutgers visits Madison on Saturday for a 1 p.m. (CT) game on BTN.

NOTES TO KNOW
1 CHANGING OF THE GARD: A veteran of 23 seasons in the coaching ranks, including 15 at UW, Greg Gard assumes his fi rst head coaching role.
2 THISCLOSE: Wisconsin has lost 3 home games, but they have come by a total of 5 points. UW has had a potential winning FGA in all three games.
3 HAYES-ING: A preseason All-Big Ten selection, Nigel Hayes is living up to that billing lately. After a career-high 32 points vs. Milwaukee, the junior is one of just 2 players in the Big Ten averaging at least 15.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg and 4.0 apg.
4 KLUTCH KOENIG: Bronson Koenig entered the season with a single-game career high of 19 points. He has already topped that twice, ranking 2nd on UW with 15.1 ppg. Against VCU, the Cousy Award candidate scored 22 points including the game-winning basket with 5.9 seconds left.
5 MAKING IT HAPP-EN: After scoring 10 points and equaling a career high with 15 rebounds vs. Milwaukee (12/9), freshman Ethan Happ is tied for the Big Ten lead with 4 double-doubles on the year. Happ is averaging 11.2 ppg on 53.7% shooting and ranks 4th in the Big Ten with 8.3 rebounds per game.
6 YOUNG BLOOD: No team in the nation has more freshmen than Wisconsin (8) and a quartet of the Badgers' newcomers are having an immediate impact. Ethan Happ, Alex Illikainen, Khalil Iverson and Charlie Thomas are combining to average 20.5 points and 14.7 rebounds per game. Freshmen have played 31.1% of UW's minutes.
7 HOME SWEET HOME: Since 2001-02, the Badgers have a 215-25 (.896) record at home, the 4th-best win pct. in the country over that span. That includes a home mark of 109-11 (.908) against non-conference opponents.
8 BOARDING: UW has out-rebounded all 12 of its opponents and leads the Big Ten with 14.7 off. boards per game.
9 DEVELOPING DEFENSE: After allowing 67.1 ppg and 45.1% shooting (44.6% 3FGs) in the first 7 games, the Badgers have limited their last 5 opponent to an average of 58.4 ppg and a combined 38.4% shooting (30.9% 3FGs).

THE GREG GARD ERA BEGINS
With the retirement of Bo Ryan on Dec. 15, 2015, associate head coach Greg Gard takes over the title of interim head coach and will lead the Badgers through the remainder of the season.
- Gard officially becomes the 16th head coach in program history and the second coach to hold the interim tag in the last 20 years. Brad Soderberg coached the Badgers to a 16-10 record in 2000-01 when Dick Bennett retired 3 games into the season.
- One of the most respected assistant coaches in the nation, Gard was ranked as the fourth-best "X&O" assistant coach in college basketball by coachstat.net in November of 2015. The rankings were made upon receipt of votes from a panel of national college basketball media, scouts and coaches.
- In addition to his on-floor coaching duties as associate head coach, Gard served as UW's recruiting coordinator in addition to on-floor coaching duties, opponent scouting and game preparation, and the constructing of future game schedules. He was also the director of the Badger Boys Basketball Summer Camps.
- A native of Cobb, Wisconsin (population of 456), Gard's coaching career began in 1990 during his sophomore year at UW-Platteville when he answered a flier to serve as the junior varsity coach at Southwestern High School in Hazel Green, Wis. Three years later, Gard would move to the head coaching job at Platteville High School and join Bo Ryan's staff at the University of WisconsinPlatteville in 1993. Gard would spend the next 23 seasons with Ryan at UW-Platteville, UW-Milwaukee and Wisconsin?.

NOTES FROM UW'S LAST GAME
PURDUE 61, WIS 55 - 12/29/15 - Kohl Center
-  Wisconsin trailed by just 3 with 1:40 remaining, but Purdue answered back-to-back 3-pointers from Dakota Mathias to hold on for a 61-55 win at the Kohl Center Tuesday night. The Badgers dropped their Big Ten opener for the first time since 2003.
- The Badgers turned it over just 7 times compared to 16 for Purdue, but UW was outrebounded for the first time this season, 36-26. The Boilermakers also owned a decided 34-20 advantage on points in the paint.
- Junior Nigel Hayes led UW with 17 points and 7 rebounds. Freshman Alex Illikainen was the only other Badger to score in double figures, notching a career-high 10 points (2-2 3FGs), with all of his points coming in the second half.

STRENGTH IN SCHEDULING
- ESPN.com's BPI lists UW with the 12th-toughest schedule in the NCAA, the highest among Big Ten teams.
- From an RPI standpoint, the Badgers have faced one of the tougher schedules in the Big Ten. A total of 9 of UW's 13 non-conference games came against RPI top-150 foes. Among Big Ten team, only Illinois (10) faced more top-150 teams.
- The Badgers' 4 home losses have come by a combined 11 points. In each of the 4 defeats, UW was either tied or within one possession in the final 2:00. In fact, the Badgers had a game-winning/tying shot attempt in the closing seconds of 3 of the losses.
- Wisconsin's 6 losses have come against teams who are a combined 58-17 (.773): Oklahoma (11-0), Purdue (13-1), Marquette (10-3), Western Illinois (7-4), Milwaukee (9-4), Georgetown (8-5).

2015-16 TEAM INFO
Starters Returning/Lost: 2/3  |  Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 9/5 
- Wisconsin looks to replace five of the top seven scorers from a year ago, but does return a pair of starters in juniors Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig. Overall, the Badgers bring back 38.1% of their minutes played from last season. UW will bring back 34.3% of its scoring, 31.5% of its rebounding and 40.5% of their assists.
- The 2015-16 season will mark the first year under Bo Ryan in which the Badgers do not have a scholarship senior. The only senior on the roster is walk-on guard Jordan Smith. Wisconsin has had at least one senior starter in each of Ryan's first 14 seasons in Madison. In fact, the Badgers have started at least two seniors in 10 of those 14 seasons.
- UW returns four players from last season's nine-man rotation:
FRONTCOURT: 
    Nigel Hayes, Jr., F (12.4 ppg, 6.2 rpg) - Third-team All-Big Ten; 9th in Big Ten shooting 49.7% overall and 3rd on UW shooting 39.6% from 3s; 4 career double-doubles
    Vitto Brown, Jr., F (2.8 ppg, 1.5 rpg) - Played in 34 games as a soph. averaging 6.3 mpg
BACKCOURT
    Bronson Koenig, Jr., G (8.7 ppg, 2.5 apg) - Started final 24 games; 4th on the team in points and 2nd in assists; 2nd on team shooting 40.5% on 3s; 3.0 assist-to-TO Ratio
    Zak Showalter, Jr., G (2.1 ppg, 1.3 rpg) - Redshirt junior averaged 7.6 minutes off the bench; career-high 9 points vs. Indiana (Feb. 3, 2015)
- The Badgers will gain the services of redshirt freshmen Ethan Happ and T.J. Schlundt in 2014- 15, who both redshirted in their first year on campus. UW will also add five true freshmen to their roster in 2015-16, Alex Illikainen (Grand Rapids, Minn.), Khalil Iverson (Delaware, Ohio), Brevin Pritzl (De Pere, Wis.), Charlie Thomas (Highland, Md.), Andy Van Vliet (Brasschaat, Belgium).

NOTES Complete men's basketball game notes in printable PDF format.

ALL-BIG TEN DUO: HAYES, KOENIG
A pair of Badgers were named to the 2015-16 Preseason All-Big Ten Team, as Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig were each selected by a vote of the league's media. This is the second consecutive season Wisconsin has had a pair selected to the conference's preseason team as Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker earned the distinction last year.
- Hayes and Koenig were also named to watch lists for the Julius Erving Award and Bob Cousy Award, respectively, as announced by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
    Each watch list contains the top 20 players at its position, as the Julius Erving Award recognizes the top small forward in the nation and the Bob Cousy Award recognizes the top point guard in the country.
    Dekker was a finalist for the Erving Award last season. Jordan Taylor (2012) was UW's last finalist for the Cousy Award.
- Junior Nigel Hayes was named a preseason All-American by The Sporting News and finished 9th in the AP preseason All-American balloting.

YOUTH BEING SERVED
The 2015-16 Badgers are the youngest in Bo Ryan's 15 seasons. No school in the country has more freshmen on its roster than Wisconsin (8). Cornell and UTEP are the only other schools with 8 freshmen.
- Redshirt freshman Ethan Happ became just the 3rd freshman to start the season opener under Bo Ryan, joining Devin Harris (2001) and George Marshall (2012).
- True freshmen Khalil Iverson and Charlie Thomas have each seen extensive action off the Badgers' bench.
- UW's other scholarship freshmen Alex Illikainen and Brevin Pritzl made their debuts vs. Siena. Illikainen chipped in 6 points in 7 minutes. Andy Van Vliet (ineligible) has yet to see action.

HAYES FOR DAYS
- After earning 2014 Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year, Nigel Hayes expanded his game in 2015 and was rewarded with third-team All-Big Ten honors. 
    Now Hayes enters his junior season as a preseason All-American and the focal point of Wisconsin's offense.
- Last season, Hayes fi nished 3rd on the team in points (12.4) and ranked 13th in the Big Ten with 6.2 rebounds per game. He led UW in steals (34) and was 3rd in blocks (16).
    Hayes ranked 9th in the Big Ten shooting 49.7% from the fi eld and shot 39.6%, which ranked 13th in the Big Ten.
- The junior made great strides in 3 areas in particular: rebounding, 3FG% and FT%.
- Hayes has scored in double fi gures 44 times in his career, including 30 of 40 games last season. Hayes posted a career-high 25 points vs. Green Bay a year ago and owns 4 career double-doubles.
- The Toledo, Ohio, native continued his penchant for getting to the free throw line. As a freshman, Hayes was 2nd on the team with 164 FTAs. Last season, he was again 2nd on UW in both FTAs and made FTs, going 125-for-168 (.744).

KOENIG ON POINT
- When Traveon Jackson went down with a foot injury at Rutgers on Jan. 11, 2015, Bronson Koenig took over the starting point guard role for the Badgers and flourished in the new role.
    Now a junior, the preseason All-Big Ten pick is the unquestioned lead guard at Wisconsin.
- Last season, Koenig ranked 4th on the Badgers averaging 8.7 points per game and 2nd on the team with 2.5 assists per game. 
    Koenig connected on 40.5% of his 3-point attempts (62-153), good for 12th in the Big Ten.
- In 2014-15, Koenig had 98 assists to just 33 turnovers. His 2.97 assist-to-turnover ratio was tops among Big Ten players with at least 75 assists 
- In 24 games as the Badgers' starting point guard, Koenig averaged 11.5 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. He also went 50-for-113 (44.2%) from 3-point range over those 24 games.
- Koenig turned the ball over just 26 times in 835 minutes last season as the starting point guard (1 every 32.1 min.).
    Put another way, Koenig averaged just 1.3 turnovers per 40 minutes, the best mark of any starting point guard on a major conference team during that span.