Wisconsin’s first two games have looked a lot like a team still sorting itself out on offense and leaning hard on the other end to keep rolling.
That formula gets another test Tuesday night when the Badgers welcome Fairfield to the Kohl Center to finish the early stretch of their four-game homestand. Wisconsin is 2-0 after Friday’s 73-64 win over Delaware, and while the scoring has been spread around - three players reached double figures in the opener and five more did against Delaware - the real early-season calling card has been defense. The Badgers have held their first two opponents to 66.5 points per game.
Fairfield arrives with a different kind of momentum. The Stags dropped their opener to Vermont, the preseason favorite in the America East Conference, then bounced back with a road win at Bryant on Sunday. Declan Wucherpfennig, the Metro Conference Preseason Player of the Year, led the way with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Kohl Center. The game will air on Big Ten Network with Jeff Levering and Jordan Taylor on the call, and it will also be on the Badgers Radio Network with Matt Lepay and Brian Butch. Greg Gard is in his 12th season at Wisconsin, where he is 239-128, while Chris Casey is 58-47 in his fourth season at Fairfield and 122-176 overall.
Wisconsin owns the only meeting between the schools, a 76-55 win in Madison on Dec. 31, 1992.
The Badgers are also 8-1 against schools currently in the Metro, with their last game against one coming in 2019, a 65-37 win over Rider. Fairfield, meanwhile, is 1-14 all-time against Big Ten teams, with its lone win a 92-74 neutral-court victory over Northwestern to open the 1976-77 season.
For Wisconsin, the early numbers point to a team that can win in a lot of ways, even if the offense is still finding its rhythm. The Badgers shot 10-for-30 from three-point range against Delaware, and over the last three seasons they are 37-9 when they make at least 10 threes in a game.
They’ve also been careful with the ball, turning it over just eight times Friday and averaging 9.0 turnovers per game this season. Since 2024-25, Wisconsin is 23-3 at home when it commits fewer than 10 turnovers.
Owen Foxwell has been especially steady, piling up 13 assists with only two turnovers in 2026-27. His 6.5 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks second in the Big Ten.
Braeden Carrington has added scoring punch too, hitting 7-for-17 from deep through two games and scoring in double figures in back-to-back outings. He has 25 career double-figure games, including nine since joining the Badgers.
Fairfield brings a defense-first edge of its own. The Stags forced 17 steals in Sunday’s win at Bryant, their most in a game since a program-record 19 against Rider in 2012.
They also shot 5-for-9 from three, which was the fewest long-range attempts by a Fairfield team in 105 games under Casey. The last time the Stags took nine or fewer threes was a 2020 win at Manhattan, when they went 2-for-6 in a 66-50 victory.
The Stags were picked to win the Metro Conference in the preseason, collecting six of 12 first-place votes from league coaches. It’s the first time Fairfield has been the preseason favorite since 2010-11, the last season it won the regular-season title. The roster brings back 10 student-athletes, including three starters and six players who appeared in at least 20 games, which accounts for 50.1 percent of the team’s minutes, 42.8 percent of its scoring and 47.3 percent of its rebounding.
Wucherpfennig is the centerpiece. He averaged 12.1 points per game last season and ranked second in the league, and first among returning Metro players, with 8.5 rebounds.
He finished with the second-most rebounds and fifth-most points by a true freshman in school history. Against Wisconsin, he’ll be part of a Fairfield group that has leaned on pressure and turnovers, averaging 14.0 fast-break points per game.
That sets up a contrast that could matter. Wisconsin’s defense has carried the opening week, but the Badgers also have the kind of interior size Fairfield usually doesn’t see. If Wisconsin keeps protecting the ball and starts getting more rhythm from its frontcourt, the offense could start looking a lot more like Greg Gard expects it to.
Prediction: Wisconsin by 22
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