Wisconsin and Villanova now know when and where the next chapter of their series will be played.
The Badgers and Wildcats are set to meet on Saturday, December 12, 2026, at the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. A tip-off time and television information have not been released yet, though those details are expected closer to game day.
This will be the second meeting in the home-and-home after the teams opened the series in Milwaukee a season ago. In that game at Fiserv Forum, Wisconsin dropped an overtime decision after digging out of an early 13-point hole and committing 16 turnovers along the way.
Both programs are coming off 24-win seasons, but the rosters heading into this matchup are going to look very different. Wisconsin finished last year with a strong run through Big Ten play, picking up upset wins over Michigan, Illinois, and Michigan State before suffering a first-round NCAA Tournament loss to High Point. Villanova also reached 24 victories in Kevin Willard’s first season in Pennsylvania, earned an 8-seed in the NCAA Tournament, and then fell to Utah State, 86-76.
Willard’s background matters here, too. Before taking over at Villanova, he spent three seasons at Maryland, where he made the NCAA Tournament twice and reached the Sweet 16 once. He finished his Maryland tenure with 65 wins, including 32 against Big Ten opponents.
Villanova has already been active in the transfer portal after losing eight players and bringing in five commitments. Two of the most notable additions are familiar Big Ten names in Kwame Evans Jr. and Devin Royal.
Evans spent the last three seasons at Oregon, where he started 62 games and averaged 8.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game. He just turned in his best scoring season, posting 13.3 points per game while shooting a career-best 30.4% from three.
Royal comes over after three seasons at Ohio State and has started 59 games over the last two years. He averaged 13.7 points per game in each of the past two seasons and shot 50.1% from the field. Add former BYU and UIC guard Elijah Crawford into the mix, and Villanova has the kind of new pieces that could make this group dangerous.
For Wisconsin, the key will be much more straightforward: get Owen Foxwell and Nolan Winter functioning together against a defense that usually makes life difficult. The Badgers did knock down 10 of 23 shots from deep in last season’s meeting with Villanova, but getting clean looks inside the arc and taking care of the ball were bigger problems.
That’s the balance Wisconsin has to find this time around. The Badgers should have plenty of shooting again, but last season showed how quickly things can go sideways when the offense becomes too dependent on the three. If they can establish something more reliable inside the perimeter, they should have enough to avoid a repeat of what happened in Milwaukee.
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