Wisconsin now knows exactly when one of its biggest non-conference tests will arrive.
The Badgers will face Auburn at 3:00 p.m. CT on Dec. 19 in Nashville, the program announced Tuesday morning. The matchup will be played at Bridgestone Arena and televised by ESPN.
That gives Greg Gard’s team another major checkpoint in a loaded early-December run. Wisconsin will already have gone through Marquette, Purdue, Villanova and Auburn in consecutive games, with only the Purdue meeting set for the Kohl Center. The Auburn game also comes a week after the Badgers’ neutral-site trip to Philadelphia to play Villanova, making it their second straight game away from home.
For Wisconsin, the Auburn date stands out as the capstone of the non-conference slate. After that trip south, the Badgers return to Wisconsin for home games against Purdue-Fort Wayne and Colorado State to wrap up out-of-conference play.
Auburn enters the year with second-year head coach Steven Pearl, the son of Bruce Pearl, who led the program from 2015 to 2025. The Tigers had a fast start last season, stacking up non-conference wins over Oregon, St.
John’s and NC State. By Jan. 28, they were 14-7 overall and 5-3 in SEC play.
Then the slide hit hard. Auburn lost its next five games and eight of its final 10, and one SEC tournament win over Mississippi State wasn’t enough to send the Tigers to the NCAA tournament. They did finish strong, though, winning five straight to capture the NIT title with an overtime victory over Tulsa in the championship game.
This year’s Auburn team brings back a dangerous backcourt, led by junior point guard Tahaad Pettiford, who averaged 15.4 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists last season. Kevin Overton is back as well after putting up 14.1 points per game while shooting 41.3% from three on 6.1 attempts a night.
That guard group is the clear strength. Even with Owen Freeman and Thomas Dowd added inside, Auburn’s frontcourt remains unproven in SEC play.
For Wisconsin, Auburn is right there with Marquette and Villanova as one of the marquee non-conference games on the schedule. Dec. 19 in Nashville now has a time, and it has the look of one of the season’s biggest early measuring sticks.
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Head coach Andrew Riley has noticed the development, and so has the Badgers recruiting staff, which has already landed McIntosh as the earliest Wisconsin commit in the class of 2027. McIntosh also talked about how tight the Wisconsin offensive line group has become among its recruits, a small but meaningful sign of how quickly the connection is forming before he ever gets to campus. [Read more 🡒]