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Badgers preview: No.24 Wisconsin vs. Campbell Fighting Camels

The Wisconsin Badgers open its 2025-26 season at the Kohl Center tonight against the Campbell Fighting Camels
Benjamin Worgull|
Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard is shown during the first half of their game against Indiana Tuesday, February 4, 2025 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard is shown during the first half of their game against Indiana Tuesday, February 4, 2025 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

Campbell (0-0, 0-0 CAA) vs. Wisconsin (0-0, 0-0 Big Ten)

Date/Time – Monday, November 3, 7 p.m.

Arena – Kohl Center (16,838)

Television – BTN Plus

Radio – Badgers Radio Network (Matt Lepay and Brian Butch), Sirius XM Channel 196.

Coaches - Greg Gard at Wisconsin (213-117 in his 11th season). Jeff Andrzejek at Campbell (0-0 in his first season.

Series – First Meeting

Point Spread – Wisconsin -20.5

Wisconsin probable starters

2 Nick Boyd (6-3 Senior Guard)

7 Andrew Rohde (6-6 Senior Guard)

22 Austin Rapp (6-10 Sophomore Forward)

25 John Blackwell (6-4 Junior Guard)

31 Nolan Winter (6-11 Junior Forward)

OFF THE BENCH

0 Braeden Carrington (6-5 Senior Guard)

5 Jack Janicki (6-5 Sophomore Guard)

13 Hayden Jones (6-6 Freshman Guard)

23 Will Garlock (7-0 Freshman Center)

32 Aleksas Bieliauskas (6-10 Freshman Forward)

PLAYER TO WATCH

Blackwell was one of 10 players named to the Preseason All-Big Ten Team, becoming the first Badger in three years to earn the honor. Blackwell was also named to the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Preseason Watch List.

Campbell probable starters

1 Tasos Cook (6-2 Graduate Guard)

2 Jermiah Johnson (6-4 Sophomore Guard)

7 Cam Gregory (6-5 Senior Guard)

9 DJ Smith (6-0 Graduate Guard)

13 Dovydas Butka (6-9 Sophomore Forward)

OFF THE BENCH

0 Chris Fields Jr. (6-7 Junior Forward)

5 Enoch Kalambay (6-6 Graduate Guard)

11 Muneer Newton (6-5 Graduate Forward)

PLAYER TO WATCH

Smith led Robert Morris to the Horizon League title and a near upset of Alabama in the NCAA first round last season. He averaged 9.1 points and 3.2 assists and made 56 triples while shooting 39 percent beyond the arc.

Series notes

This will be the first meeting in the series and just the fifth for the Badgers against current members of the Coastal Athletic Association. Wisconsin is 4-0 in the previous games.

Campbell is 1-4 against members of the Big Ten Conference, with its lone win coming at Iowa in November 2011.

Wisconsin notes

Wisconsin has won 26 of its last 27 home openers at the Kohl Center. UW is 9-0 in season home openers under Gard. The Badgers only loss in that stretch was a 69-67 defeat to Western Illinois in the 2016 season opener.

The Badgers are 8-1 in season openers under Gard. The only loss came in a 65-63 overtime loss to St. Mary’s at a neutral site in 2019.

Wisconsin led the Big Ten averaging 10.3 three-point attempts per game during conference play. The Badgers also ranked fifth shooting 35.9 percent from deep during league play. UW was 16-for-56 (28.6 percent) during exhibition play from three.

UW shot 82.6 percent from the line, a Big Ten record and second all-time in Division I. The Badgers were 22-for-37 (59.5 percent) from the line in exhibition play.

Blackwell and Winter made up 39.4 percent of UW's starting five scoring last season. The bench returners of Janicki, Jack Robison, Isaac Gard, and Riccardo Greppi bring back 24.3 percent of the bench scoring

Campbell notes

Campbell was picked to finish seventh in the CAA preseason poll.

Wisconsin marks the first of six "high-major" programs Campbell faces on the road this season in what has shaped up as the most challenging schedule in program history. All six high-majors are listed in the KenPom preseason Top 100.

The Camels have won seven straight season-openers, including its last three season-openers against DI opponents. CU last began with a loss in 2017, falling at Penn State to open the year.

Campbell has never beaten a Top 25 opponent. The Camels last opened a season against a ranked opponent at No. 13 NC State in 1984. Campbell last faced a ranked opponent at No. 9 Duke in 2021, a 67-56 loss in Durham.

Gregory started 31 of 32 games a year ago and averaged 7.8 points. A fifth-year graduate student, Cook has appeared in 56 games over the last two years at CU and averaged 10.8 points over the final nine contests last season.

Butka was a preseason All-CAA honorable mention selection after transferring from Pepperdine. A former Lithuanian youth national team member, Butka averaged 9.6 points, 6.1 boards and 2.2 assists for the Waves. His average jumped to 12 points in league play.

Prediction

Things looked dicey a season ago when Wisconsin's roster of returning veterans fell behind by as many as 16 points before finding their footing in the second half of an 85-61 victory over Holy Cross.

Don't be shocked if something similar happens tonight with seven players making their Wisconsin debut. The Badgers have the pieces to be talented and entertaining this season on offense, but the potential is still a way off (evidenced by two disjointed exhibition games) as the group finds a common footing.

More important than the offense will be how Wisconsin comes together defensively this season. The Badgers were good on that end of the floor last year, finishing 24th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency but far from the standard that the program demands.

The Badgers lost three times last season in games where they scored at least 80 points, including the 91-89 loss to BYU to end their season in the NCAA Tournament second round.

Under first-year head coach Jeff Andrzejek, who helped Florida as an assistant win the national championship last season, the Fighting Camels have a rebuilt roster with six players added from the portal and three freshmen. Campbell's goal is to play fast, crash the glass, and run the floor off makes and misses. It should be a good opening test for Wisconsin.

Prediction: Wisconsin by 22

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Benjamin Worgull
BENJAMIN WORGULL

Benjamin Worgull has covered Wisconsin men's basketball since 2004, having previously written for Rivals, USA Today, 247sports, Fox Sports, the Associated Press, the Janesville Gazette, and the Wisconsin State Journal.

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