The Big Ten Conference announced the complete 2016-17 league schedule on Thursday, which includes 18 Big Ten games for the Wisconsin men’s basketball team. The Badgers open their conference slate at home vs. Rutgers on December 27.

Times and television assignments will be revealed at a later date.

Wisconsin will have a home-and-home series with Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio State and Rutgers. UW faces Iowa, Maryland, Northwestern and Penn State only at the Kohl Center this season. The Badgers will only face Illinois, Michigan State, Nebraska and Purdue on the road.

Wisconsin will face Rutgers as part of the second-annual “Super Saturday – College Hoops & Hockey” doubleheader at Madison Square Garden in New York City, which is set for January 28, 2017. The Wisconsin men’s hockey team will skate against Ohio State as part of the doubleheader event.

The Badgers will play a minimum of 11 games this season against teams in the 2016 NCAA Tournament field, with seven of those coming at the Kohl Center and four coming on the road. During the non-conference schedule, the Badgers will host 2016 Final Four participants Oklahoma and Syracuse, as well as Green Bay. UW could also face national runner-up North Carolina, Elite Eight qualifier Oregon or UConn at the 2016 Maui Invitational.

Postseason play begins March 8-12 with the 2017 Big Ten Tournament in Washington, D.C., at the Verizon Center. With 14 Big Ten games, the tournament begins with two games on Wednesday, March 8, three games on Thursday, the quarterfinals on Friday, the semifinals on Saturday and then the championship on Sunday, March 12.

Wisconsin begins its 118th season of men’s basketball in 2016-17 and the first full season with Greg Gard as the head coach. Gard took over the reins for the final 23 games of the 2015-16 upon the Dec. 15, 2015, retirement of Bo Ryan. Under Gard, the Badgers rallied to finish the regular season in a tie for third place in the Big Ten standings and made a run to the Sweet 16 in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.

The Badgers have recorded at least 30 wins in four of the last 10 seasons, the most of any team in the Big Ten. In fact, Ohio State (3), Michigan State (1) and Michigan (1) are the only other Big Ten schools to win 30 games in a season over that span. Nationally, only Kansas (7), Duke (5) and North Carolina (5) have more 30-win seasons than Wisconsin over the past 10 years.

Wisconsin is currently enjoying a streak of 18 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, which is tied for the fifth-longest streak in tournament history. Last season, Wisconsin became the nation’s only team to reach the Sweet 16 in five of the last six years.