Wisconsin basketball's 2026-27 schedule was finalized with the release of the Big Ten conference slate in mid-September.

The Badgers' official out-of-conference schedule was finalized in early August, and we've already known about the Badgers' clash with Auburn for months now. But with the season a little over a month away, Wisconsin has cemented a tip-off time for one of its marquee out-of-conference games.

Head coach Greg Gard's squad will take on the SEC's Auburn Tigers and their second-year skipper Steven Pearl at 3:00 p.m. CT in Nashville on Dec. 19, the program announced Tuesday morning.

The game will be played at Bridgestone Arena and broadcasted by ESPN. It'll be the Badgers' second-straight neutral site game, as they play Villanova in Philadelphia a week prior. It's also the end of what will be a very telling early/mid December stretch that features Marquette, Purdue, Villanova and Auburn, consecutively, with only one of those games (Purdue) at the Kohl Center.

Auburn will in many ways be the climax of the Badgers' out-of-conference slate. After Wisconsin heads south to play the Tigers, they return to Wisconsin to host Purdue-Fort Wayne and Colorado State to close out non-conference play.

Early look at the Auburn Tigers

As mentioned, Auburn will be heading into its second season with head coch Steven Pearl, the son of program legend Bruce who coached the Tigers from 2015 to 2025.

Last year, Auburn got off to a promising start. It picked up non-conference wins over Oregon, St. John's and NC State. By Jan. 28, the Tigers were 14-7 and 5-3 in SEC play.

That's when it all went downhill; Auburn proceed to drop its next five games and lost eight of its last 10. One win in the SEC tournament against a lowly Mississippi State squad wasn't enough to propel it to the NCAA tournament, but the Tigers closed out their season by ripping off five straight wins to claim the NIT title, besting Tulsa in overtime in the championship game.

In 2026-27, Auburn returns a dynamic backcourt featuring junior point guard Tahaad Pettiford (15.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists last season) as well as Kevin Overton (14.1 points, 41.3% from deep on 6.1 attempts per game). The backcourt is clearly the Tigers' strength, as even with the addition of Owen Freeman (Iowa/Crieghton) and Thomas Dowd (Troy), their big men are unproven in the SEC.

Ultimately, this is one of Wisconsin's premier out-of-conference matchups along with Marquette and Villanova. Saturday, Dec. 19 in Nashville should be electric.