Villanova and Wisconsin men’s hoops will meet at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Dec. 12
The Wildcats will also face Notre Dame and Kansas in previously announced nonconference games.
Villanova and Wisconsin are set to meet in nonconference men’s basketball play for the second straight season, Villanova announced Wednesday.
After Villanova claimed a 76-66 overtime win over Wisconsin at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee last December, the schools will meet again for a matchup at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Dec. 12 in an event Villanova is calling the Philly Hoops Showdown.
Kevin Willard coached the Wildcats back to the NCAA Tournament in 2025-26 after a three-season drought. Villanova was eliminated from the dance in the first round by Utah State, but Willard has reinforced his lineup with key portal pickups, including Italian big man Luigi Suigo.
Greg Gard has brought Wisconsin to six of the last seven NCAA Tournaments. The Badgers were a No. 5 seed in last year’s bracket but were upset by No. 12 seed High Point in the first round.
While Villanova has historically played home nonconference and Big East games in South Philly, the school’s announcement specifies Xfinity Mobile Arena will be considered a neutral site, and that all aspects of the game will be managed by Chicago-based marketing company Intersport.
Last season’s game in Milwaukee was also considered a neutral site event. That factor could influence how the NCAA Tournament selection committee views the game closer to March. A home win against a team ranked in the top 30 of the NET is considered a Quadrant 1 win, but at a neutral site, the threshold for a Quad 1 win is expanded to the the top 50 teams in the NET rankings.
Villanova played in three games at Xfinity Mobile Arena last season, two of which were considered home games. The other was the Big 5 Classic final, which the Wildcats won for the first time since the retooling of the Big 5 format in 2023.
The matchup against Wisconsin in South Philly will be the fourth-ever meeting between the schools’ men’s programs. Before 2025, Villanova picked up a win against Wisconsin in 1995, and the Badgers upset the defending champion Wildcats in the second round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
Wisconsin is the latest confirmed addition to Villanova’s nonconference schedule, which will open with Notre Dame in Rome at the Eternal City Tip-Off on Nov. 1. The Wildcats’ nonconference schedule also includes a trip to face Kansas on Nov. 27 at Allen Fieldhouse as part of a home-and-home series.