Nov. 13, 2009

MADISON, Wis. -- The Wisconsin men's basketball team will open its regular season this Sunday night at 5 p.m. against IPFW at the Kohl Center. This is the third consecutive game the Badgers will play at the Kohl Center this season, preceded by two exhibition openers in which UW notched two wins over Div. II Bemidji State (90-54) and Div. III UW-Superior (80-47).

The Badgers have won all eight home openers under head coach Bo Ryan, as well as 11 consecutive home openers overall. Wisconsin has never lost a home opener in the Kohl Center. In 112 years of basketball, UW is 84-27 in season openers, including 69-14 at home.

Wisconsin
Roster | Schedule | Stats | News | Record Book | Game Notes

IPFW
Roster | Schedule | Stats | News | Media Guide | Game Notes

Series Notes This will be the second meeting between the Badgers and the Mastodons, and for the second time in three years, UW opens its season against IPFW. The teams were last matched on Nov. 11, 2007, when Wisconsin defeated the Mastodons 83-55 in the 2007-08 season opener at the Kohl Center. Trevon Hughes also made his first career start against IPFW in the 2007 affair, scoring a game-high 25 points while adding five rebounds and five assists.

About IPFW Head coach Dane Fife will start his fifth year with the Mastodons this season. He returns four top players from last season, including the Summit League Sixth Man of the Year Deilvez Yearby, Ben Botts, who led the league in free throw percentage last season, and Nick Daniels, who ranked second in the league 3-point field goal percentage in 2008-09. Junior Zach Plackemeier, who played in all 30 games last season, starting in 25 of them, is another likely starter for the Mastodons. Fife lost starter David Carson along with fellow senior Jakari Johnson from last year's team. IPFW went 13-17 overall last season, finishing with a 8-10 Summit League record in 2008-09.

In an interesting twist of events, Fife announced last Tuesday that his senior go-to man Deilvez Yearby will not be playing in Sunday's contest. Yearby was suspended for IPFW's opener for a violation of team rules.

Become an Insider Sign up now to receive the Badger Men's Basketball Insider, a service of BuckyMail, and stay current with the latest news and features on the UW men's hoops team. Subscribers will receive frequent e-mail updates with news and links to all things Badger basketball, directly to their inbox. You can sign up for BuckyMail and the Badger Men's Basketball Insider by clicking here.

Listen Up New at Badger football games this year are Gameday radios. Fans can listen to a delay-free, live radio broadcast in stadium of all Badger football games, both home and away.

---------------------------
Kristyn Fons
Athletic Communications