LET'S GET IT STARTED
No. 9 Wisconsin begins its 118th season of men's basketball in 2016-17 and the first full season with Greg Gard at the helm as head coach. The Badgers host Central Arkansas on Friday for a 7 p.m. (CT) contest at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin. The game will be broadcast live on BTN Plus. 

With Gard leading the way the final 23 games of last season, Wisconsin finished tied for third place in the Big Ten standings and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the 2016 NCAA Tournament. The Badgers return each of their top nine scorers from last season. Wisconsin returns all five starters from a year ago for the first time since the 1988-89 season, In fact, brings back all but 20 minutes played (99.8%) and all but six points (99.7%) from last season.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WISCONSIN
1    HAPPY NEW YEAR: Wisconsin begins its 118th season of men's basketball in 2016-17 and the first full season under Greg Gard, who took over for the final 23 games of the 2015-16 season.
2    QUITE A DEBUT: In his inaugural season as head coach, Gard led Wisconsin to wins in 11 of the final 13 regular-season games and a trip to the 2016 Sweet 16, winning the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award.
3    GANG'S ALL HERE: Wisconsin returns each of the top 9 scorers from last season. In fact, the Badgers bring back all but 20 minutes played (99.8%) and all but 6 points (99.7%) from a year ago. UW returns all 5 starters for the first time since the 1988-89 season.
4    TERRIFIC TRIO: Senior Nigel Hayes was named Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year as well as a consensus member of the Preseason All-Big Ten Team. Fellow senior Bronson Koenig and sophomore Ethan Happ were also selected for the Preseason All-Big Ten team.
5    POLL POSITION: Wisconsin opens the year ranked No. 9 in the preseason AP Top 25, the second-highest debut in program history (UW was ranked third in the 2014-15 preseason poll).
6    PRO OR (NON)CON: The Badgers have won 36 of their last 42 (.857) regular-season, non-conference games dating back to Dec. of 2012. Of those six losses, five came last season.
7    BENCHMARKS: Nigel Hayes already ranks 16 in school history with 1,340 career points, while fellow senior Bronson Koenig needs just 71 points to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
8    20/20 VISION: Wisconsin posted a 22-13 record last season, reaching at least 20 wins for the 10th straight season (2nd-longest active streak in the Big Ten behind Ohio State's 11).
9    ROLLING DEEP: The Badgers' roster features 9 different players who have tallied double-digit scoring games in their career, including 5 players who have scored at least 20 points in a game.
10    WINS RECORD: The Badgers' senior class has been a part of 88 wins already in their UW career, averaging 29.3 wins per season. The winningest class graduated in 2015 with a total of 115 victories.

ALL-TIME VS. CENTRAL ARKANSAS
Wisconsin will take on Central Arkansas for the first time in history. The Badgers are 5-0 against teams from the Southland Conference, most recently topping Texas A&M Corpus-Christi, 64-49, last season in Bo Ryan's final game.

UW IN SEASON OPENERS
- Friday will mark the first season opener for Greg Gard, who assumed the head coaching duties midway through last season.
- Wisconsin lost its season opener last year, a 69-67 setback to Western Illinois, snapping a streak of 13 consecutive wins in regular-season openers.
- Prior to last year's loss to W. Illinois, UW's last 13 openers were won by an average of 27.5 ppg.

NON-CON, NO-CONTEST
- UW has won 36 of its last 42 (.857) regular-season, non-conference games dating back to Dec. of 2012.
- Since 2001-02, UW is 151-36 (.807) in non-conference games, including a mark of 110-11 (.909) at the Kohl Center.
- Over the last 15 seasons, the Badgers have gone 21-18 (.538) in non-conference road games. That includes wins in 6 of last 7 true road games.
- Since 2003-04, Wisconsin is 92-5 (.948) vs. unranked non-con opponents, including 3 such setbacks last season.
- Last season, Wisconsin dropped 5 non-conference games for just the 2nd time since 1997-98 and the first time since starting the 2001-02 season with a record of 7-6 in Bo Ryan's first season in Madison.

2016-17 TEAM INFO
Starters Returning/Lost: 5/0
Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 13/4

RETURNING FRONTCOURT STARTERS
- The Badgers welcome back 2016 first-team All-Big Ten selection Nigel Hayes, who averaged 15.7 ppg and 5.8 rpg while leading UW with 104 assists. The 2016-17 Blue Ribbon Magazine preseason National Player of the Year and preseason Big Ten Player of the Year, Hayes joins Michael Finley as the only Badgers to tally at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 200 assists by their junior season. If he just matches his junior year totals he would finish 3rd in school history in points (1,340 entering 2016-17), 7th in rebounds (557 entering 2016-17) and 7th in career assists (219 entering 2016-17).
- Sophomore Ethan Happ looks to build off his 2016 Big Ten Freshman of the Year campaign during which he averaged 12.4 ppg, ranked 6th in the Big Ten with 7.9 rpg and became the first freshman to lead the Big Ten in steals (63 steals) since OSU's Aaron Craft (2010). Happ became just the third NCAA freshman over the last 15 seasons to score 400 points, while recording 60 steals and 30 blocks (also Kevin Durant and DuJuan Blair).
- Senior Vitto Brown finished 4th on the team in scoring, averaing 9.7 ppg with 5.0 rpg. He enjoyed the third-largest scoring increase in the Big Ten a year ago, going from 1.8 ppg to 9.7 ppg in 2015-16. Brown did not attempt a 3-pointer in his first two seasons at UW, but led the team last year, shooting 40% (38-95) from deep.

RETURNING BACKCOURT STARTERS
- Third-team All-Big Ten junior Bronson Koenig returns as the team's lead guard after averaging 13.1 ppg and shooting 39.0% (83-213) from 3-point range. The moniker "Klutch Koenig" was born in 2015-16 after his game-winning shots against VCU and Xavier. In fact, over the final 5:00 and overtime of games last season, Koenig shot 54.8% (17-for-31) from 3-point range. Koenig needs just 71 points and 27 assists to become the 14th player in UW history with at least 1,000 points and 250 assists.
- Senior guard Zak Showalter made just four 3-pointers in his first two seasons, but knocked down 35 percent (37-107) from long range as a junior. Showalter averaged 7.5 ppg and 3.8 rpg while ranking third on UW with 36 steals.
- The Badgers also return key reserves Jordan Hill (junior guard - 15.6 mpg), Khalil Iverson (soph. guard - 13.0 mpg), Alex Illikainen (soph. forward - 9.8 mpg) and Charles Thomas, IV (soph. forward - 9.1 mpg). Wisconsin will also regain the services of redshirt freshman guard Brevin Pritzl, who missed all but one game of his freshman year with a foot injury and sophomore forward Andy Van Vliet, who was forced to sit out the 2015-16 season after the NCAA ruled him ineligible for not enrolling in college within a year of high school graduation. 
- Wisconsin will also welcome a three-man freshman class that features guard D'Mitrik Trice (6-0, Huber Heights, Ohio), forward Aleem Ford (6-8, Lawrenceville, Ga.) and walk-on guard Michael Ballard (6-4, Oak Park, Ill.).