MADISON, Wis. — The No. 7 Wisconsin men's basketball team will begin the 2020-21 season on Wednesday hosting Eastern Illinois at the Kohl Center. Tip is set for 9 p.m. (CT) on Big Ten Network.

The Badgers also hosted EIU in their home opener last season, claiming a 65-52 win. UW has won 21 of its last 22 home openers (back to 1998-99).

1) BADGERS ON GARD: 2020 Big Ten Coach of the Year Greg Gard enters the season with a career record of 101-57 overall. He is the second-fastest Wisconsin coach to 100 wins in the NCAA tournament era, doing so in 157 games. Only Bo Ryan reached 100 faster (138 games).

2) THE GANG'S ALL HERE: The Badgers return their entire starting 5 from the final game of last season and bring back 7 of the top 8 scorers overall from a season ago. UW returns 77.5% of its minutes from last season as well as 78.7% of points, 83.6% of rebounds, 86.1% of assists, 79.7% of steals and 88.6% of blocks.

3) PRESEASON PRAISE: Wisconsin has a trio of players on watch lists for major awards: PG D'Mitrik Trice (Bob Cousy Award), PF Nate Reuvers (Karl Malone Award) and C Micah Potter (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).

4) OPENING POLL POSITION: Wisconsin begins the season ranked No. 7 in the Preseason AP Top 25, the second-highest preseason ranking in program history. It also marks just the fifth time that the Badgers begin the season ranked top 10 in the Preseason AP Top 25.

5) HOME SWEET HOME: Wisconsin begins its 24th season in the Kohl Center, sporting an all-time record of 312-52 (.857) in its home building — the 10th-best win percentage of any Division I home venue.