Widely considered a perpetual powerhouse in the ACC, the Duke Blue Devils travel to the Kohl Center in Madison to take on the Wisconsin Badgers in the final game of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge Wednesday night. With early AP rankings catapulting the Badgers to the No. 2 spot, Wednesday’s game will undoubtedly be the most interesting matchup of the early-season tournament. Secondary market ticket prices seem to also agree, as the Badgers’ hosting of the Blue Devils will serve as the most expensive game on the Wisconsin basketball schedule this season.
At 7-0 heading into Wednesday’s game, both Duke and Wisconsin will put their flawless records on the line. The last game scheduled in this year’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge, secondary market Wisconsin vs Duke basketball tickets on TiqIQ currently average $224.50 and the game’s cheapest seat is currently listed at $122. Such a price greatly exceeds what the Badgers will average at home this season, as the average price for Wisconsin tickets at the Kohl Center during the 2014-15 season is $97.19. This marks a 130% premium on tickets for Wednesday night’s game. Wisconsin won’t host their next top-priced game until March 1, when a game against Michigan State has an average price of $162.43 with a get-in price of $81.
The importance of Wednesday’s Duke-Wisconsin game won’t drastically shake up either team’s standings in their respective conference, but the matchup between the two top-seeded teams has generated big ticket demand on the secondary market. Alongside serving as the tournament’s most interesting game, it will also be the most expensive. Tuesday night’s game between Ohio State and Louisville trails as a distant second in secondary market price during the challenge, averaging $94.02 at the KFC Yum! Center in Kentucky.While the Badgers-Blue Devils matchup will be the most expensive of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, it will be just the third most expensive college basketball game on the secondary market this week.
Duke and Wisconsin haven’t met since the 2009-10 season, when the Badgers took a 73-69 win over the Blue Devils during the 10th annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge. During that time, Duke was ranked as the No. 5 school in the country by the AP while Wisconsin went unranked. Duke would later go on to win the National Championship in Indianapolis against No.5-ranked Butler. Wisconsin was eliminated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, falling to Cornell 87-69.
Both top-seeded teams also have some of college basketball’s top players in Jahlil Okafor and Frank Kaminsky, who will certainly generate added interest to Wednesday’s game. At 6’11”, the freshman Okafor has already made rounds as one of the NBA’s top draft prospects in 2015, though the first-year Duke big man has plenty to prove during his collegiate tenure in North Carolina, however brief it may be. Already a proven force in the B1G, Kaminsky was named West Regional Most Outstanding Player after Wisconsin’s win over No. 1-seeded Arizona in the 2014 Final Four Tournament and his Badgers are unanimously picked to win the Big Ten Championship this season. Though just seven games into the season, both big men will likely carry a playoff-like intensity with them into Wednesday’s game.
With ticket prices soaring for the early-season matchup Wednesday night, the Kohl Center will play host to two of the top-ranked teams in the country when Duke and Wisconsin meet. Tip-off is scheduled for 9:30pm on ESPN.
