Wisconsin's basketball team will play a game next season against St. John's in Sioux Falls, S.D, school officials announced Monday.
The game, scheduled for Nov. 8, will be played at the newly built Sanford Pentagon, a $19 million multi-court basketball facility. The Argus (S.D.) Leader reported it would be nationally televised, likely on Big Ten Network.
"In terms of locale, Wisconsin fans from around the Midwest will have the opportunity to travel to Sioux Falls and watch the game, and it just made sense for us in terms of intelligent travel for our team," Wisconsin associate head coach Greg Gard said in a UW release. "We've been approached by several broadcasting networks to play a neutral site game around the world and we felt that given the time of when it needed to be played, the location and the opponent that this was a great fit for us."
Former Wisconsin basketball player Joe Krabbenhoft, now the Badgers' video coordinator, is a native of Sioux Falls. His father, Kelby, is the CEO of Sanford Health, which likely helped to spur on the move.
St. John's finished last season 17-16 and lost to Virginia in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament. Wisconsin holds a 3-0 series lead against St. John's, including a 1-0 mark in neutral site games. Wisconsin defeated St. John's, 80-70, during the opening round of the 2002 NCAA tournament.
According to the Argus Leader, Wisconsin will use the game as a home date, but it will be considered a neutral contest for RPI purposes. The Pentagon seats just 3,250 fans, which pales in comparison to the Kohl Center's 17,230 available seats.
On Oct. 10, the Pentagon will host an NBA exhibition game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Milwaukee Bucks. The Pentagon is a 160,000-square foot facility with nine basketball courts, according to the Argus Leader, and will become the home of Sioux Falls' professional basketball team, the Skyforce of the NBADL.
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