In the program's centennial season, the team played its home games in Madison, Wisconsin at both the UW Field House and later the Kohl Center, which the Badgers opened on January 17, 1998, with a 56–33 win over Northwestern.

Notably, Wisconsin let back-to-back home games slip away to Iowa (79-76) and Illinois (53-47 in overtime) to start February, which dropped its season mark to 10–13.

Though the team failed to receive a postseason invite, the substantial minutes played by four freshman laid groundwork for the memorable tournament run to come in 2000.

[1] It was a substantial blow, as a year earlier, the junior point guard led the Big Ten in steals and guided Wisconsin back to the NCAA Tournament.

Junior forward Sam Okey was suspended by head coach Dick Bennett for the start of the campaign, including the first two regular season games, reportedly for marijuana use.

His streak of 39 straight games with a three-pointer began February 14, 1998 against Penn State and was a school record until being eclipsed by Bronson Koenig in 2016.