MADISON, WIS. – The Fighting Camels opened the 2025-26 campaign with a 96-64 loss at No. 24 Wisconsin Monday night inside the Kohl Center. Campbell trailed by just five with under eight minutes to play, but Wisconsin pulled away late to secure the victory.
 
DJ Smith led the effort for the Camels with 23 points in his first game in the Orange and Black. The 6'0" guard shot 8-15 FG and connected on four three-pointers.
 
Both Dovydas Butka and Chris Fields Jr. finished in double figures in their first games for the Camels, with 13 and 10, respectively. Butka also led the Camels with eight rebounds.
 
Campbell got off to a hot start and raced out to an 11-6 lead at the first media, and held the lead for the first nine minutes of the ballgame. The Badgers pulled ahead and pieced together a 14-1 run and ultimately led by as many as 14. DJ Smith cut that deficit to 10 with a four-point play at the buzzer en route to 16 first-half points. Campbell trailed 48-38 at the break.
 
Campbell hung around for much of the second half and had an opportunity to cut it to a one-possession game with 7:49 to go. But a missed layup seemed to put a lid on the Camels' basket, as they then went scoreless over the next five minutes as Wisconsin pushed the lead to 20 points by the final media timeout.
 
Wisconsin's preseason all-Big Ten selection John Blackwell led the hosts with 31 points, while Nick Boyd notched 21 among four Badgers in double figures.
 
The Wisconsin defense bothered the Camels throughout the night with Campbell finishing with 19 turnovers leading to 31 points for the Badgers.
 
Monday night's game marked the first career game at the helm for Campbell head coach John Andrzejek.  
 
The Camels return to action Thursday with another power-four test at West Virginia. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. in Morgantown.