Game Day Essentials: Game #26 at Northwestern

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Nebraska Cornhuskers (16-9) at Northwestern Wildcats (13-12)

 

Date: Sunday Feb. 16th, 2025

Time: 2:00 pm CST
Arena:  Welsh-Ryan Arena

Broadcast:  BTN (Dave Revsine and Jess Settles)

Northwestern Info

Head Coach: Chris Collins
Location: Evansville, IL
Conference: B1G
Nickname: Wildcats

Mascot: Willie the Wildcat

Line: Northwestern by 2.5

Last Time Out: Lost at Oregon

Typical Rotation Depth: 7+

KenPom rank: 58

Nota bene:  

• Northwestern has won 8 of the last 9 meetings and Nebraska under Fred Hoiberg has not won at Evanston. The Huskers have not won at NW since 2014, Chris Collins' first season. 
• Northwestern has suffered through some recent injury misfortune. They lost leading scorer Brooks Barnhizer for the season 4 games ago. They lost starting PG Jalen Leach two games ago.  They were the 2nd and 3rd leading scorers for the Wildcats, respectively.
• Much like their road trip out west, Nebraska will stay on the road as they also travel to Penn State on Wednesday
• Nebraska will attempt to win their third straight road game for the first time since 2021-22
• This game will be a matchup of the B1G 2nd leading scorer (Nick Martinelli - 19.7 ppg) and 3rd leading scorer (Brice Williams - 19.5 ppg)

 

Player to watch: Nick Martinelli

The Junior forward currently leads the Wildcats in scoring and rebounding per game. While more of an inside threat, Martinelli has developed a serviceable outside shot, shooting 37.8% on the year, 32% in conference.

 

Player to watch: Ty Berry

Seems like he's been around forever because Tim Miles offered him a scholarship in 2017.  The 5th year senior is the main 3pt threat for the Wildcats, currently is shooting 39.4% from three and likely will be hunting shots. Leads this ball-hawking team in steals. Last season Berry spent 9 minutes in a game vs Nebraska mocking Keisei Tominaga before leaving the game with a season ending injury. Karma, perhaps.

 

Northwestern's Roster

Player	#	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	Summary
Nick Martinelli	2	JR	F	6-7	200	19.7 Pts 6.0 Reb 1.7 Ast
Jalen Leach	1	SR	G	6-4	190	14.3 Pts 2.1 Reb 3.4 Ast
Brooks Barnhizer	13	SR	G	6-6	215	17.1 Pts 8.8 Reb 4.2 Ast
Ty Berry	3	SR	G	6-2	190	9.6 Pts 3.1 Reb 1.0 Ast
Matthew Nicholson	34	SR	C	7-0	255	5.2 Pts 5.4 Reb 1.2 Ast
Justin Mullins	20	JR	G	6-6	190	4.0 Pts 3.2 Reb 1.3 Ast
Angelo Ciarvino	44	FR	G	6-6	195	3.5 Pts 1.7 Reb 0.7 Ast
K.J. Windham	24	FR	G	6-3	190	3.7 Pts 0.7 Reb 1.4 Ast
Luke Hunger	33	JR	F	6-10	255	3.0 Pts 2.5 Reb 1.3 Ast
Keenan Fitzmorris	5	SR	C	7-1	225	2.2 Pts 0.9 Reb 0.3 Ast
Jordan Clayton	11	SO	G	6-2	180	6.5 Pts 1.5 Reb 2.5 Ast

 

Nicholson and Fitzmorris are traditional centers in a rotation for the Cats. Both are rebounding/shot block types who occasionally chip in offensively; Fitzmorris is quite foul prone. Glue guy Justin Mullins has been elevated to a starter. Jordan Clayton burned his redshirt this season due to the injuries and has started the last two games. Freshman combo guard KJ Windham has been shooting better in conference. Freshman wing Angelo Ciaravino has been turnover and foul prone. Luke Hunger is typically just spot minutes and the 4 and 5. 

UNL Game Notes

 

Roster/infirmary report

9    Forward    Berke Büyüktuncel     6-10    244 lbs   Sophomore - Ankle OUT

 

Possible starters for Nebraska

3    Guard    Brice Williams     6-7    214 lbs    Senior

4    Forward    Juwan Gary     6-6    226 lbs    Senior

24    Guard    Rollie Worster     6-5    210 lbs    Senior

23    Forward    Andrew Morgan     6-10    242 lbs    Senior 

1    Guard    Sam Hoiberg     6-0    185 lbs    Junior

 

Bench

0    Guard    Connor Essegian     6-4    190 lbs    Junior

2    Guard    Ahron Ulis     6-3    190 lbs    Senior

34    Center    Braxton Meah     7-1    264 lbs    Senior

31    Guard    Cale Jacobsen     6-4    195 lbs    Sophomore

12    Guard    Gavin Griffiths     6-7    193 lbs    Sophomore

5    Forward    Braden Frager     6-7    220 lbs    Freshman
8    Guard    Jeffrey Grace III     6-3    200 lbs    Junior
20    Forward    Justin Bolis     6-8    225 lbs    Sophomore
25    Guard    Nick Janowski     6-4    208 lbs    Freshman

35    Forward    Henry Burt     6-7    222 lbs    Sophomore

 

Out for year
51    Forward    Rienk Mast     6-10    260 lbs    Senior

 

The Skinny: 

Northwestern has had Nebraska's number in Evanston in this matchup as Chris Collins has gotten enough out of his guys in down years and won a lot of games in the Boo Buie era. This season has been a challenging one for the for Wildcats, and that was before the loss of 2 main players. Is this the year that the Huskers break through?

 

Northwestern isn't a great shooting team but they tend to out-volume teams by not turning over the ball and gathering offensive rebounds. They were able to beat a USC team shooting over 50% by taking 15 more shots. You'll see Martinelli and Berry score for sure.  Where NW gets their other points has varied game to game.  The Wildcats will try to find that hot hand and Nebraska simply needs to recognize that.

 

Defensively, Northwestern will turn you over so it's a matter of minimizing the damage. It's tempting to attack their defense from outside but the Cats happen to be one of the hackiest defenses in the conference.  Nebraska taking advantage at the FT line is one way to win on the road.

 

Not sure that this Northwestern team has checked out yet but despite playing most games closely they only have 3 wins in 2025. Nebraska needs to bring their defense and realize that Northwestern tends to fad at the end of games.

 

Prediction: Nebraska 78 - Northwestern 72

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