Northwestern Seeking First Win Against Washington

The Washington Huskies will take on the Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Wildcats are seeking their first win over the Huskies.

Washington and Northwestern don’t often play each other. It’s their third meeting in their basketball history. The Wildcats are 0-2. As for the Huskies, they struggle against good teams and Big Ten opponents. Washington is 3-7 in Big Ten Conference play.

The Huskies won the last meeting against the Wildcats on Feb 8, 2025, 76-71. In that game, Nick Martinelli finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds. At one point during the second half, he made seven consecutive points. Martinelli almost brought the Huskies back to win the game.

Washington had completely dominated the game. They squandered a 14-point second-half lead but managed to escape with a win. Northwestern committed too many turnovers and missed several field goals down the stretch.

Aside from Martinelli, Ty Berry added 14 points for the Wildcats. Justin Mullins provided some spark in the second half for the Wildcats. He finished with 13.

Northwestern wants revenge. They want to win this game. Martinelli certainly has not forgotten how close they came to winning against them last year. It’s a new season. The Wildcats are expecting a different outcome. The advantage is that they will be playing at home. Last year’s game was in Washington.

When you’re playing in front of your home crowd, you feel more motivated, energetic, and play loose. The Wildcats are 7-4 at home this season.

Northwestern is coming into this game feeling great after beating Penn State, 94-73, on Thursday night. Martinelli does what he does best: drop jumpshots after another. He led the team with 34 points, and averaged 24 points and 6.7 rebounds for the Wildcats this season.

Zoom Diallo and Hannes Steinbach are two players to keep an eye on for this game. Diallo has been a catalyst for the Huskies. He’s averaging 14.9 points and 3.9 assists. Steinbach is a player who, when he turns it up, is hard to stop. He’s a terrific player, and he’s been playing sensational in the last couple of games. Steinbach is averaging 17.3 points in the previous 10 games.

The key for Northwesten to win this game is to average 45% of better from the field. If they can accomplish that, the result will be great. Northwestern can rack up multiple wins when it scores 80 or more points.

Tip-off begins at 8pm EST in Evanston, Illinois.

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