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Badgers Preview: Northern Illinois has the weapons to exploit a weakness of No.24 Wisconsin

No.24 Wisconsin Badgers continue its season-opening homestand when it hosts Northern Illinois on Monday, November 7.
Benjamin Worgull|
Wisconsin forward Nolan Winter (31) grabs a rebound during the first half of their game against Campbell Monday, November 3, 2025 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
Wisconsin forward Nolan Winter (31) grabs a rebound during the first half of their game against Campbell Monday, November 3, 2025 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

MADISON, Wis. - After opening the season with a 96-64 win on Monday against Campbell, No. 24 Wisconsin continues its four-game homestand with a battle against Northern Illinois.

Here is a look at both teams and a prediction for tonight's contest.

Northern Illinois (1-0, 0-0 Mid-American) vs. Wisconsin (1-0, 0-0 Big Ten)


Date/Time – Friday, November 7, 7:30 p.m.
Arena – Kohl Center
Television – Big Ten Network (Cory Provus and Jordan Taylor)
Radio – Badgers Radio Network (Matt Lepay and Brian Butch)
Coaches - Greg Gard at Wisconsin (214-117 in his 11th season). Rashon Bruno at NIU (40-85 in his fifth season).
Series – Wisconsin leads 12-2 (9-0 in Madison)
Point Spread – Wisconsin -27.5

Wisconsin probable starters

2 Nick Boyd (6-3 Senior Guard, 21.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 4.0 apg)
7 Andrew Rohde (6-6 Senior Guard, 5.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.0 apg)
22 Austin Rapp (6-10 Sophomore Forward, 13.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 4.0 apg)
25 John Blackwell (6-4 Junior Guard, 31.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.0 apg)
31 Nolan Winter (6-11 Junior Forward, 17.0 ppg, 12.0 rpg, 1.0 apg)
Off the bench
0 Braeden Carrington (6-5 Senior Guard, 4.0 ppg, 0.0 rpg, 1.0 apg)
5 Jack Janicki (6-5 Sophomore Guard, 3.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 0.0 apg)
13 Hayden Jones (6-6 Freshman Guard)
23 Will Garlock (7-0 Freshman Center)
32 Aleksas Bieliauskas (6-10 Freshman Forward)
Player to watch
Winter enjoyed a strong debut to the 2025-26 season, scoring 17 points while adding 12 rebounds in Monday's 96-64 win over Campbell. His six offensive rebounds tied a careerhigh.

Northern Illinois probable starters

0 Gianni Cobb (6-0 Sophomore Guard, 14.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 10.0 apg)
1 Makhai Valentine (6-3 Sophomore Guard, 16.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 2.0 apg)
3 Daemar Kelly (6-5 Junior Guard, 8.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.0 apg)
6 Taj Walters (6-5 Freshman Guard, 2.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 0.0 apg)
96 Gustav Winter (6-10 Freshman Forward, 18.0 ppg, 10.0 rpg,
Off the bench
2 Carlos Coronado (6-3 Freshman Guard, 8.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 2.0 apg)
7 Tre Washington (6-8 Junior Forward, 6.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.0 apg)
10 Jao Ituka (6-1 Junior Guard, 19.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 1.0 apg)
Player to watch
Cobb was making his NIU debut against ULM, following a season at Columbia, and
recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists with no turnovers. Cobb’s 10 assists
against ULM without a turnover are the most assists without a turnover by a Huskie since
at least the 1990-91 season.

Series notes

Despite being separated by just 100 miles, NIU and Wisconsin will meet for the first time since 2002.

Wisconsin holds a 12-2 advantage in the all-time series against the Huskies, including a 9-0 mark in Madison. Three meetings in the series have taken place in Rockford, Ill. (1982, ’84 and ’86).

NIU has won the only two meetings ever played in DeKalb, an 81-57 victory on Dec. 13, 1976,
and a 55-51 win on Dec. 14, 1999, the latter being the year Wisconsin made the Final Four under Dick Bennett.

The most recent meeting between NIU and Wisconsin took place on Nov. 16, 2002, an 84-56
Wisconsin win. Kirk Penney and Freddie Owens each scored 19 to pace the Badgers, Marcus
Smallwood had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Huskies.

Wisconsin notes

A win would give Wisconsin their fourth 2-0 start in the past five seasons. The Badgers have started 2-0 or better in six of Gard's nine full seasons.

Wisconsin enters the 2025-26 season ranked No. 24 in the AP Preseason Poll, the first time that UW has been ranked in the preseason poll since the 2020-21 campaign.

Gard has guided UW to a record of 214-117 (.645), the fourth-highest win total and third-highest win percentage in school annals.

With 31 points in the season opener, Blackwell is 114 points away from becoming the 51st player in school history to record 1,000 points for the Cardinal and White.

Northern Illinois notes

NIU was picked to finish 13th (last) in the MAC Preseason Coaches Poll, which was released on Oct. 21.

NIU is playing its final season in the Mid-American Conference. The Huskies will move to
the Horizon League for the 2026-27 school year.

NIU is looking for its ninth all-time win against a current member of the Big Ten. The last time the Huskies topped a Big Ten foe (that was a member of the conference at the time of the meeting) came on Dec. 14, 1999, when NIU beat Wisconsin.

All 16 players on the NIU roster this season are newcomers as the Huskies do not return a single player from the 2024-25 roster. The makeup of this season’s roster includes seven NCAA Division I transfers, two junior college transfers and seven freshmen.

Prediction

Northern Illinois was a mess last season. The Huskies were 6-25 overall, went 2-13 in games decided by 10 points or less (1-7 in games decided by five or less), and lost 107 games among scholarship players. It's a clean slate this season with a brand-new 16-person roster, and the opening debut looked solid.

In the 102-82 victory over Louisiana-Monroe, four Huskies scored in double figures and two players recorded double-doubles (another player was two rebounds shot). The home team shot the lights out (65.6 percent in the second half) and shared the ball at a high rate with 23 assists. NIU had an offensive efficiency mark against ULM was 136.2, the fifth-best for the Huskies during the KenPom era (since 1996-97), and its 61.3 percent offensive rebounding percentage was the best for the Huskies during that time frame.

UW is a superior team compared to ULM but any team that puts up that many points and was that efficient from the floor should catch their attention.

"They're dynamic," Blackwell said of NIU. "They play the game free and they're hungry. It should be a good test."

The Badgers held Campbell to .955 points per possession on Monday, a number that was inflated by the Fighting Camels missing their last 12 field goals and only scoring four points in the final 10 minutes. In the first half, Campbell was shooting 59.3 percent from the floor.

"Defensively we can grow a lot more," Blackwell said. "We can always get better defensively, even if we are ranked number one. Sometimes are shots are not going to fall, so defensively we need to get better. A couple of games under our belt together and see how different lineups work, what works and what doesn't, we'll be just fine."

Having better execution on the defensive end and exploiting its size and athleticism advantage will be the difference in tonight's game.

Prediction: Wisconsin by 23
Worgull's Prediction: 1-0 (1-0 ATS)
Points off Prediction: 10

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Benjamin Worgull
BENJAMIN WORGULL

Benjamin Worgull has covered Wisconsin men's basketball since 2004, having previously written for Rivals, USA Today, 247sports, Fox Sports, the Associated Press, the Janesville Gazette, and the Wisconsin State Journal.

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