The Wisconsin Badgers head into their first Big Ten Conference game of the season, as they welcome the Northwestern Wildcats to the Kohl Center. Tip-off is at 8:00 P.M. on December 3rd, 2025, with the game broadcast on Big Ten Network.
The Badgers are coming off a disappointing 74-63 loss to the TCU Horned Frogs in the Rady Children’s Invitational. Despite John Blackwell having a nice bounce-back game with 30 points, the frontcourt of Wisconsin finished with a mere five points combined. Defensively, the Badgers failed to stop TCU’s hot three-point shooting, as the Horned Frogs connected on 8-of-14 three-point attempts.
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What should Badger fans know about the Northwestern Wildcats?
Opponent Preview
The Wildcats, like the Badgers, have a 5-2 record on the season. Chris Collins’ team is ranked 48th in the NET rankings with a 1-2 record in Quad 1 & 2 games combined. In their last game against Oklahoma State in Chicago, Northwestern fell in a back-and-forth game, 86-81. One of the culprits for the loss: the Wildcats’ poor 17% three-point shooting performance.
Northwestern features the Big Ten’s leading scorer from last season in forward Nick Martinelli. Martinelli, a preseason All-Big Ten selection, not only leads the Wildcats with 20.6 points per game but is third in points per game among Big Ten players through seven games. Against Oklahoma State, Martinelli produced his first double-double of the season with 28 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.
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After veterans Matthew Nicholson and Ty Berry exhausted their eligibility, the Wildcats turned to the transfer portal to fill those starting spots. Northwestern landed 6-foot-10 forward Arrinten Page from Cincinnati and guard Jayden Reid from South Florida. Page has impressed in seven starts for Northwestern, where he averages 15.0 points and leads the Wildcats with 7.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. Reid is third on the team with 12.9 points per game but leads Northwestern with an impressive 6.1 assists per game, good for fourth in the Big Ten.
Making their way into the Wildcats’ regular starting lineup are sophomore guard Angelo Ciaravino and true freshman forward Tre Singleton. Ciaravino, who started seven games last season for Northwestern, averages 7.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game. Sington, a Rivals’ four-star recruit from Indiana, averages 7.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.6 assists.
Score Prediction
Wisconsin showed it can respond to adversity against Providence, but now it faces a much more formidable opponent in Northwestern. This matchup concerns me, given how poor Wisconsin’s defense was against the three-point line, and the Wildcats, despite a bad showing in their last game, boast a Big Ten offense ranked tied for third in three-point shooting. However, Northwestern ranks near the bottom of the Big Ten in rebounding, so in a tight game, when you need stops, Wisconsin holds the advantage on the boards.
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The Wildcats played the Badgers tough in recent games. I expect that trend to continue in Madison, but I’m picking Wisconsin to come away with an early-season conference win on Wednesday.
Prediction: Wisconsin 71-65.
