Butler vs Northwestern Prediction 12/20/25 College Basketball Picks Today

The Northwestern Wildcats and the Butler Bulldogs meet Saturday in college basketball action from Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Here’s a Butler vs Northwestern prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Butler vs Northwestern pick.

Northwestern Wildcats Betting Preview

The Wildcats kicked off their season on a 4-0 run with wins over Mercyhurst, Boston U, Cleveland State and DePaul. Northwestern put up a 1-4 run in the next five though, beating only South Carolian with losses to Virginia, Oklahoma State, Wisconsin and Ohio State. Since then it’s been a pair of wins over Jackson State and Valparaiso, giving the Wildcats a 7-4 overall run this year.

In the Valparaiso win on Tuesday, the Wildcats entered the second half with a nine-point edge. Northwestern hit a 47-40 run from there in an 86-70 victory. Nick Martinelli finished with 29 points and six rebounds while Jayden Reid added 13 points, five assists and three boards. Arrinten Page had 18 points with seven rebounds and three assists in the win as well.

Butler Bulldogs Betting Preview

Over on the Butler side, they beat Southern Indiana, IUPUI and Chicago State before a loss to SMU. After four more wins versus South Carolina, Virginia, Wright State and Eastern Michigan, the Bulldogs hit a 1-2 run. The lone win in that trio was over Providence in double OT. Otherwise it was losses to Boise State and UConn, giving the Bulldogs an 8-3 run thus far in the season.

Matched up against UConn on Tuesday, the Bulldogs entered the locker room with a 14-point deficit. Things didn’t get any better from there as Butler was outscored 40-35 in a 79-60 loss in the end. Drayton Jones set the pace in the loss with 13 points and five rebounds. Both Azavier Robinson (four rebounds; three assists) and Evan Haywood had 10 points apiece in the defeat for Butler as well.

Why the Butler Bulldogs will win

• Butler has won five of its last six games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Northwestern has lost each of its last three games against the Big East Conference at neutral venues.
• Northwestern has lost the first half in each of its last three games against the Big East Conference at neutral venues.

Why the Northwestern Wildcats will win

• Northwestern has won each of its last 10 Saturday day games against non-Conference opponents.
• Butler has lost five of its last six games at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
• Northwestern has won the first half in 10 of its last 11 day games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Butler vs Northwestern Prediction

I’ll lean toward Northwestern but you could call this one either way; it should be a pretty good matchup. The Wildcats didn’t have too many issues versus a middling Valparaiso team in their last win—outside of a tepid 5-of-21 (23.8 percent) from outside and 15-of-22 (68.2 percent) from the line, that is. Northwestern otherwise had 31 rebounds with 50 points in the paint and just seven turnovers along the way. The Wildcats are sitting on consecutive wins with a combined 179 points in that pair. Northwestern has generally been competitive in their losses as well.

As for Butler, they got outpaced by a great UConn team at XL Center in their last game. The Bulldogs shot just 29.5 percent from the field and got outmuscled on the boards 43-27 alongside a 46-26 disadvantage on points in the paint. Butler has been below 69 points in two of their last three games (both losses) but otherwise they’re scoring well this year.