Northwestern vs Nebraska Prediction 2/16/25 College Basketball Picks Today

The Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Northwestern Wildcats meet Sunday in college basketball action from Welsh-Ryan Arena. Here’s a Northwestern vs Nebraska prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Northwestern vs Nebraska pick.

Nebraska Cornhuskers Betting Preview

The Cornhuskers had a bad stretch of losses amid some tough matchups in January, but overall they’re doing pretty well record-wise outside of that run. Nebraska opened with 12 wins in their first 14 games, losing to only Saint Mary’s and Michigan State amid wins over UT Rio Grande Valley, Bethune-Cookman, Fairleigh Dickinson, Creighton, South Dakota, North Florida, Indiana, Murray State, Hawaii, Oregon State, Southern, and UCLA. A losing streak came next versus Iowa, Purdue, Rutgers, Maryland, USC, and Wisconsin, but Nebraska would pick it up against Illinois, Oregon, Washington, and Ohio State in the next quartet prior to another loss to Maryland. All in all that gives the Cornhuskers a 16-9 record through 25 games this year.

On Thursday in the Maryland game, the Cornhuskers kicked off with a 42-35 deficit in the first half. Nebraska didn’t end up getting any closer on a 41-40 run from there and took the loss in the end 83-75. Juwan Gary led the team in scoring with 22 points and two rebounds in 38 minutes during the losing effort. Brice Williams added 20 points with three assists and two rebounds, while Andrew Morgan had 15 points with three rebounds and three assists.

Northwestern Wildcats Betting Preview

Over on the Northwestern side, they got off to a pretty good start themselves but they’ve faltered in the 2025 calendar year amid some tricky opponents in the Big Ten. The Wildcats took out Lehigh, UIC, Eastern Illinois, Montana State, Pepperdine, UNLV, Illinois, Georgia Tech, DePaul, and Northeastern during a 10-3 opening run, falling to Dayton, Butler and Iowa otherwise in that time. Since then Northwestern has beaten only Maryland, Indiana, and USC. Otherwise, it’s been losses to Penn State, Purdue, Michigan State, Michigan, Illinois, Rutgers, Wisconsin, Washington and Oregon. That gives the Wildcats a 13-12 record across their first 25 games so far this season.

Matched up against Oregon on Tuesday, the Wildcats were outpaced 39-25 in the first half. Northwestern got better from there on a 50-42 advantage but still lost 81-75 in the end. Leading the team in scoring was Ty Berry with 23 points and two rebounds. KJ Windham led the bench scoring 20 points, three assists, and two rebounds in 27 minutes on the court, while Nick Martinelli added 16 points with six boards and two assists in 39 minutes.

Why the Northwestern Wildcats will win

• Northwestern has won 18 of its last 19 games at Welsh-Ryan Arena when playing with a rest advantage.
• Nebraska has lost each of its last six games at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
• Northwestern has won the first half in each of its last six day games at Welsh-Ryan Arena against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Why the Nebraska Cornhuskers will win

• Northwestern has lost each of its last seven day games against the Big Ten Conference.
• Nebraska has won four of its last five games.
• Northwestern has lost the first half in four of its last five games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Northwestern vs Nebraska Prediction

I’ll stay with Nebraska. The Cornhuskers could use a good bounce-back effort after a rough home loss versus Maryland, and this is a promising spot to get it. Nebraska gave up 58.5 percent shooting to the Terrapins in that defeat and got outmuscled on the boards pretty badly 34-22. The shooting wasn’t too bad otherwise (43.1 percent) but the 10 turnovers for 11 Maryland points didn’t help. Still, Nebraska continues their run of solid scoring with 75 or more points in five straight—and they’ve won four of those five games.

As for Northwestern, they’ll be glad to get back home after a tough road loss to Oregon. The Wildcats shot well in that one (51.7 percent) but lost the battle on the boards 33-27 and had 11 turnovers for an opportunistic 18 points for the Ducks. Northwestern is scoring well themselves lately with 69 or more points in nine straight. The trouble is, the Wildcats have given up 75 or more points in six straight as well. Nebraska shouldn’t have a hard time posting a high total in this one, even on the road. If the Wildcats play well I think they’ll be able to follow along for most of the game. With the Cornhuskers being a better team though, I like Nebraska to power it out in the end.