The first half of the season hasn't gone as planned for Northwestern, and Tuesday's home contest against Howard is a prime opportunity for the Wildcats to right the ship. The 'Cats have one non-conference match remaining before entering Big Ten play in the new year, and NU desperately needs to find a rhythm against the Bison.

Northwestern has lost five of its last eight since starting the year 4-0, including an 0-2 start against Big Ten opponents Wisconsin and Ohio State. The 'Cats narrowly dropped games to Virginia, Oklahoma State, Ohio State and Butler over the span of a month and now sit at 7-5.

However, the team's most recent loss to Butler on December 20 came without the Wildcats' best player. Senior forward Nick Martinelli, an All-Big Ten Second Team honoree a season ago, was forced to sit out of Northwestern's 61-58 defeat to the Bulldogs due to a concussion he suffered in practice.

Martinelli is NU's leading scorer this season, averaging 21.9 points and 6.6 rebounds per game while shooting a blistering 59.4% from the floor and 60.9% from three. He is off of Northwestern's injury report and expected to play against the Bison.

Northwestern is a large favorite over Howard, but the streaking Bison have won five games in a row. Howard is led by graduate student Bryce Harris, who is averaging a team-high 19.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. The 6-foot-4 guard has also logged 36 assists, 24 steals and 13 blocks in 14 games.

The Bison are currently ranked No. 245 in the nation in NET rating and No. 268 in KenPom.

Here's how you can watch Northwestern take on Howard on Tuesday afternoon:

Howard Bison (9-5, 0-0 MEAC) @ Northwestern Wildcats (7-5, 0-2 Big Ten)
Location: Welsh-Ryan Arena | Evanston, Illinois
Tipoff: Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025, at 4:00 p.m. CT
TV: Big Ten Network | Announcers: Telly Hughes, Rapheal Davis
Radio: WGN AM 720 | Announcers: Dave Eanet, Billy McKinney
Student Radio: WNUR Sports 89.3 FM | Announcers: Raghav Khosla, Tomas Moran
Line: Northwestern -20.5
Over/Under: 147.5

Northwestern OUT:

Northwestern at Butler (Dec. 20)

Howard at UNC Wilmington (Dec. 20)