This Week in Huskie Athletics Northern Illinois University will have eight teams in action. NIU men’s basketball will travel to Ohio to take on Bowling Green on Tuesday before hosting Louisiana in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge on Saturday. NIU women’s basketball will play host to Kent State on Wednesday before traveling to North Carolina to take on Appalachian State on Saturday. NIU gymnastics hosts Kent State at 7 p.m. on Friday and NIU Wrestling hosts Buffalo in the Annual Beauty and the Beast Event. NIU softball opens their season in Phoenix, Ariz. and takes on Grand Canton, Montana, Wichita State and Colgate from Thursday through Saturday. NIU track and field heads to Ames, Iowa for the Iowa State Classic on Saturday. NIU men’s tennis travels to South Bend, Ind. to take on Notre Dame on Saturday and Williams and Mary on Sunday. NIU women’s tennis hosts Western Illinois at 10 a.m. on Saturday in the Nelson Tennis Center.

Men’s Basketball

Tuesday, Feb. 4 at Bowling Green, 6 p.m. – ESPN+ | Live Audio | Live Stats

Saturday, Feb. 8 vs Louisiana, 1 p.m.  ESPN+  Listen  Live Stats

The Huskie men’s basketball team opens the week with a trip to Bowling Green on Tuesday (Feb. 4) before coming home to host Louisiana on Saturday (Feb. 8) in the MAC/Sun Belt Challenge. NIU is coming off a narrow, 89-85 setback at Toledo. The Huskies trailed the Rockets by 13 with two-and-a-half minutes to play before rallying back to within one. Nasir Muhammad tied a career-high with 21 points, including 6-of-8 from three-point range. Muhammad is ranked fourth in the MAC in three-point percentage, shooting 42 percent. As a team, NIU ranks third in the MAC averaging 9.29 triples per contest, which ranks 50th nationally.

Saturday’s matchup with the Ragin’ Cajuns will be the first all-time meeting between the two schools. In last season’s MAC/Sun Belt Challenge home game, NIU defeated Appalachian State, 91-78.

Women’s Basketball

Wednesday, Feb. 5 vs Kent State, 6 p.m. –   ESPN+  | Live Audio |  Live Stats

Saturday, Feb. 8 at Appalachian State, 1 p.m. – ESPN+ |  Listen

The Northern Illinois University women’s basketball team returns home at 6 p.m. on Wednesday to play Kent State. The game will also be NIU’s National Girls and Women in Sport Day. On Saturday the Huskies will travel to North Carolina to take on Appalachian State in the second leg of the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge.

Last week the Huskies took down Central Michigan at home on Wednesday 80-75 and fell to Buffalo away from home 84-58 on Saturday. Chelby Koker leads the Huskies in scoring this season with 12.9 points per game. Brooke Stonebraker is adding 11.3 per game and leads NIU in rebounds with 6.8 a game.

Gymnastics

Friday, Feb. 7 vs Kent State, 7 p.m. – Watch on NIU All-Access Live Scoring

The NIU gymnastics team will host Kent State on Friday in the annual Beauty and the Beast Meet. The Huskies picked up their first MAC win of the season on Sunday when they came back in the final rotation to defeat EMU. Three Huskies Kiera O’Shea, Ellery Werner and Dawsyn Sallee won events at the meet. Kiera O’Shea, Talia Kraus and Ellery Werner also won events at the Huskies meet against ISU last Tuesday.

Kent State enters the meet with a record of 5-0 and are 2-0 in MAC duals this season.

Wrestling

Friday, Feb. 7 vs Buffalo, 7 p.m. – Live Scoring

Concluding their home slate of duals, the Northern Illinois University wrestling program is set to host Buffalo on February 7 at 7 p.m. for the annual “Beauty and the Beast” dual with the NIU gymnastics program. The Huskies will also honor six seniors prior to the dual.

The Huskies were last in action as they traveled to Cleveland State on January 31 for a MAC dual, where NIU posted a 29-14 win. Four of the first five bouts of the evening featured bonus points for the Huskies as they won seven of the ten bouts to claim their fourth MAC win of the season.

Softball

Thursday, Feb. 6 at Grand Canyon, 4:30 p.m. – Watch | Live Stats

Thursday, Feb. 6 at Grand Canyon, 7 p.m. –  Watch | Live Stats

Friday, Feb. 7 vs Montana (Phoenix, Ariz.), 1 p.m.  –  Watch | Live Stats

Friday, Feb. 7 vs Wichita State (Phoenix, Ariz), 3:30 p.m. – Watch |  Live Stats

Saturday, Feb. 8 vs Colgate (Phoenix, Ariz), 10 a.m. – Watch   Live Stats

The 2025 NIU Softball campaign gets underway as the Huskies start the season at the Grand Canyon University Kickoff Classic, February 6-8. The Huskies will face hosts Grand Canyon in a doubleheader on February 6 before taking on Montana, Wichita State, and Colgate over the remaining days.

First year head coach Kathryn Gleason retains junior pitcher Danielle Stewart, who earned Third-Team NFCA All-Region Honors and was named to the All-MAC First Team in 2024 along with sophomore infielder Alana Powell, who was named to the All-MAC Freshman team in 2024. Stewart led the Huskies in the pitchers’ circle with an ERA of 2.54 and collected two shutout wins on the year. Stewart also stepped up to the plate for NIU with a batting average of .344 while senior Jenna Turner returns with a batting average of .293.

Track and Field

Saturday, Feb. 8 at Iowa State Classic (Ames, Iowa)

The NIU women’s track and field team travels to Ames, Iowa for the second time this season on Saturday (Feb. 8) as the Huskies compete in the Iowa State Classic. In its first trip to Ames, NIU won a trio of events as Sadiya Shamsid-Deen took the top spot in the 400-meter dash, Jasmijn Raes won the high jump and Precious Umukoro was victorious in the triple jump.

Competition at the Iowa State Classic begins at 10 a.m. with field events while action on track is scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. with the 5,000 meters.

Men’s Tennis

Saturday, Feb. 8 at Notre Dame, 2 p.m. – Stream and Live Stats

Sunday, Feb. 9 vs William and Mary (South Bend, Ind.), 9 a.m.

NIU men’s tennis is 3-2 on the season and will travel to Notre Dame for two duals this weekend. NIU will take on the Fighting Irish on Saturday before competing with William and Mary on Sunday. Last week the Huskies fell in their only dual 5-2 against Illinois State. Last week, Iker Gaztambide Arrastia and Federico Scotuzzi were named the MAC Doubles Team of the Week. In Saturday’s dual against Illinoi State the duo of Gaztambide Arrastia and Scotuzzi won against the 116th ranked dui in the nation of Scarlett and Valencia.

Women’s Tennis

Saturday, Feb. 8 vs. Western Illinois (Nelson Tennis Center at Chick Evans Field House), 10 am – Watch

The 5-2 Huskies open a three-match homestand on Saturday, February 8 when the Huskies play host to Western Illinois at the Nelson Tennis Center beginning at 10 a.m.  NIU has won each of the last 12 meetings between the teams dating back to 2007.

NIU is coming off a split of last Friday’s matches at Wisconsin with a 4-0 win over Milwaukee and a 6-1 loss to Wisconsin.  Freshman Lucia Yecora improved her season singles record to 4-0 with a win at No. 4 singles over Wisconsin’s Ellison Reynoldson while senior Reagan Welch’s match at No. 5 went to a tiebreaker.

On the season, junior Nataly Ninova leads NIU with six wins in seven singles matches while the No. 3 doubles team of Welch and Jenna Horne is undefeated (5-0) through the first seven matches of the year.