DEKALB, Ill. – Winter sports begin this week as the Huskie men's and women's basketball teams will both be in action at home in exhibition contests and the NIU wrestling team will also host its annual Red/Black Dual. Cross Country heads to Buffalo for the MAC Championship while volleyball, women's soccer, and women's tennis will all be in action at home and men's soccer heads to Evansville for a key game in the Missouri Valley Conference standings. 

Men's Basketball
Tuesday, Oct. 28: Exhibition vs. Quincy, 7 p.m. – Live Stats | Buy Tickets

The Huskie men's basketball team will play its lone exhibition contest of the season on Tuesday night when they welcome Quincy to the NIU Convocation Center. Sixteen newcomers highlight the NIU roster under fifth-year head coach Rashon Burno

Following Tuesday's exhibition, NIU will open the regular season on Monday, Nov. 3, when it hosts ULM as part of the MAC/Sun Belt Challenge. 

Women's Basketball
Wednesday, Oct. 29: Exhibition vs. Benedictine, 6 p.m. – Live Stats | Buy Tickets

First-year head coach Jacey Brooks and the Huskies make their 2025-26 debut on Wednesday night against Benedictine in exhibition action at the NIU Convocation Center. This is the second consecutive year NIU will take on the Eagles. NIU returns six letterwinners from a season ago and has nine newcomers. The Huskies open the regular season on Nov. 3 at Southern Miss with the home opener on Nov. 7 against Milwaukee.

Volleyball
Tuesday, Oct. 28: at Western Michigan, 5 p.m. – ESPN+ | Live Stats
Friday, Oct. 31: Buffalo, 6 p.m. – ESPN+ | Live Stats | Buy Tickets
Saturday, Nov. 1: Buffalo, 6 p.m. – ESPN+ | Live Stats | Buy Tickets

The Huskie volleyball team is in the heart of MAC play with games against Western Michigan and Buffalo this week. The Huskies will travel to Western Michigan on October 28 before hosting Buffalo, Oct. 31-Nov. 1 inside Victor E. Court. The Western Michigan game is set for 5 p.m. CT while the Buffalo games are both set for 6 p.m. CT.
 
The Huskies took the first meeting against Western Michigan in DeKalb on October 7. Emma McCartney recorded her first career double-double as NIU swept the Broncos for the first time since the 2019 season.
 
NIU was last in action against Akron, dropping a four-set and five-set match over the weekend. In the October 25 game, Ella Strausberger reached the 1,000 career-assist mark in the third set. Ava Grevengoed marked her ninth double-double of the season and third consecutive.

Men's Soccer
Friday, Oct. 31: at Evansville, 6 p.m. – Live Stats

Unbeaten in seven consecutive matches, the NIU men's soccer team travels to Evansville on Friday for a matchup of two of the three teams tied atop the Missouri Valley Conference standings. NIU moved into that first-place tie as a result of its 2-1 victory at UIC last time out (Oct. 25). Tomasz Slawek and Jose Gomez scored to help give the Huskies the win and Caleb Pearson made seven saves in goal for NIU. 

Evansville comes into the week with a 4-3-8 overall record, 2-0-3 in league play, and will face Louisville this week before hosting NIU. The Huskies and Purple Aces, along with Drake, are tied on nine points to lead the Missouri Valley. 

Women's Soccer
Wednesday, Oct. 29: vs. Ball State, 2 p.m. – Live Video | Live Stats

The Huskie women's soccer team closes out the 2025 season at home against Ball State on Wednesday afternoon. NIU is coming off a 3-2 setback at Eastern Michigan on Sunday (Oct. 26) as Alyssa Stephenson and Lauren Mrugala scored for the Huskies against the Eagles. 

Ball State brings a 9-6-2 overall mark into Wednesday's contest, including a 6-4-1 record in league play and sit fifth in the MAC standings. 

Cross Country
Saturday, Nov. 1: at MAC Championship (Amherst, N.Y.), 11 a.m. – Live Video

Championship season has arrived for the NIU cross country team who will compete in the Mid-American Conference Championship on Saturday at the Audubon Golf Course in Amherst, N.Y., hosted by Buffalo. 

Amelie Ojeda had led the way for the Huskies in each of their four regular season meets, including last time out at the Bradley Pink Classic when she ran a six-kilometer time of 21:25.38. All five runners who competed for the Huskies at Bradley ran personal best times as NIU continued to build momentum toward the conference meet. 

Wrestling
Thursday, Oct. 30: Red/Black Dual, 7 p.m.

The 2025-26 wrestling season kicks off in just a few days and the NIU wrestlers will host their annual Red-Black dual on October 30. The intrasquad meet will take place at 7 p.m. inside Victor E. Court. 
 
The NIU wrestling program posted a 7-3 dual match record during the 2024-25 season and had a pair of NCAA Championship qualifiers in Blake West and Landen Johnson. West and Markel Baker went undefeated last season in MAC competition.

Women's Tennis
Friday-Sunday, Oct. 31-Nov. 2: NIU Huskie Indoor Invitational

NIU women's tennis hosts its final fall event of the year this weekend in the NIU Huskies Indoor Invitational. The Huskies welcome in Chicago Sate, IU Indy, Judson University, Marquette and UIC. Matches are set to begin at 9 a.m. all weekend at the Chick Evans Fieldhouse-Nelson Tennis Center.

In ITA Midwest Regional Championships earlier this month, Sophia Shlyakhta advanced to the round of 32 of the singles main draw after entering the event as an alternate. In doubles, Jenna Horne and Lucia Yecora reached the round of 16 following an upset of No. 9 seeded Illinois.