The Husker women’s basketball taem hosts the Fighting Illini on Saturday afternoon
The Huskers are coming off a tough loss to the Badgers. Road wins in the Big Ten are hard to come by, but that game was hard to watch. Nebraska was outrebounded, out-efforted, and out-hustled. Wisconsin possibly has a Husker cheat code, winning some games when they are a dumpster fire vs other opponents.
Now, it is time to turn the page and get back to hard-nosed Husker basketball. This 2025-26 squad has some good defenders, but doesn’t play defense at the level one has gotten used to watching with Amy Williams teams. They compensate by being one of the best offensive teams she has assembled at Nebraska. The Huskers probably can’t change their stripes at this point, but maximum effort should be a minimum expectation and it wasn’t there in their previous game.
Nebraska Cornhuskers (24/RV)vs. Illinois Fighting Illini (RV/RV)
Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, 1 p.m. (CT)
Lincoln, Nebraska (Pinnacle Bank Arena)
Tickets: Huskers.com
Promotions: Pack PBA (Big Red Beach Party)
Halftime: XPogo
Television: BTN (Kylen Mills, Brenda VanLengen)
Live Radio: Huskers Radio Network (12:30 p.m.) Matt Coatney (PBP), Jeff Griesch (Analyst) Lincoln (107.3 FM), Huskers.com, Huskers App, Sirius XM Channels 138 or 196
Live Stats: Huskers.com (statbroadcast – public)
Head Coach Shauna Green has Illinois hunting its third 20-win campaign in her fourth season with the Fighting Illini. Last season, she led the Illini to a 22-10 record that included an 11-7 Big Ten mark, culminating with a trip to the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. As a team, Illinois is averaging 79.2 points while holding the opposition to just 63.1 points on 39.7 percent shooting on the season, including just 28.5 percent from three-point range. The Illini also own a plus-6.7 rebound margin and a plus-3.3 turnover margin on the season. Illinois is hitting 45.8 percent of its shots from the floor, including 34.5 percent of its threes, while knocking down a spectacular 83.5 percent of its free throws. The Illini have outscored the opposition 16.5-11.7 (+4.8) per game at the free throw line.
Illinois lost a lot from a year ago, including All-Big Ten forward Kendall Bostic and guards Makira Cook, Genesis Bryant and Adalia McKenzie along with forward Brynn Shoup-Hill.
Maddie Webber, a 5-11 junior guard who transferred from Villanova is averaging 11.3 points and 2.8 rebounds on the season. A knock-down three-point shooter, Webber has hit 45.3 percent (34-75) of her long-range attempts. Sophomore Berry Wallace is a budding star for the Fighting Illini. The 6-1 forward is averaging 19.6 points and 6.9 rebounds per game, while hitting 52.4 percent of her shots from the field, including 36.5 percent (27-74) of her threes. She is also a stellar 87.9 percent (80-91) free throw shooter.
Cearah Parchment, a 6-3 freshman forward from Whitby, Ontario, Canada, has filled some of the void left by the graduation of Bostic. Parchment is averaging 11.3 points and team bests of 7.9 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game. Fellow freshman Destiny Jackson has made an instant impact. The 5-6 guard out of Chicago’s Whitney Young High School is averaging 7.9 points, 4.0 rebounds and a team-best 4.9 assists.
Aaliyah Guyton, a 5-7 Iowa transfer is averaging 6.5 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 18 minutes per game after making her first start of the season in the win over Northwestern.
NET 21 Nebraska Cornhuskers (14-5, 3-5 Big Ten)
21 – Eliza Maupin – 6-3 – Sr. – F – 9.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg
12 – Jessica Petrie – 6-2 – Jr. – F – 11.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg
2 – Logan Nissley – 6-0 – Jr. – G – 6.9 ppg, 2.2 rpg
14 – Callin Hake – 5-8 – Sr. – G – 8.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg
23 – Britt Prince – 5-11 – So. – G – 17.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg
Off the Bench
33 – Amiah Hargrove – 6-2 – So. – F – 12.6 ppg, 5.8 rpg
4 – Petra Bozan – 6-3 – So. – F – 6.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg
5 – Claire Johnson – 5-9 – So. – G – 4.3 ppg, 1.3 rpg
1 – Hailey Weaver – 6-0 – Gr. – G – 3.4 ppg, 2.3 rpg
15 – Kennadi Williams – 5-4 – RFr. – G – 2.6 ppg, 0.8 rpg
34 – Emily Fisher – 6-0 – Jr. – G/F – 1.7 ppg, 1.8 rpg
00 – Alanna Neale – 5-10 – Fr. – G – 1.3 ppg, 0.3 rpg
22 – Natalie Potts – 6-2 – RSo. – F – 0.0 ppg, 0.0 rpg
3 – Allison Weidner [Out] – 5-10 – Gr. – G – Redshirt
Head Coach: Amy Williams (Nebraska, 1998) 10th Season at Nebraska (172-128); 19th Season Overall (365-237)
NET 34 Illinois Fighting Illini (15-4, 5-3 Big Ten)
23 – Berry Wallace – 6-1 – So. – F – 19.6 ppg, 6.9 rpg
30 – Cearah Parchment – 6-3 – Fr. – F – 11.3 ppg, 7.9 rpg
2 – Destiny Jackson – 5-6 – Fr. – G – 7.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg
8 – Jasmine Brown-Hagger – 5-9 – Jr. – G – 5.9 ppg, 2.0 rpg
34 – Maddie Webber – 5-11 – Jr. – G – 11.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg
Off the Bench
4 – Gretchen Dolan – 5-11 – RSo. – G – 13.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg
1 – Aaliyah Guyton – 5-7 – So. – G – 6.5 ppg, 2.1 rpg
35 – Lety Vasconcelos – 6-3 – RSo. – F – 3.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg
6 – Irene Noya Catoira – 6-3 – So. – F – 1.9 ppg, 1.6 rpg
21 – Naomi Benson – 6-2 – Fr. – F – 0.9 ppg, 0.8 rpg
5 – Hayven Smith – 6-6 – So. – C – 0.2 ppg, 0.6 rpg
Head Coach: Shauna Green (Canisius, 2002) Fourth Season at Illinois (80-39); 12th Season Overall (234-114)
Nebraska vs. Illinois Series History
Nebraska leads the all-time series with Illinois 21-8, including a 74-70 win over the Illini in the 2025 Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis (March 6). Nebraska’s victory avenged a 77-68 loss to the Fighting Illini in Champaign (Feb. 16, 2025). Illinois also defeated Nebraska, 74-73 (March 3, 2024), in Champaign, after the Huskers clawed their way to a 56-48 win over Illinois in the last meeting in Lincoln (Jan. 11, 2024).
Category: General Sports
