'Cats Host Eastern Illinois for Season-Opener

EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern opens the 2021-22 regular season at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Tuesday, as it welcomes Eastern Illinois. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on B1G Network+.
 
The Wildcats are coming off a 9-15 campaign last season, where they ranked as high as No. 19 in the AP Poll. 
 
The 'Cats return four starters and eight of ten players who averaged 10+ minutes a game last season, including seniors Pete Nance and Ryan Greer, juniors Chase Audige, Boo Buie, Robbie Beran, and Ryan Young, and sophomores Ty Berry and Matthew Nicholson. 
 
Northwestern ranks second in the Big Ten in percentage of returning points and assists, trailing only Purdue.
 
In an exhibition last Thursday, the Wildcats defeated Lindenwood 85-40. Nine players tallied double-digit minutes, with Nance, Berry, Beran, Williams, and Barnhizer registering 10+ points each.
 
Nance looks to build off an impressive junior season where he posted career-high averages in points (11.3), rebounds (6.6), assists (1.7), minutes (27.7), as well as field goal percentage (.507), three-point percentage (.349), and free-throw percentage (.784). 
 
In his first year with the program, Chase Audige led the Wildcats in scoring at 12.3 points per game. Audige posted a team-high three 20-point games and ranked third in the Big Ten with 1.5 steals per game after transferring from William & Mary. 
 
Junior guard Boo Buie averaged double-digits for the second-consecutive year last season, while finishing fourth in the conference with 4.0 assists per game.
 
Sophomore Ty Berry is set for a big season after ranking second among Big Ten first-years in three-point percentage (min. 50 attempts) last season at 36.5% (23-for-62). Berry led the Wildcats in scoring against Lindenwood with an efficient 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting. 
 
The 'Cats welcome four exciting additions to the roster: first-years Brooks Barnhizer, Julian Roper II and Casey Simmons, and graduate transfer Elyjah Williams. 
 
Williams, an Evanston Township High School graduate, averaged 13.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game last season, shooting 55.6% from the field and 42.0% from three at Farleigh Dickinson. In his Wildcat debut against Lindenwood, Williams registered a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in 21 minutes.
 
Barnhizer, Roper II, and Simmons all saw 10+ impactful minutes of action against Lindenwood. Simmons received the starting nod, while Roper II tallied 21 minutes and Barnhizer scored 10 points.  
 
Chris Collins enters his ninth season as the Sullivan-Ubben Head Men's Basketball Coach at Northwestern. Collins is 7-1 in season-openers with Northwestern, averaging 80.75 points and over a 22-point average margin of victory in those games.