‘Cats Open 2026-27 Preseason with Exhibition at Illinois State

NORMAL, Ill. — Northwestern opens its 2026-27 men’s basketball season with a road exhibition against Illinois State on Sunday, Oct. 18, at 4 p.m. CT inside CEFCU Arena. The game will air exclusively on WGN Radio 720 (online only) with Dave Eanet (play-by-play) and Billy McKinney (analyst) calling the action.

There are deep ties between Northwestern and Illinois State. Sullivan-Ubben Head Men’s Basketball Coach Chris Collins’ father, Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Doug Collins, holds the Redbirds’ all-time scoring record. He amassed 2,240 points (29.1 points per game) from 1970-73, and his No. 20 is retired from the Redbirds men’s basketball program. Illinois State renamed its court Doug Collins Court in his honor in 2007. Additionally, recently retired Special Assistant to the Head Coach Brian James, who spent 13 seasons on Chris Collins' staff at Northwestern and was an assistant for Doug Collins in the NBA, is also an Illinois State graduate. 

CATS IN EXHIBITIONS 

Northwestern has won 15 of its last 16 exhibition games dating back to the 2009-10 season. In addition, the program is 15-0 in home exhibitions since 2009. Sullivan-Ubben Head Men’s Basketball Coach Chris Collins is 11-1 in exhibitions.

Last season, the Wildcats split their exhibition results, falling to No. 16 Iowa State, 80-72, on the road before defeating Illinois State, 100-65, inside Welsh-Ryan Arena.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

2: Northwestern has made the NCAA Tournament two times in the past four seasons, coming in the 2023 and 2024 seasons. The Wildcats are one of 10 Big Ten teams to make March Madness twice since the 2023 season.

3: Northwestern has three returners to its 2026-27 roster: second-year guard Jake West, third-year guard Angelo Ciaravino and second-year guard Phoenix Gill.

8.5: The Wildcats averaged 8.5 turnovers per game last season, ranking second nationally. That figure is the lowest mark in program history. In addition, Northwestern has ranked top 10 in the country in turnovers per game four times in the past five seasons.

11: The Wildcats’ 2026-27 roster features 11 newcomers, including a pair of overseas first-years and six transfers from other Division I programs. Northwestern’s eight transfers are the second-most in the Big Ten.

14: Collins is entering season 14 as the Wildcats’ head coach and is the third-longest tenured coach in the Big Ten. He ranks second in program history with 209 wins and is the only coach to ever lead Northwestern to the NCAA Tournament, which he has done three times (2017, 2023, 2024).

PLAYERS TO WATCH

1. Jake West: In the last 10 games of last season, West averaged 9.6 points and 3.6 assists per game while playing 33.1 minutes per game. Over the full season, the second-year guard averaged 2.8 assists per game, ranking fourth among Big Ten first-years and the most by a Wildcat first-year since Bryant McIntosh averaged 4.7 in the 2014-15 season.
2. Jack Karasinski: A transfer from Bellarmine, Karasinski joins the Wildcats after a First-Team All-ASUN season in which he averaged 21.7 points and 4.7 rebounds per game while shooting 56.1% from the floor and 41.5% from beyond the arc. The fifth-year forward had a 69.3 true-shooting percentage last season, making him the most efficient 20+ point per game scorer in the nation.
3. LA Pratt: Pratt was named Preseason All-CAA Second Team ahead of the 2025-26 season while at Northeastern, but after averaging 17.0 points per game through three contests, he suffered a season-ending injury. During the 2024-25 season, Pratt averaged 11.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.4 steals per game, finishing third on the team in assists (76) and second in steals (42).

 

WHAT COLLINS IS SAYING

On building the roster through the portal…

• “There were three things as we built our roster. I woke up one morning, and I had three players on the roster. I said, ‘Alright, we get a chance to kind of rebuild this thing.’ What are some of the qualities? Obviously, character, hard work, and competitiveness- all those things. I think one of the three main things that we were really looking for is that we wanted to get older. We were really young last year, so our experience is something we really targeted with a lot of these incoming transfers. Secondly, positional size — basketball is so cyclical now, and I think you saw in the league last year everyone’s gone back to big, big guys, big wings, big guards. I thought we were a little undersized looking back on last year’s team. [I] was trying to get more positional size. Third, our shooting — that was another area I thought we could really address. I thought, for the most part, we were able to attack those three things. Looking forward to seeing what this group can do.”

On how to replace the scoring void left by Nick Martinelli…

• “It’s going to be more by committee. We’ve had some high-scoring guys the last few years, and we’ve played through them. I think you’ll see a little bit different style. Nick, as good as a player he was, he was very unique. To play to his skill set, he played in a lot of isolation, and you had to give him space to do what he does. I think you’ll see more free-flowing movement, more extra passes, more shot disparity amongst the whole group. I think you could see a different leading scorer on a given night. We tried to bring in some guys that can really help with that. Our two returning guys are guys I think could potentially be double-digit scorers — Jake West, Angelo Ciaravino. LA Pratt [and] Jack Karasinski are two guys that have come from schools where they’ve [averaged] over 20 a game. When you have that kind of mentality to score the ball, we’re going to need some of that. Obviously, they’re leveling up in coming to the Big Ten, but they’ll be two, off the top of my head, that we’re really going to look to to give us some scoring.”

On Jake West’s growth over the offseason…

• “Jake, I’m so proud of him. He came in last year, kind of was feeling his way. I think everybody saw the second half of the season, he really came on. You saw his confidence grow. The gauntlet he went through last year — think of the point guards in the league last year. Not only the talent, but they were all juniors and seniors, NBA players, great, great college players. For him to learn by going through that gauntlet and now have an offseason to get a little stronger, learn in leadership to be a little more demonstrative and outward with his guys. I think he’s really poised to be one of those guys that make a big jump, and we’re going to need it for us to be successful.”

SCOUTING ILLINOIS STATE 

The Redbirds come off a 23-13 (12-8 MVC) season in which the team made a run to the NIT semifinals and registered the program’s most wins in a season since the 2016-17 campaign (28). In each of head coach Ryan Pedon's four seasons at the helm, Illinois State has increased its win total.

Three starters from last season’s NIT semifinalist squad return to the Redbirds. Illinois State is one of 12 schools nationally to back both of their top two scorers (Chase Walker, Johnny Kinziger).

SERIES HISTORY 

Northwestern has faced off with the Redbirds in a regular season contest just five times previously, most recently coming in the 2013-14 season.

The two teams faced off in an exhibition inside Welsh-Ryan Arena last season, in which Northwestern secured a comprehensive 100-65 victory. The Wildcats’ +35 margin of victory was their most in an exhibition since 2021, and scored their most points in an exhibition since 2019. Sunday’s contest will be the second leg of the home-and-home exhibition series the programs agreed to.

UP NEXT

The Wildcats conclude preseason play by hosting Iowa State inside Welsh-Ryan Arena on Sunday, Oct. 25 at 12:30 p.m. CT.