EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern opens its 121st season of men’s basketball inside Welsh-Ryan Arena by hosting Binghamton on Monday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. CT. The game will air on B1G+ with Calvin Kaplan (play-by-play), Eliav Brooks-Rubin (analyst) and Miguel Munoz (sideline) on the call, and it can be listened to on WGN Radio 720 (stream only) and SiriusXM App Channel 996 with Dave Eanet (play-by-play) and Billy McKinney (analyst) calling the action.
LAST TIME OUT
In their final exhibition contest, the Wildcats suffered a 94-59 setback to No. 18 Iowa State at home. Second-year guard Jake West led the way for Northwestern, scoring a team-high 21 points, 16 of which came in the second half, and adding four assists while shooting 4-of-9 from 3-point range. Third-year guard Angelo Ciaravino, tallied 13 points, four rebounds and a game-high four steals, while fifth-year forward Jack Karasinski scored 11 points.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
3: The Wildcats rank tied for the third-best record among Big Ten Conference teams against regular-season nonconference opponents over the last four seasons, posting a 35-9 (.795) mark. During that stretch, Northwestern is 26-2 in non-conference home games.
5: The Wildcats open up the season with five straight home games, their longest homestand to open a season since 2020-21 (5) and longest in a non-COVID year since 1998-99 (6). Northwestern has opened its season at home every year since 2010.
11: The Wildcats’ 2026-27 roster features 11 newcomers, including a pair of overseas first-years and eight transfers from other Division I programs. Northwestern’s eight transfers are the second-most in the Big Ten, and its 11 newcomers are its most in a single season in program history.
12: Under Collins, the Wildcats are 12-1 in season openers. Overall, Northwestern has won 16 of its last 17 lidlifters. In last year’s season opener (Nov. 3), the Wildcats downed Mercyhurst 70-47 at home.
14: Collins is entering season 14 as Northwestern’s head coach and is the third-longest-tenured coach in the Big Ten. He ranks second in program history with 209 wins, trailing only Naismith Hall of Famer Dutch Lonborg's (1927-50) 234 victories, and is the only coach to ever lead the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament, which he has done three times (2017, 2023, 2024).
Chris Collins
Defense has been a staple under head coach Chris Collins, and over the last four seasons, Northwestern has held its opponent to 65 or fewer points 55 times, which ranks fourth in the Big Ten during that span, with the Wildcats going 50-5 in such games. Since 2022-23, Northwestern's .909 win percentage is the 18th best in the country in such games (min. 55 games).
PLAYERS TO WATCH
- Jake West: West started the final 17 games of last season, averaging 7.7 points and 3.9 assists per game over that span. The second-year guard set a program first-year record with 13 assists last season against Penn State (Jan. 29). West led Northwestern in scoring in both of its exhibition contests, while logging averages of 17.5 points and 5.5 assists on 48.1-percent shooting from the floor and a 41.7-percent three-point percentage.
- 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-percent from the floor and 41.5-percent 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. He ranks as the fifth leading scorer returning to college basketball this season.
- Angelo Ciaravino: Ciaravino doubled his scoring production as a sophomore last season, averaging 6.3 points per game while shooting 51.2-percent from the floor. The third-year guard and the longest-tenured Wildcat scored in double figures in both of Northwestern’s exhibition contests, en route to averaging 12.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game on a 57.1-percent field goal percentage.
THE CAPTAINS
West and Ciaravino were voted team captains for the season. Ciaravino is the first Wildcat third-year to be named a captain since Brooks Barnhizer in the 2023-24 season, while West is the first second-year to be named captain at Northwestern since 1991-92, when Pat Baldwin was selected as a captain.
SCOUTING BINGHAMTON
The Bearcats return nine players and two starters from last season’s 8-23 team. Head coach Levell Sanders’ squad was picked to finish third of nine in the America East Preseason Poll, the highest predicted finish in program history.
Binghamton’s two returning starters are preseason all-conference honorees, center Demetrius Lilley and guard Jeremiah Quigley. Lilley played 11 games before suffering a season-ending injury, averaging 14.6 points and 9.4 rebounds, while Quigley was selected as a third-team all-conference member with averages of 14.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and a conference-leading 6.4 assists per game.
SERIES HISTORYÂ
Monday night’s lid lifter will be the third-ever meeting between the Wildcats and Bearcats. Northwestern is 2-0, with the previous matchups coming in 2018 (W, 82-54) and 2023 (72-61). The 2023 matchup served as the season opener for both squads, with the Wildcats going on to earn the second NCAA Tournament berth in program history that season. Northwestern is 8-1 against the current alignment of the America East.
UP NEXT
The Wildcats continue their homestand by welcoming Stony Brook to Welsh-Ryan Arena on Friday, Nov. 6. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. CT on B1G+ and WGN Radio 720.