After rocky exhibitions, Northwestern found some answers

Two exhibition losses left Northwestern with more questions than answers. After a 94-59 loss to Iowa State, the Wildcats spent the last week trying to fix what went wrong. On Monday night, they showed they made some progress.

NU opened the regular season with an 86-60 win over Binghamton in a game it never trailed. The ‘Cats shot 55.8% from the field, including 72% in the first half, and stayed true to the Northwestern way, committing just eight turnovers. This comes just two weeks after the Wildcats committed 20 turnovers against Illinois State and shot 32.8% against Iowa State.

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“We just talked about it; none of those stats matter at the end of the day,” Collins said after the game. “I thought our guys came out and had great energy. Thought we played with great confidence.”

Collins said postgame that he and his staff had spent the week working out the kinks in the defense and added more offensive sets to help put the ball in the right hands. The results showed that, as the Wildcats got out in transition after stops, kept the ball moving and made it difficult for Binghamton to find good shots. The ‘Cats dished out 23 assists in the win and had 18 points off of 12 Bearcat turnovers, and outscored them in transition, 14-2.

“23 assists, eight turnovers,” Collins said. “That’s Northwestern basketball.”

As in the exhibition games, the offense once again ran through sophomore Jake West, who finished just one assist shy of his career-high at 12, while adding 20 points on 6-for-9 shooting and going 6-for-6 from the line. Most of that production came in the first half, when he had 14 points and eight assists, working off of ball screens.

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Collins praised West for how Northwestern had finished last season and carried that into the offseason. Collins said West has grown from the quiet voice he was in his freshman year into one of the team’s most vocal leaders, alongside junior Angelo Ciaravino, who make up two-thirds of the returners, along with sophomore Phoenix…

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Publish date : 2026-11-03 17:36:00

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