Three takeaways from Northwestern’s 86-60 season-opening win over Binghamton

There were no shortage of questions surrounding Northwestern Men’s Basketball entering the 2026-27 season. Even more arose after two concerning exhibition losses to Illinois State and No. 18 Iowa State.

Now, some of these questions have been answered, and we have a solid blueprint of what head coach Chris Collins’ squad will look like on the floor this year. In a game in which it never trailed, Northwestern defeated the Binghamton Bearcats 86-60 on Monday. Sophomore Jake West, one of only three returners to Evanston this year, stepped into his new leadership role nicely, scoring a career-high 20 points and dishing out 12 assists in 31 minutes of floor time. Graduate transfer Jack Karasinki added 24 points of his own, including a career-best seven triples. The ‘Cats were far from perfect, however, and may have been exposed against a higher caliber opponent.

Advertisement

Here are three takeaways from the season opener:

Jake West is ready

Scoring 20 on 6-of-9 from the field, West took advantage of any open looks that he got. He aggressively took on the Bearcats’ more experienced guards in Jeremiah Quigley and Evan Ashe. He added a team-high 12 assists, becoming the first Wildcat since current assistant coach Bryant McIntosh to tally at least 20 points and 10 assists in a game.

West really burst on to the scene in the latter half of his freshman campaign, starting the final 17 games of the season. This year, he has been expected to take on an even bigger role as a scorer and facilitator, as well as the general of this team. He did just that against Binghamton.

Advertisement

West routinely put the ball in the right guys’ hands for scores and relayed in plays from Collins, showing his leadership abilities.

“Jake is pretty quiet by nature,” Collins said in his postgame press conference. “I really challenged him over the summer, especially with all these new players, to really step up in leadership. From day one, he’s been the vocal leader.”

If the Wildcats have any success against…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/three-takeaways-northwestern-86-60-182839405.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-11-04 18:28:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.