Northwestern men’s basketball in 2026 faces the unenviable task of getting a team with almost no continuity to gel together in a relatively short period of time. This is because the Wildcats return just three players from last season. Those players started 35 games between them last season, but are going to need to lead the Wildcats this season.
Here are the three players and how they can impact the team for the 2026-27 campaign.
Jake West
Sophomore / Guard / 6-foot-3 / Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania
West started 17 games last season and played in all but one. The Pennsylvania native is a crucial part of Chris Collins’ plans for this year, and he has already logged more than an hour of floor time in two exhibition games. West scored 176 points last year and placed second on the team in assists, with the best turnover-to-assist ratio among Wildcats with 50 or more assists. His perimeter shooting will be a great asset for a team looking to replace the 41.7% from beyond the arc of Nick Martinelli, so West’s 2.3 three-point attempts per game from 2025-6 should rise this season.
Expect West to be in the mix quite a bit this season as the Sophomore steps into the starting lineup and becomes the rock of a changing team.
Angelo Ciaravino
Junior / Guard / 6-foot-6 / Chicago, Illinois
Northwestern fans breathed a sigh of relief last offseason when Ciaravino announced his return. Ciaravino started 18 games last season and played 22 minutes per game. In that time, he scored 207 points while grabbing 128 rebounds. Expect the junior to take a big step up this year after he played the second-most minutes in the exhibition games behind only Jake West. Ciaravino can do it all. For the team last season, he finished top five in rebounds, points, turnover-to-assist ratio, field goal makes and blocks.
It is unclear whether Ciaravino or West will be more important to Chris Collins’ plans in 2026, but either way, they will both be starters whose performance the team will win or lose by.
Phoenix Gill
Sophomore / Guard / 6-foot-3 / Chicago, Illinois
While the other two returners were starters last year and prepared to grow into their roles this season, Gil was a more under-the-radar hold for Northwestern. The Sophomore played just 11 games last year, earning just five points. If the exhibition games are to be trusted, Gill will be a rotational player with solid floor time. He will likely be behind the other two returning guards on most nights, but he will often come off the bench to give West or Ciaravino a reprieve. It’s a massive opportunity for a player who was ranked highly out of high school, but was behind too many other players last year to make a name for himself in Big 10 play.
The question for Northwestern fans is whether Gill shoots better than his 1-for-8 from the field last year. It remains to be seen if he can make an impact on a team that would love to make up for the impact lost to graduation and the transfer portal last year.