Men’s Basketball

Northwestern is taking its talents to Europe.

The Wildcats are heading to France and Italy this week for a 10-day foreign preseason tour.

The four-game slate will offer the first look at the 2019-20 NU squad, after a tumultuous offseason that saw three players transfer out and five new players — three walk-ons, one transfer who will sit and one graduate transfer who hasn’t played a game since high school — come in.

The Cats will adjust to a host of different rules for their four games. Under FIBA rules, games are played for four 10-minute quarters with a shorter shot clock, a deeper three-point line and different balls.

NU is one of five Big Ten and 29 high-major programs to embark on foreign tours this summer, according to Stadium.

During their last trip abroad in 2015, Coach Chris Collins and the Cats went to Spain, winning four of five games in Madrid, Alicante, Valencia and Barcelona. As an assistant at Duke, Collins has also coached on preseason trips to London, China and Dubai.

Junior guard Anthony Gaines will not play in the team’s four games due to a stress fracture, as reported by CBSSports.com insider Jon Rothstein in July.

The games will not be live-streamed, but updates and content will be posted on the team’s social media accounts. Here’s a look at the Cats’ schedule as they head across the Atlantic:

August 18: Team departs for Paris

August 19: Team tours Paris

August 20: Team visits landmarks in Paris; game one against Paris All-Stars

AK Paris All-Stars played NU’s crosstown rival DePaul on the Blue Demons’ European preseason trip earlier this month. DePaul won that matchup 118-56.

Final score: NU 96, Paris All-Stars 68

Sophomore forward Pete Nance led the way in NU’s opening win with 22 points and 11 rebounds. In his first game with the Cats, graduate guard Pat Spencer scored 21 points and added 10 assists.

Pick & Roll

Pat Spencer ➡️ @peteln22 #CatsInEurope pic.twitter.com/K2y5bPi8c0

— Northwestern Basketball (@NUMensBball) August 20, 2019

Fellow newcomer Robbie Beran, a freshman forward from Richmond, Virginia, added 15 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore forward Miller Kopp rounded out NU’s leading scorers with 14 points and nine rebounds.

Full box score:

Nance: 22 points; 10-16 FG; 2-4 3PT; 0 assists; 11 rebounds
Spencer: 21 points; 8-13 FG; 1-3 3PT; 10 assists; 4 rebounds
Beran: 15 points; 6-10 FG; 2-3 3PT; 3 assists; 7 rebounds
Kopp: 14 points; 5-16 FG; 4-8 3PT; 1 assist; 9 rebounds
Buie: 13 points; 6-12 FG; 1-4 3PT; 3 assists; 1 rebound
Jones: 7 points; 3-10 FG; 1-2 3PT; 0 assists; 6 rebounds
Greer: 2 points; 1-3 FG; 0-1 3PT; 6 assists; 1 rebound
Malnati: 0 points; 0-0 FG; 0-0 3PT; 1 assist; 0 rebound

August 21: Team travels to Nice

August 22: Game two against Azuréa Club Golfe-Juan Vallauris

AC Golfe-Juan Vallauris is a team that plays in the Nationale Masculine 2 (NM2), the fourth tier of men’s professional basketball in France. The team is based in Golfe-Juan, a seaside resort town on the famed French Riviera about a half-hour away from Nice and less than an hour from Monaco.

Final score: NU 100, AC Golfe-Juan Vallauris 77

Full box score:

Kopp: 31 points; 11-20 FG; 7-12 3PT; 9 rebounds; 0 assists
Spencer: 19 points; 6-13 FG; 2-5 3PT; 5 rebounds; 7 assists
Beran: 13 points; 4-10 FG; 1-2 3PT; 7 rebounds; 0 assists
Young: 10 points; 3-8 FG; 1-2 3PT; 6 rebounds; 0 assists
Nance: 9 points; 3-8 FG; 1-2 3PT; 9 rebounds; 0 assists
Buie: 8 points; 3-9 FG; 2-6 3PT; 3 rebounds; 1 assist
Jones: 7 points; 3-5 FG; 0-1 3PT; 4 rebounds; 2 assists
Greer: 3 points; 1-6 FG; 1-3 3PT; 3 rebounds; 9 assists
Malnati: 0 points; 0-0 FG; 0-0 3PT; 0 rebounds; 0 assists
Dixon: 0 points; 0-0 FG; 0-0 3PT; 0 rebounds; 0 assists
Sandhu: 0 points; 0-0 FG; 0-0 3PT; 0 rebounds; 0 assists

August 23: Team tours Monaco

August 24: Team travels to Lake Maggiore; game three against Oleggio Magic Basket

Oleggio Magic Basket plays in Serie B, the third tier of men’s professional basketball in Italy. The team plays in Oleggio in the northern Piedmont region of Italy, about two hours away from the city of Reggio Emilia, where former NU star Dererk Pardon just began his professional career with top-tier side Pallacanestro Reggiana.

Final score: NU 89, Oleggio Magic 37

Full box score:

Kopp: 21 points; 8-15 FG; 2-5 3PT; 10 rebounds; 2 assists
Buie: 13 points; 6-11 FG; 1-3 3PT; 4 rebounds; 1 assist
Jones: 13 points; 5-9 FG; 1-3 3PT; 3 rebounds; 1 assist
Nance: 11 points; 4-7 FG; 2-4 3PT; 5 rebounds; 4 assists
Spencer: 10 points; 4-8 FG; 0-2 3PT; 0 rebounds; 3 assists
Beran: 9 points; 4-11 FG; 0-3 3PT; 10 rebounds; 3 assists
Greer: 6 points; 3-11 FG; 0-5 3PT; 6 rebounds; 4 assists
Young: 4 points; 2-4 FG; 0-1 3PT; 1 rebound; 1 assist
Malnati: 2 points; 1-3 FG; 0-2 3PT; 3 rebounds; 0 assists
Sandhu: 0 points; 0-0 FG; 0-0 3PT; 0 rebounds; 0 assists
Dixon: 0 points; 0-1 FG; 0-1 3PT; 1 rebound; 0 assists
Zalewski: 0 points; 0-0 FG; 0-0 3PT; 0 rebounds; 0 assists

August 25: Team tours Lake Como and Bellagio

August 26: Team tours Rome

August 27: Team visits landmarks in Rome; game four against Zeus Rieti Basket

Zeus Rieti Basket plays in Serie A2, the second tier of men’s professional basketball in Italy, in Rieti, about an hour north of Rome. Two American players are listed on Zeus Rieti Basket’s current roster on eurobasket.com — Elijah Brown, who played for Butler, New Mexico and Oregon from 2014 to 2018, and Jalen Cannon, who played for St. Francis (NY).

Final score: NU 78, Zeus Rieti 57

Full box score:

Kopp: 20 points; 7-11 FG; 2-6 3PT; 3 rebounds; 3 assists
Nance: 16 points; 2-6 FG; 3-6 3PT; 4 rebounds; 2 assists
Greer: 11 points; 2-5 FG; 2-2 3PT; 3 rebounds; 5 assists
Young: 11 points; 3-5 FG; 1-1 3PT; 9 rebounds; 0 assists
Buie: 10 points; 4-7 FG; 0-3 3PT; 3 rebounds; 1 assist
Spencer: 8 points; 1-5 FG; 0-1 3PT; 4 rebounds; 4 assists
Jones: 2 points; 1-2 FG; 0-1 3PT; 5 rebounds; 0 assists
Beran: 0 points; 0-1 FG; 0-2 3PT; 4 rebounds; 2 assists
Malnati: 0 points; 0-1 FG; 0-0 3PT; 0 rebounds; 0 assists
Dixon III: 0 points; 0-0 FG; 0-0 3PT; 0 rebounds; 0 assists

August 28: Team visits landmarks in Rome

August 29: Team returns to Chicago

The Cats open the 2019-20 season on November 8 at home against Merrimack.

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Twitter: @ellabrockway