After an offseason exodus, Northwestern took the court for the first time in 2022-23 Wednesday night playing host to Quincy.

It’s been nearly eight months since the Wildcats last played — a 36-point curb stomping courtesy of Iowa in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament ended their campaign last year. Since then, coach Chris Collins was charged by Athletic Director Derrick Gragg with “making necessary changes” to right the program’s ship and five players departed Evanston, including cogs Pete Nance and Ryan Young. 

Collins retooled as best he could ahead of his 10th season at the helm of NU men’s basketball. 

His efforts paid dividends early as his lone transfer portal pickup, graduate student forward Tydus Verhoeven, scored the Cats’ first points of the new campaign on a baby hook. Behind Verhoeven and redshirt senior guard Chase Audige, NU opened up a sizable double-digit lead midway through the first half before the Hawks trimmed down the advantage to just seven at halftime, 36-29. 

The Cats never truly put the game away until deep into the second half. Riding the scoring of Audige and Verhoeven, NU put the early struggles to bed, winning 69-49. Here are three takeaways from the Cats bout with the Hawks:

Takeaways

1. Audige is back, Buie needs to shake off the rust

Audige and senior guard Boo Buie, two of NU’s three captains this season along with senior forward Robbie Beran, opened the game with polar opposite displays. Collins has made it no secret that the pair of players are the engine of this team and for almost the entire opening frame, only half the engine was truly churning.

Audige, after an injury-hobbled campaign last season, looked explosive and agile in the game’s opening minutes. 

His first score in Welsh-Ryan this year came on a catch-and-shoot three at the top of the key. After curling off a screen, he was fouled on a three-point attempt and canned the ensuing trio of free throws. A short time later, the New York native drove into the heart of the defense before stopping on a dime and hitting a fadeaway jumper along the baseline. All in all, Audige filled up the stat sheet in the first half, totaling 11 points, four rebounds, four assists, a block and a steal.

The former William & Mary star carried his play into the second half. As one of the Cats’ few offensive standouts, Audige finished the game with an efficient 15 points on 5-of-9 from the field, seven assists and six rebounds. 

Conversely, Buie is clearly trying to shake off some of the preseason rust. He missed his first six shots before nailing a three-pointer with just over 90 seconds remaining in the half. Buie did eventually find some rhythm at the foul line though, hitting 6-of-6 free throws. The New York native struggled shooting the ball, but finished the game with 12 points, four assists and only one turnover. 

2. First look at new frontcourt

Replacing the production of Nance and Young, Collins is looking toward a new trio in Verhoeven, freshman forward Luke Hunger and junior center Matt Nicholson. 

Verhoeven, in his sixth year of Division-I basketball, clearly has Collins’ trust in the early season. The UTEP transfer played the lion’s share of minutes (12) in the frontcourt in the first half, recording seven points on four shots. He finished the game with 11 points, three rebounds and four blocks in 27 minutes.

While employed in the typical flurry of on-ball and off-ball screens, the offense did look to get Verhoeven touches down low against undersized Hawks defenders. It will be interesting to monitor how much Collins will try to get Verhoeven the ball on post-ups throughout the season.

Nicholson, the guy who sat behind Nance and Young for his first two years in Evanston, saw the court for a total of 10 minutes. Quincy was unable to match the 7-footer’s size, making his performance difficult to assess. He did well on a couple possessions to simply finish over his opponents, but was also called for two fouls. 

Hunger saw the court briefly before being pulled by Collins in the first half and returned with under two minutes to play in the second half with the game out of reach.

3. Collins tinkering with several lineup combinations

Last season, Collins rarely wavered from playing a three-guard lineup with either Beran or Elyjah Williams at the four and one of Nance or Young anchoring the team down low. 

While the season is in its infancy, Collins employed a host of lineup formations throughout the game. Audige notably saw time at point guard, Buie played off-ball, sophomore guard Brooks Barnhizer featured some minutes as a small-ball four, but the one thing that remained a constant was the use of one big man. Collins rotated Verhoeven, Nicholson and Hunger throughout nearly the entirety of the game — Hunger and Nicholson saw time together in the final two minutes.

Despite the shifts in personnel, NU never truly put the game out of reach until late in the second half. Chalk it up to first game jitters or preseason rust, but a poor shooting display offers some cause for concern ahead of the season opener against Chicago State next Monday.

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