Just 18 months after his commitment to Northwestern, Tre Singleton has planned to enter the transfer portal.

The freshman forward, who came to the Wildcats as the program’s highest-ranked recruit in the modern era, announced his intent to enter the transfer portal on Thursday afternoon via his agents. In the evening, senior guard Blake Smith became the fourth NU player in the last two weeks to declare for the portal, joining Singleton, sophomore guard K.J. Windham and freshman forward Cade Bennerman. 

Singleton was one of two players to see the floor in all of the ’Cats’ 34 games this season, along with junior guard Jayden Reid. Singleton started 31 of those games, averaging 7.6 points and 4.8 rebounds on 47.7% shooting. 

During the season, the Jeffersonville, Indiana, native scored double-digits in 10 games. In a seven-game stretch during Big Ten play, Singleton averaged 11 points per game and posted his best performance of the season, tallying 17 points and 18 rebounds against Penn State.

However, the 6-foot-8 forward struggled with shooting and fouls throughout the year. During a 13-game stretch that spanned two months, he failed to make a 3-pointer, missing all 25 of his attempts. He also picked up 102 fouls of the course of the season, tied for fourth most in the conference. Singleton collected three or more fouls in 23 games and fouled out of seven games.

Following NU’s loss to Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament, he emphasized his bond to the program.

“My priorities are just to make sure I get better in this offseason and see what I can do to help Northwestern win more games next year,” Singleton said.   

At the conference tournament, Windham shared a similar sentiment, saying he was returning to the ’Cats’ “as of now” less than two weeks before planning to hit the portal.

Senior forward Nick Martinelli, the veteran who played all four years at NU, emphasized the quality of the school after his final game. However, he acknowledged the allure of the transfer portal.

“I don’t condemn anyone for looking at other schools — people get in your head,” Martinelli said. “Everybody inevitably wants to get the better thing, get more, do something different, try something else out … but for me, I found my place. This is my home.”

Following Monday’s NCAA National Championship game, the portal officially opens for all players on Tuesday. 

Charlie Perlman contributed reporting.

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