As March Madness comes to a close, the madness is beginning for Northwestern. Three transfers left the Wildcats in the span of two hours Monday, leaving just four players set to return next season.
The day started with junior guard Jordan Clayton, a three-year Wildcat, departing the program, according to Sam Kayser of League Ready. Clayton, a team captain last season, leaves Evanston after more than doubling his time on the court from the 2024-25 season.
Clayton’s final legacy at Welsh-Ryan Arena will be his three-pointer to take the lead against Purdue as the shot clock expired. The ’Cats followed up the shot with a defensive collapse and fell in a heartbreaker.
Just two hours later, fellow junior guard Jayden Reid announced on X that he would also enter the portal. Reid, who started 28 games and the last 12 in a row, leaves NU after just one year. The ’Cats’ third-leading point scorer, Reid transferred to NU after two seasons at USF.
“It’s one family,” Reid said in November. “The culture is what really stuck out to me in the transfer process. That’s one of the reasons why I came here. Even past the basketball staff, the nutritionist, the weight room staff — everybody is just good people, it’s just a family.”
Reid wasn’t the only newcomer to depart Monday. Freshman forward Tyler Kropp, who came to Evanston as part of coach Chris Collins’ highest-ranked recruiting class, announced his departure from NU on X minutes after Reid.
Kropp, who started 10 games and played in 31 of the ’Cats’ 34 games, ranked third on the team in rebounds per 40 minutes with 7.2. His best performance came in NU’s first conference win of the season over USC, where the Powell, Ohio native tied for second on the team with 11 points on 83.3% shooting.
When The Daily asked Kropp after the ’Cats’ loss to Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament about where he saw his role in the program after the team’s strong finish to the season, he didn’t directly answer the question.
“There’s really nothing better than experience,” Kropp said. “Obviously, we’ve seen it’s really hard to win in the Big Ten. That experience is really valuable.”
Monday’s madness left NU with the most outgoing transfers of any high-major in men’s basketball program that didn’t fire its coach, but the portal chaos for the ’Cats began late last week.
When freshman forward Tre Singleton, the highest-ranked recruit in NU’s modern history, announced his intention to enter the transfer portal Thursday, it seemed like the first of many dominoes to fall.
The next one fell the next day, when junior center Arrinten Page announced he intended to transfer to his fourth school in four years. A four-star recruit out of high school, Page spent one year each at USC and Cincinnati before coming to Evanston.
Early in the year, it seemed as though the 6-foot-11 Page would be the star center for the ’Cats. However, a one-game suspension derailed those plans.
Page missed the game against Howard due to a team standards violation and started just four games after the violation. His usage climbed back up later in the season, but the Atlanta native decided it was time to move on from NU.
Once the season ended, it was clear that the ’Cats needed to make some changes.
This many changes, however, leaves Collins with plenty of work to do to rebuild his program.
Charlie Perlman, Sid Sivaraman and Jonah McClure contributed reporting.
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Related Stories:
— Men’s Basketball: Former 4-star recruit Tre Singleton plans to enter transfer portal
— Men’s Basketball: ‘We didn’t have enough’: How Collins’ deepest team yet fell shallow
