Rapid Reaction: Northwestern collapses during second half in 70-64 exhibition loss to Illinois State

Illinois State pulled off an upset over Northwestern on Sunday in Normal, Illinois, as the Wildcats struggled with turnovers and offensive glass, winning 70-64. The exhibition loss marks Northwestern’s return to on-court action after a relatively mediocre 2025-26 season, in which they bowed out in the third round of the Big Ten Tournament to Purdue.

The game pitted Northwestern head coach Chris Collins against his father’s alma mater. Doug Collins is Illinois State’s all-time leading scorer and earned All-American honors there. Collins’ No. 20 is the only men’s basketball player to have thier jersey retired by the Redbirds. He served as an honorary coach for both sides, sitting on Illinois State’s bench for the first half and with Northwestern for the second. Recently retired Northwestern assistant coach Brian James, an Illinois State graduate, also threw up the ceremonial first tip.

Illinois State’s Noah Cleveland led all scorers with 16 points (5-for-8 from the field) and 15 rebounds, seven of which were offensive boards. Johnny Kinziger scored 15 points and added three rebounds and two assists. 

Jake West led all Wildcats in scoring with 14 points (6-for-11 from the field) and seven assists. Bellarmine transfer Jack Karasinski added 13 points, while Angelo Ciaravino scored twelve.

The Redbirds surged past Northwestern in the second half, despite shooting just over 29% from beyond the arc all game. Illinois State grabbed 18 offensive rebounds to Northwestern’s nine and committed just 10 turnovers to the Wildcats’ 20. The loss is an extraordinary reversal of Northwestern’s 35-point win over Illinois State in an October 2025 exhibition game.

Illinois State, which advanced to the semifinals of last year’s National Invitational Tournament, projects as a frontrunner for the Missouri Valley Conference’s automatic bid to March Madness. The Redbirds, who went 23-13 (12-8) last season, returned their top two scorers, forward Chase Walker (13.7 points, 5.5 rebounds per game) and Kinziger (11.5 points, 3.3 assists per game). 

Sophomore guard West, graduate student guard LA Pratt, junior guard Ciaravino, graduate student wing Karasinski and redshirt junior forward Luke McEldon started the game for the Wildcats. Returning sophomore guard Phoenix Gill started on the bench for Northwestern.

Cleveland, Mason Klabo, Demarion Burch, Kinziger, and Walker started for Illinois State.

Ciaravino opened the scoring with a driving layup on the Wildcats’ first possession before Klabo answered with a driving layup of his own. Kinziger hit a three before intercepting a Karasinski pass to put the Redbirds up 10-7, but Okku Federiko answered with a three-pointer to tie the game at 10 with 14:42 remaining in the first half.

Turnovers were a big issue for the Wildcats early on, and continued for the rest of the game. Northwestern had five turnovers in as many minutes, allowing Kinziger and Illinois State’s quick guards to burn the Wildcats in transition. Northwestern was able to remain in the game, thanks in part to their red-hot shooting and Illinois State’s poor shooting.

Northwestern eventually stretched its lead to six points with 9:31 remaining in the first half on a Ciaravino transition layup, but couldn’t pull away from the Redbirds. The Redbirds consistently forced turnovers; they took their first lead in ten minutes after Cleveland jammed home a fast-break slam. West rattled off a midrange jumper and a three-pointer to extend Northwestern’s lead to six, but Klabo’s buzzer-beater trimmed the Wildcats’ lead to three by the end of the first half. 

West led all scorers in the first half with 10 points on 4-for-7 shooting while adding four assists. Karasinski and Ciaravino added six points each. Kinziger led Illinois State with eight points on 3-for-7 shooting, followed by Klabo and Cleveland with five points each.

The Wildcats flirted with extending their lead as the second half began. A Pratt jumper and a Karasinski fast-break layup put Northwestern up 44-37 with 16:27 remaining. Illinois State kept capitalizing on Northwestern’s lack of ball security, and Burch’s pair of free throws after an Aleksej Kostic turnover tied the game at 44 with more than six minutes remaining.

From there, Illinois State blew past Northwestern, dominating the glass and connecting several second-chance jumpers to go up by five with just over eight minutes remaining. Kinziger’s turnaround jumper put the Redbirds up by seven points with 5:24 to go. But a pair of layups from West and Ciaravino cut the lead down to just three points with 2:33 remaining.

After a free throw put the Redbirds up 64-60, Federiko saw Klabo swat his layup. Illinois State grabbed two offensive rebounds after two missed free throws and eventually earned a shooting foul. Cleveland made both free throws to push the Redbirds up 66-60 with just over a minute left. 

The Wildcats’ hopes of a last-minute comeback were foiled after Luke McEldon committed an offensive foul with 47 seconds remaining. Kinziger missed a pull-up three-pointer, and Ciaravino scored a hurried layup to cut Illinois State’s lead to four. But with little time left, the Wildcats were forced into foul trouble. The Redbirds extended their lead at the line, and Northwestern couldn’t mount an offensive challenge to close the gap, with the Wildcats losing 70-64.

Northwestern will continue its preseason schedule with a home outing against Iowa State on Oct. 25 on B1G+ at 12:30 PM CST, before its season debut Nov. 2 against Binghamton.