As we move forward with more men’s basketball player reviews, it’s now time to analyze the season of Jake West, the 6-foot-3 freshman guard from Philadelphia.
The Good
After a dormant first half of his first year, West erupted in the new year, emerging as a starting combo guard for the ‘Cats.
From the Rutgers game onward, the freshman became a staple in head coach Chris Collins’ starting lineup, starting in 17 games and playing at least 20 minutes in all of them. West showed poise in his expanded role, emerging
as one of Northwestern’s best three-point shooters, while orchestrating the ‘Cats’ offense alongside Jayden Reid. The first-year averaged 7.4 points and 3.9 assists during this stretch, shooting 36.8% from behind the arc. With a hot finish, the Mr. Pennsylvania Basketball winner finished fourth on Northwestern in EvanMiya.com’s Bayesian player rating metric, grading well on both sides of the basketball.
While West didn’t rack up big per-game averages, he did manage to take over a few games and lead Northwestern’s charge on the offensive end. The freshman had a couple of hot shooting nights, totaling four games where he splashed 3+ triples in a single game. However, what caught national attention were his best games as a floor general. In the last 13 games of the season, West racked up five or more assists in four separate games, with his season-high of 13 coming in Northwestern’s 94-73 win over Penn State:
Additionally, as emphasized by the Bleacher Report tweet, while accumulating assists, West took care of the ball remarkably well. The combo guard averaged just one turnover a game, finishing the season with an 18.0 turnover rate that led Northwestern, while pacing 13th in the Big Ten amongst qualifying players with a minute-percentage higher than 50%.
The Bad
When considering how West started the year and the expectations placed on him coming out of high school, his play near the end of the season was especially impressive. After West led William Penn Charter High School to an undefeated conference record in his senior season, 247 Sports labeled him a “quick, smart and aggressive point guard,” but still raised serious concerns about his small 6-foot-3, 170-pound frame. While it was clear West had the potential to develop into a premier point guard, scouts doubted his ability to immediately assert himself as an impact college player.
Through the first half of the ’Cats’ season — “the bad” of West’s first-year campaign — scouts’ evaluations held. West was not a major part of Collins’ regular rotation, seemingly not ready for the physicality of college basketball. He averaged just 11.4 minutes in the first 13 games of the year, with a season-low two minutes of on-court action in the ‘Cats’ 86-82 home defeat against Ohio State.
In the second half of the season, West managed to flip a switch. However, while the first-year demonstrated he could be an impact player even as a small guard, his size still limited his ability to stand out consistently in the box score. West was somewhat of a one-dimensional scorer, with 45.1% of his field goals being three-pointers. While that isn’t a “bad” percentage, it leans more towards the identity of a three-point specialist rather than a combo guard. For reference, Braden Smith, arguably the Big Ten’s best point guard last season, scored just 32.5% of his field goals from deep while shooting at a similar percentage to West (36.2%).
West’s size also limited his defensive capabilities at times. While he provided high energy and rotational hustle, West could still get burned by the more physical guards of the Big Ten, and wasn’t able to be much of a help in stopping 30+ point games from Tariq Francis (Rutgers) and Bennett Stirtz (Iowa). West finished the season with a defensive Bayesian player rating of 1.32, which was fifth on Northwestern.
The Bottom Line
After Purdue ended Northwestern’s season on March 12, the chaos of the transfer portal left Northwestern as “Jake West’s team.”
Of the three Wildcats returning to Collins’ squad for the 2026-27 season, West showed the most promise late in the year, starting in the ‘Cats’ final 17 games. As a result, in many ways, the fate of Northwestern basketball rests in the hands of the Philadelphia-native.
In his sophomore campaign, West will be the face of the team, orchestrating Collins’ offense from the point guard position as he did down the stretch of the season. Fortunately, West flashed the potential to become a program-defining player during his first year in Evanston. The former three-star was already one of the ‘Cats’ best high-volume three-point shooters, while garnering national attention with his elite court vision, securing the ‘Cats’ game-high in assists on six separate occasions.
There’s no doubt a summer of development lies ahead for the rising sophomore. But, with increased size, strength and scoring versatility, West just might become something special.
