A Deep Dive Into the 6 Newest Northwestern Men's Basketball Transfer Commits

Our Wildcats have brought on a wide variety of new faces. Let's break down the game tape.

Nov 25, 2025; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers forward Luke McEldon (21) goes to the basket as Ohio State Buckeyes center Christoph Tilly (13) defends during the first half at Value City Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images | Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images

Northwestern Wildcats head coach Chris Collins had his work cut out for him after his 2025-26 season saw the team fizzle out with a 15-19 record — which in itself was somewhat inflated thanks to a Big Ten Tournament run.

Beyond just 2026 NBA Draft hopeful Nick Martinelli, a whopping nine Wildcats with remaining NCAA eligibility departed the roster for the college transfer portal this offseason.

From last year's roster, only Angelo Ciaravino, Jake West and Phoenix Gill are slated to return.

So it fell to Collins to reconstruct his personnel for a pivotal 2026-27 season. And he did not disappoint!

Let's run through the intriguing prospects.

Luke McEldon, C, Mount St. Mary's

During his sophomore season last year (his first with Mount St. Mary's after a 2023-24 freshman season and a redshirted sophomore season at Santa Clara), the 6-foot-10 big man averaged 11.7 points on 64.5 percent field goal shooting and 6.2 boards across 30 contests (29 starts).

COMMITTED 💜 pic.twitter.com/gaqsQyHwU8

— Luke McEldon (@luke_mceldon) April 15, 2026

Sporting a $510K NIL valuation, the rising junior is ranked by On3 as the 18th-best center and the 198th-best player overall in this year's transfer portal.

LA Pratt, PG, Northeastern

The Daily Northwestern's Charlie Pratt reports that former Northeastern point guard LA Pratt will don the purple and white next season.

The 6-foot-5 playmaker appeared in just three contests last year thanks to a broken foot, and thus was able to redshirt what would have been his senior season.

He averaged 17.0 points on .475/.273/.909 shooting splits in those contests, plus 3.3 dimes, 2.3 swipes and 1.7 rebounds a night.

Colin Smith, F, University of California at Santa Barbara

Colin Smith began his collegiate career at Vanderbilt before transferring to UCSB.

A 6-foot-8 forward, Smith averaged 11.9 points on .455/.405/.800 shooting splits, 4.2 boards and 1.5 dishes last season, per Perlman.

He scored a season-best 24 points against San Jose State last year, connecting on 8-of-11 shooting from the field.

Okku Federiko, Wing, Drake

The 6-foot-9 sophomore is also on his third college club, having transferred to the Bulldogs after an underwhelming career at South Carolina.

Last year, the young Finn averaged 8.6 points while shooting 52.2 percent from the field, plus 4.8 boards and 1.0 rejections a night.

Aleksej Kostić, G, BYU

Another European import, the 6-foot-4 Austrian was overshadowed by probable 2026 No. 1 selection AJ Dybantsa.

Kostić played pro for Austrian club Superliga prior to his bench stint at BYU, where he notched just 12.0 minutes a night in 2025-26.

Ryan Soulis, F, Columbia

Collins has been having some luck bringing aboard Europeans!

The Greek big man notched averages of 5.8 points on .488/.214/.633 shooting splits, 4.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 0.9 blocks with the 16-12 Lions last year. He began his collegiate tenure at Richmond in 2023-24.

These six newbies join previously announced transfer Jack Karasinski, a sharpshooting 6-foot-7 wing out of Bellarmine.

_________________________________

_________________________________

Stay up to date on the Wildcats by bookmarking our site Northwestern On SI and following us on our Twitter page.