Northwestern Freshman Dominates Opening Weekend of International Tournament
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Tyler Kropp, a 6-foot-7 forward, is one of Northwestern's five incoming freshmen, its highest ranked recruiting class in program history. This weekend, he played in his first two games of the FIBA U19 World Cup in Switzerland for Team Argentina, and he was lightning in a bottle.
Kropp has been participating in international competition for a few years now, playing for Argentina because his mother is Argentinian. The two games this weekend were against New Zealand and Serbia, and Kropp will suit up again on Tuesday for the final contest of the group stage against Mali.
On Saturday against New Zealand, Kropp got off to a fast start. He finished with a double-double, dropping 22 points and wrangling 11 rebounds en route to a Team Argentina win. It was enough to warrant a post on X from college basketball insider Jon Rothstein calling him an "under-the-radar name."
Northwestern incoming freshman Tyler Kropp went for 22 and 11 today at the FIBA U19 World Cup in Switzerland as Argentina beat New Zealand.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) June 28, 2025
An under-the-radar name among Big Ten freshmen to monitor entering the 2025-26 season.
Today, in the team's next game, Kropp was magnificent once again. This time, he finished another win with 23 points and nine rebounds against Serbia. Rothstein followed up on his original post with another one about Kropp.
Northwestern incoming freshman Tyler Kropp went for 22 and 11 today at the FIBA U19 World Cup in Switzerland as Argentina beat New Zealand.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) June 28, 2025
An under-the-radar name among Big Ten freshmen to monitor entering the 2025-26 season.
As Rothstein points out, performing well in this tournament doesn't necessarily mean Kropp is ready to dominate against Big Ten competition with age and experience over him. But this level of production is still impressive, and it's certainly worth taking note of if you're a Wildcat fan.
There's been thought that Kropp may decide to redshirt this upcoming season given the relatively large crop of freshmen coming into the program. But, if he's going to perform anywhere close to this level, he might force head coach Chris Collins to make some interesting decisions regarding playing time.
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Ryan Cole is a writer for Northwestern Wildcats On SI covering every team on campus. He’s currently a junior at NU where he’s studying journalism and previously wrote and edited for Inside NU. He also studies business with an eye towards eventually helping develop business models to revive local news. In his free time, Cole enjoys watching sports, playing sports, reading the news and singing.