Northwestern Guard K.J. Windham Gets Honest About Murky Future
In this story:
So will Northwestern Wildcats guard K.J. Windham opt to stick around, with more minutes possibly available next season, or will he hit the transfer portal?
Once a highly touted prep prospect, the sophomore failed to crack Chris Collins' rotation, averaging 12.3 minutes in just 14 games. He didn't leave the bench in what wound up being Northwestern's season finale, an 81-68 Big Ten Tournament third-round defeat to the more talented Purdue Boilermakers.
Per Kamran Nia of The Daily Northwestern, Windham offered a shaky confirmation that he'd return.
“As of right now I'm coming back to Northwestern," Windham said. That phrasing doesn't exactly instill confidence. Still, with leading scorer Nick Martinelli graduating, more minutes and more scoring opportunities should open up. Maybe Windham can capitalize.
Windham went on to explain his learning curve in 2025-26.
"It was a lot of personal development for me, maturity. A lot of it was me just figuring out how to handle stuff, mentally, handle my body, physically keep myself in shape and ready for whenever my number would be called, just doing all the little things that I might have looked past over last year when I was playing as a freshman, so just continuing to grow and get better," Windham said. "Stay in the gym, stay in the trainer, extra lifts, everything like that. That would keep me ready and prepare me for whatever opportunity I have next."
It sounds like he's keeping his mind — and his options — pretty open.
_________________________________
More from Northwestern On SI
_________________________________
Stay up to date on the Wildcats by bookmarking Northwestern On SI and following us on Twitter.
An Evanston native, Alex Kirschenbaum is also a proud Northwestern alum. He has written for Bleacher Nation, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Hoops Rumors, Trailers From Hell, Men's Journal, and Bulls fan sites Blog-A-Bull and Pippen Ain't Easy, among others. Alex knows Zach Collins has given the Bulls some good years, but he'll never forgive the then-Gonzaga center for that very obvious goaltend against the Wildcats during the second round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament.