Northwestern Men's Basketball Schedules In-State Exhibition Series
For the first time since 2003, Northwestern has scheduled two exhibition matches prior to the team's regular season tip-off.
Northwestern announced on Monday that it had locked in a preseason home-and-home exhibition series with Illinois State for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 seasons. The Wildcats will host the Redbirds on October 29, 2025, before heading to Normal, Illinois, in 2026.
Preseason Tests with the Redbirds 😼 pic.twitter.com/kV6R07PnJn
— Northwestern Basketball (@NUMensBball) June 16, 2025
The 'Cats are also set to face Iowa State in Ames in a preseason exhibition on October 26, 2025. The series is also a home-and-home, as Northwestern will play Iowa State in Evanston ahead of the 2026-27 season.
It'll be Northwestern's first time playing two exhibition games in a year since 2003, when the Wildcats took on the Coaches vs. Cancer All-Stars and the CAPS Basketball Academy All-Stars under head coach Bill Carmody. Iowa State and Illinois State, both Division I teams, will certainly be tougher opponents than the aforementioned club All-Stars.
Northwestern's coaching staff has several connections to Illinois State. Doug Collins, the father of NU head coach Chris Collins and former coach of the Chicago Bulls, is the all-time leading scorer in Redbirds history. He played for Illinois State from 1970 to 1973 and was selected No. 1 overall in the 1973 NBA Draft.
When the Wildcats travel to Normal in 2026, they will play at CEFCU Arena on the Doug Collins Court, named in his honor. Collins and coach Will Robinson, the first Black head basketball coach in NCAA Division I, are immortalized with a statue outside the arena. Collins' No. 20 jersey hangs in the rafters as the lone jersey to be retired by the program.
Assistant coach Brian James is also a graduate of Illinois State. The Redbirds went 22-14 last season, including 10-10 in the Missouri Valley Conference.
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Gavin Dorsey is the Lead Writer for Northwestern Wildcats On SI and covers a handful of other teams in the On SI network. Before joining On SI in February 2025, he wrote for the Star Tribune and Inside NU while broadcasting college sports for both radio and television. Dorsey is a graduate of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, where he also studied psychology. In his free time, he enjoys running and being outdoors. Dorsey is currently a freelance writer for the Associated Press, covering Chicago area sports teams.