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Northwestern Basketball: 2019-20 season preview for Wildcats

EAST LANSING, MI - JANUARY 02: Pete Nance #22 of the Northwestern Wildcats during a game against the Michigan State Spartans in the second half at Breslin Center on January 2, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI - JANUARY 02: Pete Nance #22 of the Northwestern Wildcats during a game against the Michigan State Spartans in the second half at Breslin Center on January 2, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
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EAST LANSING, MI – JANUARY 02: Vic Law #4 of the Northwestern Wildcats handles the ball while defended by AAron Henry #11 of the Michigan State Spartans in the second half at Breslin Center on January 2, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI – JANUARY 02: Vic Law #4 of the Northwestern Wildcats handles the ball while defended by AAron Henry #11 of the Michigan State Spartans in the second half at Breslin Center on January 2, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)

2018-19 Summary

Northwestern relied heavily on three players who have now graduated — Law, a do-everything swingman forced into high volume, Pardon, an undersized post banger who scored and rebounded efficiently, and Ryan Taylor, a graduate transfer from Evansville whose high-scoring tendencies didn’t fully translate to Big Ten basketball.

Playing style-wise, Northwestern was your typical bad high-major team. The Wildcats didn’t do anything efficiently on offense except avoiding turnovers, they played at a slow-ish pace, and their defense managed to stay effective and keep contests reasonably close by mucking things up.

Quick Hits

2018-19 record: 13-19 (4-16 Big Ten, 14th in conference)

Final KenPom ranking: 74th

Offensive efficiency: 102.9 (204th in country)

Defensive efficiency: 93.8 (19th in country)

Adjusted tempo: 66.0 (265th in country)

Key departees: C Barret Benson (2.2 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 0.3 bpg), G/F Vic Law (15.0 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 3.0 apg), C Dererk Pardon (14.0 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 57.1 fg%), G Ryan Taylor (9.8 ppg, 1.9 apg, 33.3 3pt%)

New additions for 2019-20: G Chase Audige, F Robbie Beran, G Boo Buie, F Jared Jones, G Dylan Sandhu, G Pat Spencer, G Eric Zalewski