Chris Collins took a gamble last year when he offered Pat Spencer a scholarship. It had been four years since he played competitive basketball, as he spent his undergraduate days as a lacrosse star at Loyola Maryland, even winning the Tewaaraton Award in 2019. Yet Collins saw something in Spencer, whose first love was actually basketball, not lacrosse.
Northwestern needed a second ball handler this year in addition to Boo Buie, and Spencer proved to fill that role and then some. The gamble was well worth it: the grad transfer was one of the more consistent pieces on this struggling team and was oftentimes the most effective creator on the floor.