Julian Roper II enters the transfer portal

While most of the talk since the end of Northwestern's season has focused on whether starting guards Boo Buie and Chase Audige would return to Evanston, the Wildcats found out on Monday that they were losing another key guard from their roster.

Sophomore Julian Roper II, who missed most of the season with an ankle injury, announced on Monday by Twitter that he had decided to enter the transfer portal.

Roper played a reserve role in the first 14 games of the season for Northwestern before injuring his ankle during the Wildcats' 66-63 win over Wisconsin at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Jan. 23.

He missed the next three games, then returned for NU's game against Michigan on Feb. 3. He reinjured his ankle in the 68-51 loss to the Wolverines and missed the rest of the season, including the Wildcats' run to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Roper averaged 4.4 points and 3.7 rebounds in 21.4 minutes per game for the Wildcats this season. He scored a season-best 12 points in a win over UIC in December.

Playing time may have been part of the reason that Roper is deciding to leave head coach Chris Collins' program.

He started 15 games as a true freshman in 2021-22 as the third guard in Northwestern's lineup. But Ty Berry, the player whose job he took last season, reclaimed the starting role this year, starting all 34 games for the Wildcats.

Even though Roper didn't start a single game this past year, his per-game averages went up across the board, in minutes, points, rebounds, assists, and both field-goal and three-point shooting. An excellent athlete and defender, he seemed to be a good fit for Northwestern's defense-first philosophy.

Brooks Barnhizer, whose playing time dramatically increased toward the end of the season as he emerged as a legitimate scorer for the Wildcats, figured to eat into Roper's playing time in the future. Northwestern also has two point guards, Jordan Clayton and Parker Strauss, coming in next season.

Much of the social media reaction on Northwestern Twitter wondered whether Roper's decision could be a sign that Buie and Audige plan to return. But initial feedback indicates that Roper made his decision independently, and that his choice was not tied to Buie's nor Audige's plans.