Northwestern lands Top 50 forward Pete Nance

Northwestern reeled in a big one on Thursday.

Four-star forward Pete Nance, the No. 39 player in the nation, committed to the Wildcats on the final day of his official visit to become the second member of the Class of 2018 and the highest-rated recruit in head coach Chris Collins’ career in Evanston.

Nance is the second Rivals150 recruit to commit to the Wildcats this week, joining three-star point guard Jordan Lathon.

The 6-foot-8, 205-pounder from Akron (Ohio) Revere announced his decision on Twitter.

A skilled, athletic big man, Nance can shoot from deep and will be a valuable weapon in the pick-and-pop game at the next level. He is the son of former NBA star Larry Nance and the brother of current Los Angeles Laker Larry Nance Jr.

Northwestern beat out Big Ten rivals Michigan and Ohio State to land him.

In many ways, Nance’s commitment seemed like destiny for Northwestern, which got a few fortunate breaks in his recruitment. Ohio State recently had a coaching change, leaving new coach Chris Holtmann playing catch-up. Then, the Wildcats signed assistant Billy Donlan away from Michigan to be a bench coach at NU. Finally, on Thursday, just a few hours before Nance’s announcement, Michigan received an oral commitment from Brandon Johns, another similarly-sized four-star forward.

It all added up to Nance becoming a Wildcat.

Nance joins Lathon in Northwestern’s class. The 6-foot-4 Lathon, from Grandview (Mo.), committed to Northwestern on Sunday and is ranked 128th in the country.

More to come from WildcatReport…