It’s been a long time coming for Chase Audige ’17. 21 months to be exact.

After a standout freshman season at William & Mary in which he earned a spot on the CAA All-Rookie Team and won the VaSID Rookie of the Year Award, he entered the NCAA transfer portal in the wake of head coach Tony Shaver’s firing. At that time he was ranked #40 on ESPN‘s list of 2020-21 eligible transfers. In May 2019, he officially transferred to Northwestern, though in order to retain his three remaining years of eligibility he was required to sit out of games in 2019-20 as the Wildcats went 3-17 in Big Ten play to finish in second to last place. But the former Bear is finally able to unleash the firepower he brought to Evanston, IL and led the ‘Cats to a pair of blowout wins to open the season.

Last Wednesday, in his first game action since March 2019, Audige scored 16 points, including three 3-pointers and a fastbreak slam, to help lead Northwestern past Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 92-49.

I think as a team, we were just prepared for this game for so long. I think we have a long way to go with where we need to go, but I think we have some potential.

Audige to North by Northwestern after his debut

Audige followed up his sensational debut with 20 points and 8 rebounds in a 111-66 win over Chicago State on Saturday. Audige and the ‘Cats return to the court tonight in their first Power 5 match-up of the season as they host Pittsburgh in the 22nd Annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

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