Northwestern men’s basketball player reviews: The Bench

Northwestern’s remaining five players saw little to no playing time over the course of the season. With four of them as new additions to a young and inexperienced team, they earned their stripes as they hope to earn more minutes later in their careers.

Here’s how Northwestern’s bench fared this year.

Chase Audige

Audige transferred from William and Mary at the end of last year, where he averaged 9.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game and shot 37 percent from beyond the arc. He appeared in 31 games, started 21 of them and was selected to the Colonial Athletic Association’s All-Rookie First Team during his freshman season.

While the 6-foot-4 guard had to sit out this year due to NCAA rules, he will have three seasons of eligibility remaining in Evanston. With Pat Spencer and A.J. Turner graduating, Audige is a prime candidate to fill in for their absences in the backcourt.

Tino Malnati

The fan favorite appeared in nine games in his redshirt junior season and earned his first career start in the senior night victory over Penn State. He recorded a career-high three rebounds in the matchup and registered his first career points in the ‘Cats’ 77-61 loss in Happy Valley earlier in the season. According to 247Sports.com, Malnati has entered the transfer portal for his final year of eligibility.

Roy Dixon III

The freshman walk-on guard did not see any playing time this season and will redshirt.

Dylan Sandhu

The former Butler Bulldogs’ student manager did not see any time on the court in his redshirt freshman season. The walk-on now has three seasons of eligibility to remaining.

Eric Zalewski

Zalewski brought us one of our favorite stories out of this season as the former team manager began his playing career as a walk-on redshirt sophomore. He got in the action in the dying minutes of two games this season but did not record a stat. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining.