BREAKING: Northwestern guard Julian Roper II enters transfer portal

The offseason for Northwestern men’s basketball is barely a week old, but it’s already taken a sudden left turn.

The Wildcats’ sophomore guard Julian Roper II announced that he has entered the transfer portal. In a post on Twitter Monday afternoon, the sophomore shared his gratitude for NU.

Roper, who joined the ‘Cats prior to the 2021-2022 season, was a 3&D rotational player for Northwestern. He played in 29 games his freshman year, starting the final 15, and averaged 4.0 points and 3.4 rebounds a game.

The Detroit native was expected to play a larger role this season, scoring a career-high 12 points against UIC, but his sophomore campaign was derailed after he suffered an ankle injury early in the first half against Wisconsin. The injury forced Roper to miss three games before No. 5 returned against Michigan 10 days later. In the final moments of the game, Roper reaggravated the injury and missed the rest of the 2022-2023 season, playing only 15 games for the year. In his abbreviated season, Roper averaged 4.4 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.

Roper, a former three-star, had offers from Alabama, Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin before committing to Northwestern. His home-state schools, Michigan and Michigan State, also showed interest.