On Friday, Northwestern faces their first Power 5 opponent, the DePaul Blue Demons at Wintrust Arena. 

DePaul is led by Chris Holtmann — this is his second year leading the program. Holtmann's squad went 14-20 last season with a 4-16 clip in conference play. 

This season, DePaul is expected to be a more competitive team led by returners CJ Gunn and NJ Benson.

Here is some in-depth info about these two key players:

CJ Gunn is a 6′7, 200-pound guard from Indianapolis, Indiana, who has emerged as one of DePaul’s key leaders entering the 2025-26 season. A Lawrence North High School graduate, Gunn began his college career at Indiana University. After two seasons with the Hoosiers, Gunn transferred to DePaul in 2024 and quickly became a key performer. In his first season with the Blue Demons, he led the team in scoring at 12.9 points per game, recorded 43 steals, and posted 21 double-figure scoring outings, including four games with over 20 points. Known for his athleticism, length, and disruptive defense, Gunn brings a rare combination of size and versatility to the guard position. Entering his second year at DePaul, Gunn is expected to play a major leadership role. 

NJ Benson is a 6-foot-8, 235-pound forward from Mount Vernon, Illinois who is heading into his senior season. After beginning his collegiate career at Missouri State Bears, where he averaged 8.6 points and 7.9 rebounds per game as a sophomore, Benson transferred to DePaul for the 2024-25 season and made an immediate impact. He played in 28 games last year, averaging 9.0 points and 6.2 rebounds per contest while shooting 60.6% from the field and posting 1.36 blocks per game—ranking among the leaders in the conference. Benson is expected to anchor DePaul’s frontcourt with his rebounding, rim protection and efficient scoring inside. He will be a challenge for Wildcat forwards such as Arrinten Page and Tre Singleton with his size. 

Overall, Northwestern has consistently played well against DePaul, going 8-2 in their last ten matchups, with a current three game winning streak. However, Chris Collins' teams have struggled against Holtmann's squads when he was at Butler and Ohio State. It will be interesting to see how these teams matchup on Friday. 

Here is what the predictive metrics say about this game. 

ESPN BPI: Northwestern 68.4%

Northwestern is 46th on ESPN's BPI rankings with an 11.9, whereas DePaul is 102nd with a 4.4 BPI. 

Bart Torvik: DePaul 58%, -2.5 

Torvik's rankings have DePaul and Northwestern as almost equivalent teams, combining the predictive metrics with the first of the first 2-3 games. These rankings have to be taken with a grain of salt and will drastically change and become more accurate as the year goes on.

Kenpom: Northwestern, -8.5

Kenpom is much higher on Northwestern, 40th, and much lower on DePaul, 92nd. Once again these are entirely predictive metrics. Yet it is interesting to see the variety of data predicting these two teams, especially NU. Lots of questions since there are eight new players.

I will be watching the DePaul vs Buffalo game tonight (or at least keep track of it) and will add anything interesting that I notice. Overall, I think if NU plays like they have, we should handle this team.

Let me know your thoughts.