Northwestern is losing another guard to the transfer portal today after Jordan Clayton's decision was announced earlier this afternoon.
Jayden Reid, who transferred in from USF last offseason, is set to head to another school, according to On3 reporter Joe Tipton. The point guard was a solid offensive performer for the Wildcats this year, averaging 10.1 points per game and five assists.
Reid began the season as Northwestern's primary point guard before freshman Jake West started to eat into his minutes late in the year. The pair played together for stretches as well, and they seemed to be compatible offensively.
The Wildcats are currently going through an unprecedented overhaul of their roster, as Reid joins Clayton, Tre Singleton, Arrinten Page, K.J. Windham, Cade Bennerman, Blake Smith in the portal. This is a fairly shocking development for a program that has boasted high retention rates in recent years and has always been a truly tight-knit group.
Currently, only Jake West remains as a primary, ball-handling guard on Northwestern's roster. Of regular contributors from this past season, only West, Angelo Ciaravino, Tyler Kropp and Max Green remain with the team.
The transfer portal opens tomorrow, and players will start signing with new teams very shortly. Northwestern's head coach Chris Collins will now be under tremendous pressure to bring talent into the program, having to replace, quite frankly, the large majority of his roster in one offseason.
After years of this most recent core sticking together, the Wildcats are quickly being exposed to the harsh reality that a transfer portal-era offseason can bring. Players can leave, and when a team has a really difficult season the odds of players leaving increases. The team itself might also want more flexibility in its own portal mission.
Reid was a bit under-sized for a Big Ten guard, but he made up for some of it with elite speed, ball-handling ability and a nice mid-range jumper from the elbow when he could get open.
His speed also gives him the ability to run out in transition, but he does occasionally get a little loose with the ball in those situations. There were also times where his finish was impacted by trailing defenders because he was a smaller guard.
Defensively, Reid is pesky, but again his size created some mismatch issues for the Wildcats at times. He did have active hands, though, and as the Northwestern's defense made improvements throughout the season, he made more of an impact as well.
Ultimately, losing Reid individually is unfortunate, but the context of this is bordering on astounding. Tomorrow is going to be a big day for Northwestern.