The Wildcats beat out several high-major schools for a graduate student from Northeastern.
The Wildcats' roster is slowly coming together. Friday began with a transfer commitment on the wing, and it ended with another in the backcourt.
Chris Collins signed his fourth player out of the portal on Friday afternoon with 6-foot-5 guard LA Pratt, who has one season of eligibility remaining. Pratt will go from Northeastern University in Boston to Northwestern University in the greater Chicago area for his graduate year.
The Columbus, Ohio, native announced his decision to join the 'Cats on social media. According to Wildcat Report's Louie Vaccher, Pratt had scheduled visits to Ohio State, Stanford and Boston College, but cancelled them following his trip to Evanston on Apr. 15.
Pratt is the fourth player to commit to Collins and the Wildcats in as many days. Bellarmine wing Jack Karasinski started the run on Tuesday, then Mount St. Mary's forward Luke McEldon committed a day later. UC Santa Barbara wing Colin Smith joined the group on Friday morning before Pratt's afternoon announcement.
Northwestern's backcourt receives a significant boost with the addition of Pratt. Rising sophomore Jake West is a shoo-in to start at point guard, but the rest of the group is shaky. Junior Angelo Ciaravino may be best-suited as a small forward, while Phoenix Gill received minimal playing time as a freshman last season.
Pratt began his career at Elon as a part of the same 2022 recruiting class as Nick Martinelli, before the Big Ten's leading scorer flipped to NU. He spent two seasons with the Phoenix before transferring to Northeastern, where Pratt started 29 of 31 games as a junior and averaged 11.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
When he faced off against Northwestern on Dec. 29, 2024, Pratt compiled 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting, seven rebounds, four assists and a steal in 39 minutes.
Pratt started his senior season hot with 26 points, four assists and three steals against Boston University, then played all 40 minutes in the following outing. However, Pratt suffered a season-ending foot injury in just his third game, forcing the Huskies to shut him down for the year. The guard was averaging 17.0 points, 3.3 assists, 1.7 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game before the injury.
The Wildcats now have nine expected roster spots filled, with three coming from returners, four being transfers and two being incoming freshmen. Collins still has six more spots to seek potential fits over the coming weeks.