The Northwestern men's basketball team is set for a battle of unbeatens on Friday night as the 3-0 DePaul Blue Demons come to Evanston for a 8:00 PM CT tip off.

The Wildcats, 3-0, have managed victories in their last two games despite being without their leading scorer from the season opener, Jack Karasinski. The transfer forward from Bellarmine dropped 24 points in his debut but was unavailable against Stony Brook and Boston University as he works through concussion protocol.

Ahead of this contest, head coach Chris Collins gave an update on where Karasinski is in the protocol and whether they expect to have him back tomorrow during Thursday's media availability.

Collins said they are "hopeful" and "optimistic" regarding Karasinski but was not able to say one way or another about his status for Friday. The forward has yet to get through all the checkpoints to receive final clearance, but Collins indicated that there was a good chance he would be able to participate more on Thursday before making a final decision on Friday.

"He's been able to work out and get on the floot a little bit, hoping to be able to be cleared to do a little bit more today, and then we'll have a better idea fully tomorrow," Collins said.

"But we're optimistic that you know as long as there's no setback, that we might have a chance to have Jack tomorrow, which would be big because he's obviously a big part of what we try to do out there on the court."

Karasinski shined in his first game in purple and white, nailing seven threes on 11 attempts during an 86-60 victory over Binghamton. Since he's gone out, Northwestern has leaned on guards Jake West, LA Pratt, and Phoenix Gill to carry the scoring load, but adding the 6-foot-7 Karasinski back into the fold would be a huge boost for the 'Cats frontcourt.

As Collins points out, Karasinski is was a big part of the offseason plan to bring in veteran experience to bolster a unit with returning young standouts in West and Gill. A fifth-year grad student with two years at William & Mary and two years at Bellarmine, the Michigan native will surely be leaned on to steady the young stars throughout the season.

Karasinski earned All-Conference honors (First Team All-ASUN) in 2025 averaging 21.7 points and 4.7 rebounds while shooting 56.1% from the field and 41.5% from three for Bellarmine.