Missing him already.
With Luke Hunger officially entering the transfer portal this past Friday, it’s only right to give the early graduate a proper send-off with a player review. It was an up-and-down year for the third-year big man, but how did he fare overall?
The Good
In all honesty, a majority of “the good” for Hunger this season came before the New Year. The Montreal native saw himself squarely in the rotation to begin the season, backing up Matt Nicholson while transfer Keenan Fitzmorris continued to look to carve a role of his own.
He started his season off with a bang, capitalizing on an opening night blowout win over Lehigh at Welsh-Ryan Arena with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting. In the first 15 games of the year, the junior averaged just under 16 minutes a game, playing some serious minutes while head coach Chris Collins allowed Nicholson time to earn his necessary rest. For much of that time, Hunger was his normal self: a hard worker, tough player and relatively efficient on offense, never trying to be too selfish but instead make the right play. In a sense, he represented what NU basketball was all about in the Collins era.
The Bad
It couldn’t have been a tale of two halves of a season for Hunger. While the first half of the year we can clearly distinguish as “the good,” so can we do with the remaining second half and “the bad.” After back-to-back losses to Penn State and Purdue to open up 2025, Hunger went down with a nagging foot injury and wouldn’t come back until later that month. From there, everything was downhill.
The effect that the forward’s lower-body injury had on him was clear. Following his return, Hunger looked a little slower, more uncomfortable and was lacking severely on both sides of the ball, outperformed by the strong Big Ten big men he was guarding night in and night out.
After receiving regular rotational minutes in November and December, Hunger’s time on the floor was cut severely. He would appear in just 10 of the 15 remaining games of the year, and got double-digit minutes in just three of them. His impact also suffered as a result: after putting up multiple double-digit games early in the year, Hunger rarely saw the ball go in the basket as the season dwindled to a close.
The Bottom Line
Expectations were high entering the season for Hunger. After seeing a minutes increase towards the end of the 2023-24 season — especially following Nicholson’s season-ending foot injury — it looked like Hunger might be primed for another year backing up the fifth-year big while providing some important hustle minutes in a fierce Big Ten. Ultimately, though, that hope didn’t come to fruition.
Hunger was, of course, a great presence to have on the team. Remaining loyal to Collins throughout his tenure, he never wavered despite the uncertain minutes he was dealt and continued to contribute to the team despite having to play behind one or more forwards for his entire time in Evanston. Hunger nonetheless played significant roles on each of the last two Northwestern teams to make tournament appearances, and earned his credibility as a relatively seasoned college veteran.
As he ventures onto the next chapter of his college basketball careeer, we ought to remain grateful for the time Hunger gave us Wildcats fans as a loyal patriot to the purple and white, even if he didn’t become the reliable starter many had wished to eventually see.