Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball

The Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball team is an NCAA Division I college basketball team representing Northwestern University in the Big Ten Conference. Men's basketball was introduced at Northwestern in 1901.  the team is coached by Chris Collins. The Wildcats received their only invitation to the NCAA Tournament in 2017, after 78 straight years without a bid. The Wildcats have won two Big Ten conference championships (1931 and 1933).

History
Although Northwestern had great success in the early part of the 20th century, it has spent most of the time since World War II in the bottom half of the Big Ten. The Wildcats were retroactively selected as the 1930–31 national champion by both the Helms Athletic Foundation and the Premo-Porretta Power Poll, and have won only one other conference title, in 1933. It has only finished above fourth place twice since World War II, and did not have a winning record in conference play from 1968 until 2017. During that time, only the 2003–04 team even managed a .500 conference record. On March 1, 2017, the Wildcats won their 10th conference game (a 67–65 win over Michigan) to clinch their first winning Big Ten record in almost half a century. That season also saw the Wildcats make their first NCAA Tournament in school history, winning their first NCAA tournament game 68–66 against Vanderbilt. The Wildcats have also appeared in the National Invitation Tournament seven times (1983, 1994, 1999, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012).

The very first NCAA tournament championship was held at Northwestern in March 1939. Until making their first NCAA Tournament in 2017, Northwestern had been one of five original NCAA Division I schools and the only school from a Power Five conference to have never played an NCAA Tournament game. Northwestern won their first Tournament game, defeating Vanderbilt 68–66. The Wildcats lost in the Second Round, due in part to a horrendous missed no-call of a goal tend, to No. 1-seeded Gonzaga.

Season-by-season records

 
 

 
 
 

Source

Notes
*Due to a scoring error during the Notre Dame game in 1936, a game which was originally ruled a 21–20 win for Notre Dame was determined to be a tie when it was discovered Notre Dame had received on more point than they had actually scored. Notre Dame returned to the court to finish the game, but Northwestern refused to return to the court. The Wildcats left the building and the game was deemed a tie.

†Larry Glass left Northwestern after 18 games in 1969. Brad Snyder coached the remaining six games.

Coaching history

Sources:

Postseason

NCAA Division I tournament results
The Wildcats have appeared in the NCAA Tournament once. Their record is 1–1.

NIT results
The Wildcats have appeared in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) seven times. Their combined record is 5–7.

All-time statistical leaders

Career leaders
 Points Scored: John Shurna (2,038, 2008-2012)
 Assists: Bryant McIntosh (541, 2014–2018)
 Rebounds: Evan Eschmeyer (995, 1995–1999)
 Steals: Pat Baldwin (272, 1990–1994)
 Blocks: Alexandru Olah (169, 2013–2016)

Single-season Leaders
 Points Scored: John Shurna (661, 2012)
 Assists: Bryant McIntosh  (213, 2016)
 Rebounds: Jim Pitts (321, 1966)
 Steals: Pat Baldwin (90, 1991)
 Blocks: Jim Pitts (123, 1966)

Single-game leaders
 Points Scored: Rich Falk (49, 1964)
 Assists: Bryant McIntosh (16, 2018)
 Rebounds: Jim Pitts (29, 1965)
 Steals: Nate Carter (9, 2011)
 Blocks: Jim Pitts (10, 1966)
Source for all statistical leaders:

All-Americans
 Joe Reiff (1931, 1933)
 Otto Graham (1944)
 Max Morris (1946)
 Evan Eschmeyer (1999)
Source:

References

External links
 

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