Northwestern began their inaugural season of intercollegiate play in 1904–1905, losing their first game to University of Chicago 19–34. They went 2–2 their first season, losing to University of Chicago twice, and defeating Beloit and Iowa.[4][5]
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,[6] 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.[7] The Wildcats have also appeared in the National Invitation Tournament seven times (1983, 1994, 1999, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012).
The first NCAA tournament championship was held at Northwestern in March 1939.[8][9] 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 conference to have never played an NCAA Tournament game.[10][11][12] Northwestern won their first Tournament game, defeating Vanderbilt 68–66.[13] The Wildcats lost in the Second Round to No. 1-seeded Gonzaga.[14]
In 1998, two former players were charged and convicted for sports bribery, having been paid to shave points in games against three other Big Ten schools during the 1995 season.[15][16][17]
The 2022–23 team finished in a tie for second place in the Big Ten regular season, which is their best finish in the conference since the 1958–59 season.
^ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 541. ISBN978-0-345-51392-2.
