2020–21 Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball

Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	9–15 (6–13 Big Ten)
Head coach	Chris Collins (8th season)
Assistant coaches	Brian James Emanuel Dildy Jon Borovich
Home arena	Welsh–Ryan Arena
Seasons ← 2019–20 2021–22 →

	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 4 Michigan	14	–	3	.824	23	–	5	.821
No. 2 Illinois †	16	–	4	.800	24	–	7	.774
No. 8 Iowa	14	–	6	.700	22	–	9	.710
No. 20 Purdue	13	–	6	.684	18	–	10	.643
No. 7 Ohio State	12	–	8	.600	21	–	10	.677
Wisconsin	10	–	10	.500	18	–	13	.581
Rutgers	10	–	10	.500	16	–	12	.571
Maryland	9	–	11	.450	17	–	14	.548
Michigan State	9	–	11	.450	15	–	13	.536
Indiana	7	–	12	.368	12	–	15	.444
Penn State	7	–	12	.368	11	–	14	.440
Northwestern	6	–	13	.316	9	–	15	.375
Minnesota	6	–	14	.300	14	–	15	.483
Nebraska	3	–	16	.158	7	–	20	.259

† Conference tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Reason for departure
A. J. Turner	21	F	6'7"	200	Rs Sr	Mount Clemens, MI	Graduated
Pat Spencer	12	G	6'3"	205	Grad Student	Davidsonville, MD	Completed athletic eligibility; graduated from Loyola (MD) in 2019

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
December 2, 2020* 8:00 pm, BTN		Arkansas–Pine Bluff	W 92–49	1–0	18 – Kopp	7 – Tied	8 – Greer	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
December 5, 2020* 4:00 pm, BTN		Chicago State	W 111–66	2–0	20 – Audige	12 – Gaines	7 – Buie	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
December 9, 2020* 8:15 pm, ESPN		Pittsburgh ACC–Big Ten Challenge	L 70–71	2–1	14 – Buie	7 – Tied	6 – Buie	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
December 13, 2020* 3:00 pm, ESPNU		SIU Edwardsville	Cancelled due to COVID-19 issues at SIU-Edwardsville					Welsh–Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
December 15, 2020* 3:00 pm, BTN+		Quincy	W 100–48	3–1	23 – Kopp	7 – Nance	4 – Tied	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
December 20, 2020 6:00 pm, BTN		No. 4 Michigan State	W 79–65	4–1 (1–0)	30 – Buie	12 – Nance	4 – Tied	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
December 23, 2020 7:30 pm, BTN		at Indiana	W 74–67	5–1 (2–0)	17 – Audige	9 – Young	4 – Buie	Assembly Hall (0) Bloomington, IN
December 26, 2020 1:00 pm, FS1		No. 23 Ohio State	W 71–70	6–1 (3–0)	23 – Kopp	7 – Young	5 – Buie	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
December 29, 2020 8:00 pm, FS1	No. 19	at No. 10 Iowa	L 72–87	6–2 (3–1)	21 – Nance	6 – Buie	8 – Buie	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (464) Iowa City, IA
January 3, 2021 6:30 pm, BTN	No. 19	at No. 16 Michigan	L 66-85	6-3 (3-2)	14 – Beran	7 – Young	4 – Buie	Crisler Center (88) Ann Arbor, MI
January 7, 2021 8:00 pm, BTN		No. 12 Illinois	L 56-81	6-4 (3-3)	11 – Beran	5 – Tied	4 – Beran	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
January 13, 2021 6:00 pm, BTN		at No. 21 Ohio State	L 71-81	6-5 (3-4)	25 – Audige	9 – Kopp	6 – Buie	Value City Arena (0) Columbus, OH
January 17, 2021 11:00 am, CBS		No. 5 Iowa	L 73-96	6-6 (3-5)	16 – Nance	9 – Nance	6 – Greer	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
January 20, 2021 8:00 pm, BTN		at No. 10 Wisconsin	L 52-68	6-7 (3-6)	16 – Audige	12 – Nance	5 – Buie	Kohl Center (0) Madison, WI
January 23, 2021 6:00 pm, BTN		at Penn State	L 78-81	6-8 (3-7)	19 – Kopp	7 – Nance	4 – Buie	Bryce Jordan Center (273) University Park, PA
January 31, 2021 6:30 pm, BTN		Rutgers	L 56-64	6-9 (3-8)	15 – Kopp	9 – Nance	3 – Tied	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
February 3, 2021 8:00 pm, BTN		No. 4 Michigan	Postponed due to COVID-19 issues at Michigan^[2]					Welsh–Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
February 6, 2021 3:30 pm, BTN		at No. 24 Purdue	L 70-75	6-10 (3-9)	20 – Nance	8 – Nance	6 – Tied	Mackey Arena (250) West Lafayette, IN
February 10, 2021 4:30 pm, BTN		Indiana	L 76-79 ^2OT	6-11 (3-10)	19 – Audige	7 – Nance	5 – Young	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
February 13, 2021 4:00 pm, BTN		at No. 25 Rutgers	L 50–64	6–12 (3–11)	11 – Tied	7 – Nance	3 – Buie	Rutgers Athletic Center (0) Piscataway, NJ
February 16, 2021 8:00 pm, BTN		at No. 5 Illinois	L 66–73	6–13 (3–12)	22 – Audige	7 – Gaines	1 – Tied	State Farm Center (162) Champaign, IL
February 21, 2021 6:00 pm, BTN		No. 21 Wisconsin	L 51–68	6–14 (3–13)	19 – Buie	6 – Gaines	4 – Buie	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
February 25, 2021 8:00 pm, BTN		at Minnesota	W 67–59	7–14 (4–13)	25 – Buie	8 – Young	4 – Nance	Williams Arena (23) Minneapolis, MN
March 3, 2021 8:00 pm, BTN		Maryland	W 60–55	8–14 (5–13)	15 – Buie	7 – Young	4 – Greer	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
March 7, 2021 12:30 pm, BTN		Nebraska	W 79–78	9–14 (6–13)	14 – Audige	7 – Nance	6 – Buie	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
Big Ten tournament
March 10, 2021 5:30 pm, BTN	(13)	vs. (12) Minnesota First round	L 46–51	9–15	9 – Kopp	11 – Nance	3 – Buie	Lucas Oil Stadium (5,909) Indianapolis, IN
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP	—	—	—	—	RV	19	RV	RV	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Not released
Coaches	—	—	—	—	—	22	RV	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

v t e Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball
Venues	Old Patten Gymnasium (1910–1940) Patten Gymnasium (1940–1952) Welsh–Ryan Arena (1952–present) Allstate Arena (2017–2018)
Rivalries	Illinois
Culture & lore	"Go U Northwestern" Willie the Wildcat
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championship in bold

Previous season

Offseason

Departures

Recruiting class

Roster

Schedule and results

Rankings

References