2017–18 Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball team

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2017–18 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 5 Michigan State	16	–	2		.889			30	–	5		.857
No. 11 Purdue	15	–	3		.833			30	–	7		.811
No. 17 Ohio State	15	–	3		.833			25	–	9		.735
No. 7 Michigan †	13	–	5		.722			33	–	8		.805
Nebraska	13	–	5		.722			22	–	11		.667
Penn State	9	–	9		.500			26	–	13		.667
Indiana	9	–	9		.500			16	–	15		.516
Maryland	8	–	10		.444			19	–	13		.594
Wisconsin	7	–	11		.389			15	–	18		.455
Northwestern	6	–	12		.333			15	–	17		.469
Minnesota	4	–	14		.222			15	–	17		.469
Illinois	4	–	14		.222			14	–	18		.438
Iowa	4	–	14		.222			14	–	19		.424
Rutgers	3	–	15		.167			15	–	19		.441
† 2018 Big Ten tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

The 2017–18 Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball team will represent Northwestern University in the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They will be led by fifth-year head coach Chris Collins as members of the Big Ten Conference. They will play their home games at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois while their home arena, Welsh-Ryan Arena, undergoes renovations.

Previous season

The Wildcats finished the 2016–17 season 24–12, 10–8 in Big Ten play to finish in a tie for fifth place. In the Big Ten Tournament, they defeated Rutgers and Maryland before losing to Wisconsin in the semifinals. They received the school's first ever bid to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 8 seed in the West region. In the First Round, they defeated No. 9-seeded Vanderbilt before losing to No. 1-seeded Gonzaga in the Second Round.

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
Sanjay Lumpkin	34	G/F	6'6"	220	Senior	Wayzata, MN	Graduated
Nathan Taphorn	32	F	6'7"	215	Senior	Pekin, IL	Graduated

2017 recruiting class

College recruiting information

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Anthony Gaines SG	New Hampton, New Hampshire	New Hampton School	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sep 27, 2016
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 79
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2017 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved June 4, 2015.

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
TBA, 2017*		TBD						Allstate Arena  Rosemont, IL
Regular season
Nov 14, 2017*		Creighton Gavitt Tipoff Games						Allstate Arena  Rosemont, IL
Nov 18–19, 2017*		vs. TBA Hall of Fame Tipoff						Mohegan Sun Resort  Uncasville, CT
Nov 27–29, 2017*		Georgia Tech Big Ten-ACC Challenge						Hank McCamish Pavilion  Atlanta, GA
Dec 2017		TBA (conference opponent)
Dec 2017		TBA (conference opponent)
Big Ten Tournament
Feb 28 – Mar 4, 2018		vs.						Madison Square Garden  New York, NY
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time.

Rankings

Main article: 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Ranking movements

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Final
AP																				Not released
Coaches

*AP does not release post-NCAA tournament rankings