2008–09 Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball team

2008–09 Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball
2008–09 Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball
NIT, First Round
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	17–14 (8–10 Big Ten)
Head coach	Bill Carmody (9th season);
Assistant coach	Tavaras Hardy (1st season)
Home arena	Welsh-Ryan Arena
	Seasons ← 2007–08 2009–10 →

2008–09 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 8 Michigan State	15	–	3	.833	31	–	7	.816
No. 17 Purdue†	11	–	7	.611	27	–	10	.730
Illinois	11	–	7	.611	24	–	10	.706
Penn State	10	–	8	.556	27	–	11	.711
Ohio State	10	–	8	.556	22	–	11	.667
Wisconsin	10	–	8	.556	20	–	13	.606
Minnesota	9	–	9	.500	22	–	11	.667
Michigan	9	–	9	.500	21	–	14	.600
Northwestern	8	–	10	.444	17	–	14	.548
Iowa	5	–	13	.278	15	–	17	.469
Indiana	1	–	17	.056	6	–	25	.194

† 2009 Big Ten tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

The 2008–09 Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball team represented Northwestern University in the 2008–09 college basketball season. This was head coach Bill Carmody's ninth season at the Northwestern. The Wildcats are members of the Big Ten Conference and played their home games at Welsh-Ryan Arena. They finished the season 17–14, 8–10 in Big Ten play, lost in the first round of the 2009 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament and were invited to the 2009 National Invitation Tournament where they lost in the first round to the University of Tulsa. Northwestern matched their school record for most wins in a season and recorded their first post-season appearance since 1999.

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Nov 16, 2008* BTN.com	Central Arkansas	W 81–39	1–0	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Nov 19, 2008* BTN.com	Texas A&M-CC	W 66–48	2–0	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Nov 22, 2008*	at Brown	W 73–64	3–0	Pizzitola Sports Center Providence, RI
Nov 26, 2008*	at Butler	L 53–57	3–1	Hinkle Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN
Dec 1, 2008* BTN.com	UC Riverside	W 59–43	4–1	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Dec 3, 2008* ESPN2	Florida State	W 73–59	5–1	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Dec 6, 2008* BTN	DePaul	W 63–36	6–1	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Dec 15, 2008* BTN	UMKC	W 77–62	7–1	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Dec 20, 2008*	at Stanford	L 59–65	7–2	Maples Pavilion Stanford, CA
Dec 23, 2008* BTN	SMU	W 66–55	8–2	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Dec 31, 2008 ESPN2	at Penn State	L 57–61	8–3 (0-1)	Bryce Jordan Center University Park, PA
Jan 3, 2009 BTN	No. 10 Michigan State	L 66–77	8–4 (0-2)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Jan 7, 2009 BTN	at Wisconsin	L 45–74	8–5 (0-3)	Kohl Center Madison, WI
Jan 15, 2009 ESPN2	No. 19 Purdue	L 61–63	8–6 (0-4)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Jan 18, 2009 BTN	No. 18 Minnesota	W 74–65	9–6 (1-4)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Jan 21, 2009 BTN	at No. 7 Michigan State	W 70–63	10–6 (2-4)	Breslin Center East Lansing, MI
Jan 24, 2009 BTN	at Michigan	L 59–68	10–7 (2-5)	Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, MI
Jan 28, 2009 BTN	Indiana	W 77–75	11–7 (3-5)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Jan 31, 2009 BTN	Wisconsin	W 66–63	12–7 (4-5)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Feb 4, 2009* BTN.com	Chicago State	W 75–63	13–7	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Feb 7, 2009 BTN	at Iowa	L 51–56	13–8 (4-6)	Carver-Hawkeye Arena Iowa City, IA
Feb 12, 2009 ESPN2	No. 22 Illinois	L 59–60	13–9 (4-7)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Feb 15, 2009 BTN	Michigan	L 67–70 ^OT	13–10 (4-8)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Feb 18, 2009 BTN	Ohio State	W 72–69	14–10 (5-8)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Feb 22, 2009 BTN	at Minnesota	L 45–72	14–11 (5-9)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
Feb 25, 2009 BTN	at Indiana	W 75–53	15–11 (6-9)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
Feb 28, 2009 BTN	Iowa	W 55–49	16–11 (7-9)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Mar 4, 2009 BTN	at No. 19 Purdue	W 64–61	17–11 (8-9)	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, IN
Mar 8, 2009 BTN	at Ohio State	L 47–52	17–12 (8-10)	Schottenstein Center Columbus, OH
Big Ten tournament
Mar 12, 2009 BTN	vs. Minnesota	L 53–66	17–13 (8-10)	Conseco Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN
NIT
Mar 18, 2009 ESPNU	at Tulsa	L 59–68	17–14 (8-10)	Reynolds Center Tulsa, OK
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

References

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