After a one-year hiatus, the Northwestern men’s basketball program has revived its “By The Players” uniform series for Sunday’s game against Minnesota (7:30 p.m. ET on BTN).
The black uniforms were designed by seniors Ryan Greer, Pete Nance and Elijah Williams and prominently display “The ‘Cats” across the chest, mimicking the Golden State Warriors’ 2019-20 City Edition uniform. It’s also a nod to the location of Northwestern’s campus and Williams’ hometown of Evanston, Illinois, which – like Oakland – is referred to as “The Town.”
The shorts featured a ball with claws around it, similar to the Atlanta Hawks’ logo from 1995-2015, which featured a hawk gripping the ball in its talons, as a reference to Greer’s hometown. It’s also an ode to the “By The Players” uniforms the group wore as freshmen in 2018-19, which pulled inspiration from the Vancouver Grizzlies.
Lastly, there’s an outline of the Chicago skyline above the numbers on the back of the jersey, with a bold stripe featuring three different shades of purple below it. That honors the striped uniforms the Cleveland Cavaliers wore from 1974-80 as a nod to where Nance’s father played and he grew up – though we would be remiss if we didn’t point out those uniform predated his father’s time with the franchise.
The uniform, which feature white numbers with a purple stroke, is complete with silver trim on the jersey and shorts, as well as the player’s name on the back below the numbers.
This marks the fifth time the Wildcats have worn player-designed uniforms, including a gray uniform with various slogans and imagery associated with the program in 2014, a white pinstriped uniform that featured the logo from the football team’s helmet on the shorts in 2018, the aforementioned Grizzlies-inspired look in 2019 and a purple and lavender uniform that included the Chicago skyline inside a motion-style wordmark in 2020.
Northwestern is 2-2 while wearing the “By The Players” uniforms, including 1-2 since it became a seniors-only tradition.
Photos courtesy of @NUMensBball on Twitter.
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