Northwestern basketball announces updates to men’s and women’s uniforms, keeping “Chicago’s Own” jerseys

Although Northwestern basketball is striving to maintain its mojo and rhythm from an enchanting 2022-23 season, its jerseys won’t exactly carry over.

On Thursday evening, the school announced modifications to its base jerseys (white home and purple away) for both the men’s and women’s program. Notably, the Under Armour logo has shifted from the left chest to atop the jersey; the “Northwestern” script is now slightly arched, instead of linear; striping extends from the base to the sleeves; and the same style of piping now wraps around the shorts.

“We want to make sure our Northwestern brand is still the brand,” assistant equipment manager Jeren McGhee said about the slight updates. “We would hate for our jerseys to represent somebody else, or get mistaken for another team. We just try to make it a tweak; little changes here and there.”

The men’s team will retain its gray and gothic jerseys, which also feature minimal changes; more specifically, the logo and piping is different on the gray, while the gothic will have additional striping. Moreover, McGhee confirmed to Inside NU that the men’s squad will continue donning its all-white “Chicago’s Own” jerseys that debuted last year, and quickly became fan favorites. McGhee said fans can expect to see them “a couple of times” throughout 2023-24.

The last alterations made to Northwestern’s jerseys came in 2019, when striping was removed from the base of the jersey. Those uniforms had been in effect through last season. The team circulates new uniforms every four years with Under Armour as part of its partnership.

As for team reaction, early reads appear very positive.

“The guys love them,” McGhee said. “We always say, ‘You look good, you play good.’ The new jerseys that we have, we hope the guys can play well [in] and get us back to the NCAA Tournament.”

The men’s ‘Cats will debut their new garb when they take on McKendree on Nov. 1 in an exhibition, followed by a home clash with Binghamton on Nov. 6. As for the women’s team, the debut of such nascent garb comes Nov. 2 against Lewis, and Nov. 9 vs. UIC in actual gameplay.