Over its last three seasons, Northwestern women’s basketball has won just eight conference games — while losing 45.
Things are bad. Really bad.
As coach Joe McKeown prepares for his final season at the helm after announcing his retirement in March, his team will need some serious work in the offseason to make a dent in an increasingly lethal Big Ten.
Opponents have regularly trampled over the Wildcats these past few seasons, with 34 of those 45 conference losses coming by double-digits. The ’Cats finished second to last in the conference in 2025, and had the worst 3-point shooting percentage in the league.
After four West Coast teams joined the Big Ten ahead of last season, NU missed out on this year’s conference tournament, where only 15 of 18 total teams earned a bid.
As women’s basketball viewership and attendance have skyrocketed nationwide, NU remains a program stuck in the past.
While 14 Big Ten teams ranked among the top 40 in attendance this past season, Welsh-Ryan Arena has long been a ghost town when McKeown’s group takes the court. Only a handful of student fans attend each game and visiting crowds often drown out the few NU fans in the stands.
In one game this past season when the ’Cats trailed Illinois by 37 points in the fourth quarter, McKeown criticized his squad’s routinely dismal shooting as one cause for concern.
“We’re not good three-point shooters,” McKeown said after that Jan. 23 loss. “The best three-point shooters in the gym are my three assistant coaches. It’s not what we do.”
To make matters worse, NU graduated its top three scorers at the conclusion of last season: former guard Melannie Daley and forwards Caileigh Walsh and Taylor Williams. Daley transferred to Virginia Tech for her final year of eligibility.
Daley and Walsh had long led the program, consistently serving as sparks off the bench in the sixth-man slot. Williams joined the team ahead of last season after transferring from Michigan.
The ’Cats will return rising senior guard Caroline Lau and rising junior guard Casey Harter, who have split ball-handling duties over the past two seasons.
Lau has been a crucial facilitator throughout her career, leading the Big Ten in assists last year with six per game. On the downside, Lau has often struggled with ball security, turning the ball over three or more times in 17 games last season.
Then-freshman guards Kat Righeimer and Xamiya Walton saw increased playing time at the tail end of last season, as did then-freshman forward Tayla Thomas.
McKeown also picked up a handful of transfers in the portal so far this offseason, including DaiJa Turner, a forward from TCU, and Tate Walters, a 5-foot-9 guard from Furman. Former NU lacrosse standout Sammy White also announced she will join the team as a graduate student this season.
But the ’Cats schedule could prove tricky, as they host both USC and UCLA this season — both of whom made the Elite Eight last year.
NU will begin play in November as it begins its nonconference slate.
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