| Year: | 2021 |
| Conference: | Big Ten |
| Division: | I |
| Gender: | Men's |
| Teams: | 14 |
| Arena: | Lucas Oil Stadium |
| City: | Indianapolis, IN |
| Champions: | Illinois |
| Titlecount: | 3rd |
| Coach: | Brad Underwood |
| Coachcount: | 1st |
| Mvp: | Ayo Dosunmu |
| Mvpteam: | Illinois |
| Television: | BTN, CBS |
The 2021 Big Ten men's basketball tournament was a postseason men's basketball tournament for the Big Ten Conference of the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season which took place March 10–14, 2021. The tournament was originally to be held at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. However, on February 9, the tournament was moved to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana to better deal with testing concerns raised by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[1]
Illinois defeated Ohio State 91–88 in overtime in the championship game to win the tournament. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
All 14 Big Ten schools participated in the tournament. Teams were seeded by conference record, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with identical conference records. The top 10 teams received a first round bye and the top four teams received a double bye. Tiebreaking procedures remained unchanged from the 2020 tournament.[2]
| Seed | School | Conference | Tiebreak 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michigan | 14–3 | ||
| 2 | Illinois | 16–4 | ||
| 3 | Iowa | 14–6 | ||
| 4 | Purdue | 13–6 | ||
| 5 | Ohio State | 12–8 | ||
| 6 | Wisconsin | 10–10 | 1–0 vs. Rutgers | |
| 7 | Rutgers | 10–10 | 0–1 vs. Wisconsin | |
| 8 | Maryland | 9–11 | 1–0 vs. Michigan State | |
| 9 | Michigan State | 9–11 | 0–1 vs. Maryland | |
| 10 | Indiana | 7–12 | 1–0 vs. Penn State | |
| 11 | Penn State | 7–12 | 0–1 vs. Indiana | |
| 12 | Northwestern | 6–13 | ||
| 13 | Minnesota | 6–14 | ||
| 14 | Nebraska | 3–16 |
| Session | Game | Time* | Matchup# | Television | Attendance | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First round – Wednesday, March 10 | |||||||
| 1 | 1 | 6:30 pm | No. 13 Minnesota vs. No. 12 Northwestern | BTN | 5,909 | 51–46 | |
| 2 | 9:00 pm | No. 14 Nebraska vs. No. 11 Penn State | 66–72 | ||||
| Second round – Thursday, March 11 | |||||||
| 2 | 3 | 11:30 am | No. 9 Michigan State vs. No. 8 Maryland | BTN | 6,206 | 57–68 | |
| 4 | 2:00 pm | No. 13 Minnesota vs. No. 5 Ohio State | 75–79 | ||||
| 3 | 5 | 6:30 pm | No. 10 Indiana vs. No. 7 Rutgers | 6,769 | 50–61 | ||
| 6 | 9:00 pm | No. 11 Penn State vs. No. 6 Wisconsin | 74–75 | ||||
| Quarterfinals – Friday, March 12 | |||||||
| 4 | 7 | 11:30 am | No. 8 Maryland vs. No. 1 Michigan | BTN | 7,634 | 66–79 | |
| 8 | 2:00 pm | No. 5 Ohio State vs. No. 4 Purdue | 87–78OT | ||||
| 5 | 9 | 6:30 pm | No. 7 Rutgers vs. No. 2 Illinois | 7,735 | 68–90 | ||
| 10 | 9:00 pm | No. 6 Wisconsin vs. No. 3 Iowa | 57–62 | ||||
| Semifinals – Saturday, March 13 | |||||||
| 6 | 11 | 1:00 pm | No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 5 Ohio State | CBS | 8,000 | 67–68 | |
| 12 | 3:50 pm | No. 2 Illinois vs. No. 3 Iowa | 82–71 | ||||
| Championship – Sunday, March 14 | |||||||
| 7 | 13 | 3:30 pm | No. 5 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Illinois | CBS | 8,000 | 88–91OT | |
* denotes overtime period