2021 Big Ten men's basketball tournament explained

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.

Seeds

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]

SeedSchoolConferenceTiebreak 1
1Michigan14–3
2Illinois16–4
3Iowa14–6
4Purdue13–6
5Ohio State12–8
6Wisconsin10–101–0 vs. Rutgers
7Rutgers10–100–1 vs. Wisconsin
8Maryland9–111–0 vs. Michigan State
9Michigan State9–110–1 vs. Maryland
10Indiana7–121–0 vs. Penn State
11Penn State7–120–1 vs. Indiana
12Northwestern6–13
13Minnesota6–14
14Nebraska3–16

Schedule

SessionGameTime*Matchup#TelevisionAttendanceScore
First round – Wednesday, March 10
11 6:30 pmNo. 13 Minnesota vs. No. 12 NorthwesternBTN5,90951–46
29:00 pmNo. 14 Nebraska vs. No. 11 Penn State66–72
Second round – Thursday, March 11
2311:30 amNo. 9 Michigan State vs. No. 8 MarylandBTN6,20657–68
42:00 pmNo. 13 Minnesota vs. No. 5 Ohio State75–79
356:30 pmNo. 10 Indiana vs. No. 7 Rutgers6,76950–61
69:00 pmNo. 11 Penn State vs. No. 6 Wisconsin74–75
Quarterfinals – Friday, March 12
4711:30 amNo. 8 Maryland vs. No. 1 MichiganBTN7,63466–79
82:00 pmNo. 5 Ohio State vs. No. 4 Purdue87–78OT
596:30 pmNo. 7 Rutgers vs. No. 2 Illinois7,73568–90
109:00 pmNo. 6 Wisconsin vs. No. 3 Iowa57–62
Semifinals – Saturday, March 13
6111:00 pmNo. 1 Michigan vs. No. 5 Ohio StateCBS8,00067–68
123:50 pmNo. 2 Illinois vs. No. 3 Iowa82–71
Championship – Sunday, March 14
7133:30 pmNo. 5 Ohio State vs. No. 2 IllinoisCBS8,00088–91OT

Bracket

* denotes overtime period

Game summaries

Championship

All-Tournament Team

[3]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Statement on Relocation of the 2021 Big Ten Conference's Men's Basketball Tournament . https://web.archive.org/web/20210209170149/https://bigten.org/news/2021/2/9/statement-on-relocation-of-the-2021-big-ten-conferences-mens-basketball-tournament.aspx . dead . February 9, 2021 . BigTen.org . Big Ten Conference . February 9, 2021 . February 9, 2021.
  2. Web site: Big Ten Basketball Tournament Tiebreakers . Big Ten Conference . October 26, 2015 . December 7, 2020.
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20221230202641/https://bigten.org/documents/2022/11/17/22_23_Men_s_Basketball_Media_Guide.pdf Big Ten Media Guide 2022-23