The 2020 Big Ten men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Big Ten Conference of the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The tournament remained in its more traditional Midwest roots as it was held at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The first round games on March 11 were played with spectators in attendance. Later on March 11, the Big Ten conference announced that the remainder of the Big Ten tournament would proceed as scheduled but with no spectators in attendance due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.Horner, Scott - Ten bans most fans for men's basketball tournament, starting Thursday. Indianapolis Star. March 11, 2020Big Ten reverses course, bans fans from hoops tournament, as well as all spring sporting events. Detroit News, March 11, 2020
Also on March 11, the NCAA announced that no fans would be able to attend the men's and women's 2020 NCAA tournament games due to concerns about the outbreak of COVID-19. A number of college conferences followed suit by either cancelling their basketball tournaments entirely or limiting spectator attendance.Blinder, Alan and Witz, Billy - Citing Coronavirus, Ivy League Cancels Basketball Tournaments. New York Times, March 10, 2020
On March 12, the Big Ten announced the cancellation of the remainder of the tournament.
The NCAA further announced that all remaining winter and spring championships for both men's and women's sports were canceled due to the pandemic.
Seeds All 14 Big Ten schools were scheduled to participate 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 2019 tournament.
SeedSchoolConf.Tiebreak 1Tiebreak 21Wisconsin14–62–1 vs. Michigan State/Maryland2Michigan State14–62–2 vs. Wisconsin/Maryland3Maryland14–61–2 vs. Wisconsin/Michigan State4Illinois13–75Iowa11–93–1 vs. Ohio State/Penn State/Rutgers6Penn State11–93–3 vs. Iowa/Ohio State/Rutgers2–2 vs. Wisconsin/Michigan State/Maryland7Ohio State11–92–2 vs. Iowa/Penn State/Rutgers1–4 vs. Wisconsin/Michigan State/Maryland8Rutgers11–91–3 vs. Iowa/Penn State/Ohio State9Michigan10–1010Purdue9–112–0 vs. Indiana11Indiana9–110–2 vs. Purdue12Minnesota8–1213Northwestern3–1714Nebraska2–18
Schedule SessionGameTime*Matchup#TelevisionAttendanceScore First round – Wednesday, March 1111 6:00 pmNo. 13 Northwestern vs. No. 12 MinnesotaBTN57–7428:30 pmNo. 14 Nebraska vs. No. 11 Indiana64–89 Second round – Thursday, March 122312:00 pmNo. 9 Michigan vs. No. 8 RutgersBTNCancelled42:30 pmNo. 12 Minnesota vs. No. 5 Iowa356:30 pmNo. 10 Purdue vs. No. 7 Ohio State69:00 pmNo. 11 Indiana vs. No. 6 Penn State Quarterfinals – Friday, March 134712:00 pmGame 3 winner vs. No. 1 WisconsinBTNCancelled82:30 pmGame 4 winner vs. No. 4 Illinois596:30 pmGame 5 winner vs. No. 2 Michigan State109:00 pmGame 6 winner vs. No. 3 Maryland Semifinals – Saturday, March 146111:00 pmGame 7 winner vs. Game 8 winnerCBSCancelled123:30 pmGame 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner Championship – Sunday, March 157133:30 pmGame 11 winner vs. Game 12 winnerCBSCancelled *Game times in Eastern Time. #Rankings denote tournament seeding.
Bracket
Game summaries
First round
See also 2020 Big Ten Conference women's basketball tournament
References