The 2021 Big Ten women's basketball tournament was a postseason tournament held from March 9–13, 2021 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The winner of this tournament, Maryland earned an automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament.
Seeds Only 13 out of the 14 Big Ten schools participated in the tournament. Ohio State did not compete this year due to a self-imposed postseason ban. Teams were seeded by 2020–21 Big Ten Conference season record. The top 11 teams received a first-round bye and the top four teams received a double bye.
Seed School Conf Tiebreaker1Maryland‡##17–12 Indiana##16–23 Rutgers##10–34Michigan##9–45Northwestern#11–76Iowa#11–87Michigan State#7–78Nebraska#9–109 Minnesota#7–1110Penn State#6–1211Purdue#4–1412Illinois2–1613Wisconsin2–17
Schedule
GameTimeMatchupScoreTelevisionAttendance First round – Tuesday, March 915:00 pmNo. 12 Illinois vs. No. 13 Wisconsin67−42BTN460 Second round – Wednesday, March 10211:00 amNo. 8 Nebraska vs. No. 9 Minnesota72−61BTN716325 min. after game 2No. 5 Northwestern vs. No. 12 Illinois67−4246:30 pmNo. 7 Michigan State vs. No. 10 Penn State75−66FS21,064525 min. after game 4No. 6 Iowa vs. No. 11 Purdue83−72 Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 11611:00 amNo. 1 Maryland vs. No. 8 Nebraska83−73FS2779725 min. after game 6No. 4 Michigan vs. No. 5 Northwestern49−6586:30 pmNo. 2 Indiana vs. No. 7 Michigan State61−69925 min. after game 8No. 3 Rutgers vs. No. 6 Iowa62−73 Semifinals – Friday, March 12102:00 pmNo. 1 Maryland vs. No. 5 Northwestern85−52FS21125 min. after game 10 No. 6 Iowa vs. No. 7 Michigan State87−72 Championship – Saturday, March 13122:00 pmNo. 1 Maryland vs. No. 6 Iowa104−84ESPNU1,202Game times in Eastern Time. Rankings denote tournament seeding.
Bracket All times are Eastern.
* denotes overtime period
References