The 2025 Big Ten women's basketball tournament (branded as the 2025 TIAA Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament for sponsorship reasons) was a postseason women's basketball tournament for the Big Ten Conference of the 2024–25 NCAA Division I women's basketball season which took place from March 5–9, 2025. The tournament was held at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was the final event of the 2024–25 Big Ten Conference women's basketball season. The tournament winner was UCLA.UCLA Wins 2025 TIAA Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament Crown. Big Ten Conference, March 9, 2025 The Bruins received the conference's automatic bid to the 2025 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament.
This was the first season in a new tournament format as the conference expanded to 18 teams, following the additions of Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington. The top 15 teams participated with the bottom three teams not qualifying for the tournament. The field was announced on March 2, 2025.2025 TIAA Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament Bracket Announced. Big Ten Conference, March 2, 2025 The top four seeds were USC, UCLA, Ohio State, and Maryland. Purdue, Penn State, and Northwestern did not participate as the lowest three teams in the standings.
Seeds The top 15 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 nine teams received a first round bye and the top four teams received a double bye.
SeedSchoolConferenceTiebreak 1aTiebreak 1bTiebreak 2a, 2bTiebreak 2cTiebreak 2d1USC 17–12UCLA 16–23Ohio State13–51–1 vs. Maryland0–1 vs. UCLA/USC3–0 vs. ILL, MICH, MSU4Maryland13–51–1 vs. Ohio State0–1 vs. UCLA/USC2–1 vs. ILL, MICH, MSU5Michigan11–72–1 vs ILL, MSU1–1 vs. Michigan State0–1 vs. UCLA/USC0–2 vs. MD, OSU3–1 vs. IND, IOWA, NEB, ORE6Michigan State11–72–1 vs. ILL, MICH1–1 vs. Michigan0–1 vs. UCLA/USC0–2 vs. MD, OSU2–2 vs. IND, IOWA, NEB, ORE7Illinois11–70–2 vs. MICH, MSU8Oregon10–82–1 vs. IND, IOWA, NEB1–0 vs. Indiana9Indiana10–82–1 vs. IOWA, NEB, ORE0–1 vs. Oregon10Nebraska10–82–2 vs. IND, IOWA, ORE11Iowa10–81–3 vs. IND, NEB, ORE12Washington9–913Minnesota8–1014Wisconsin4–1415Rutgers3–151–0 vs. PurdueDNQPurdue3–150–1 vs. RutgersDNQNorthwestern2–16DNQ Penn State1–17 Tiebreakers:
Schedule SessionGameTime*Matchup#ScoreTelevisionAttendance First round – Wednesday, March 5113:30 p.m.No. 13 Minnesota vs. No. 12 Washington65–79Peacock26:00 p.m.No. 15 Rutgers vs. No. 10 Nebraska60–8438:30 p.m.No. 14 Wisconsin vs. No. 11 Iowa54–81 Second round – Thursday, March 62412:00 p.m.No. 9 Indiana vs. No. 8 Oregon78–62BTN7,02852:30 p.m.No. 12 Washington vs. No. 5 Michigan58–66366:30 p.m.No. 10 Nebraska vs. No. 7 Illinois74–7079:00 p.m.No. 11 Iowa vs. No. 6 Michigan State74–61 Quarterfinals – Friday, March 74812:00 p.m.No. 9 Indiana vs. No. 1 USC79–84BTN7,35292:30 p.m.No. 5 Michigan vs. No. 4 Maryland98–715106:30 p.m.No. 10 Nebraska vs. No. 2 UCLA 74–857,500119:00 p.m.No. 11 Iowa vs. No. 3 Ohio State 59–60 Semifinals – Saturday, March 86123:00 p.m. No. 1 USC vs. No. 5 Michigan 82–70BTN7,805135:30 p.m. No. 2 UCLA vs. No. 3 Ohio State 75–46 Championship – Sunday, March 97144:30 p.m. No. 1 USC vs. No. 2 UCLA67–72CBS8,358 *Game times in EST through the semifinals and EDT for the championship. #Rankings denote tournament seeding.
Bracket
* denotes overtime period
Game summaries First round
Second round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Championship
All-Tournament team Lauren Betts, UCLA – Most Outstanding Player Kiki Iriafen, USC Lucy Olsen, Iowa Syla Swords, Michigan JuJu Watkins, USC
Tournament notes An NCAA record twelve Big Ten teams were invited to the 2025 NCAA women's basketball tournament.Big Ten Conference Sets Record with 12 Programs Headed to the 2025 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. Big Ten Conference, March 16, 2025 UCLA, USC, Ohio State, Maryland, Michigan, Iowa, Michigan State, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, Oregon, and Washington all received bids to the 2025 tournament. Tournament Winner UCLA was the overall No. 1 seed, and USC was the No. 4 overall seed. Minnesota was the sole Big Ten team invited to the 2025 Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT).Minnesota Selected for 2025 WBIT Field. Big Ten Conference, March 16, 2025 The Gophers won the 2025 WBIT.Youngblood, Kent - Gophers women’s basketball team rolls against Belmont for WBIT title. Star Tribune, April 2, 2025 UCLA would regain the number 1 ranking they held before being defeated by USC for the regular season championship. Both USC and UCLA lost to the eventual national champion UConn Huskies.Guzman, Ed - March Madness: Paige Bueckers, UConn beat USC to reach Final Four. Los Angeles Times, March 31, 2024Nguyen, Thuc Nhi - UCLA's run to the Final Four ends in record rout by UConn: 'We got our butts beat.' Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2025
References