2018 Big Ten men's basketball tournament

The 2018 Big Ten men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Big Ten Conference of the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. It was held from February 28 through March 4, 2018 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.^[1] Due to the Big East's use of that venue for their conference tournament, the Big Ten tournament took place one week earlier than usual, ending the week before Selection Sunday.^[2]

2018 Big Ten men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2017–18
Teams	14
Site	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
Champions	Michigan (2nd title)
Winning coach	John Beilein (2nd title)
MVP	Moritz Wagner (Michigan)
Attendance	106,157
Television	BTN, CBS
Big Ten men's basketball tournaments ← 2017 2019 →

2017–18 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 5 Michigan State	16	–	2		.889			30	–	5		.857
No. 11 Purdue	15	–	3		.833			30	–	7		.811
No. 17 Ohio State	15	–	3		.833			25	–	9		.735
No. 7 Michigan †	13	–	5		.722			33	–	8		.805
Nebraska	13	–	5		.722			22	–	11		.667
Penn State	9	–	9		.500			26	–	13		.667
Indiana	9	–	9		.500			16	–	15		.516
Maryland	8	–	10		.444			19	–	13		.594
Wisconsin	7	–	11		.389			15	–	18		.455
Northwestern	6	–	12		.333			15	–	17		.469
Minnesota	4	–	14		.222			15	–	17		.469
Illinois	4	–	14		.222			14	–	18		.438
Iowa	4	–	14		.222			14	–	19		.424
Rutgers	3	–	15		.167			15	–	19		.441
† 2018 Big Ten tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Michigan defeated Purdue in the championship game to win their second consecutive tournament championship.^[3] As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

The tournament was the second Big Ten Conference tournament held outside the conference's traditional heartland in the Midwest following the 2017 tournament held at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.

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 2017 Tournament.^[4]

Seed	School	Conf.	Tiebreaker 1	Tiebreaker 2	Tiebreaker 3	Tiebreaker 4	Tiebreaker 5
1	Michigan State	16–2
2	Ohio State	15–3	1–0 vs Pur
3	Purdue	15–3	0–1 vs OSU
4	Nebraska	13–5	1–0 vs Mich
5	Michigan	13–5	0–1 vs Neb
6	Indiana	9–9	1–0 vs PSU
7	Penn State	9–9	0–1 vs Ind
8	Maryland	8–10
9	Wisconsin	7–11
10	Northwestern	6–12
11	Minnesota	4–14	2–1 vs Iowa/Ill	0–1 vs MSU	0–3 vs OSU/Pur	0–4 vs Neb/Mich	1–2 vs Ind/PSU
12	Iowa	4–14	2–1 vs Minn/Ill	0–1 vs MSU	0–3 vs OSU/Pur	0–3 vs Neb/Mich	0–4 vs Ind/PSU
13	Illinois	4–14	0–2 vs Minn/Iowa
14	Rutgers	3–15

Schedule

Session	Game	Time*	Matchup	Score	Television	Attendance
First round – Wednesday, February 28
1	1	5:30 pm	No. 13 Illinois vs No. 12 Iowa	87–96	BTN	14,681
	2	8:00 pm	No. 14 Rutgers vs No. 11 Minnesota	65–54
Second round – Thursday, March 1
2	3	12:00 pm	No. 9 Wisconsin vs No. 8 Maryland	59–54	BTN	13,815
	4	2:30 pm	No. 12 Iowa vs No. 5 Michigan	71–77OT
3	5	6:30 pm	No. 10 Northwestern vs No. 7 Penn State	57–65	BTN	13,996
	6	9:00 pm	No. 14 Rutgers vs No. 6 Indiana	76–69
Quarterfinals – Friday, March 2
4	7	12:00 pm	No. 9 Wisconsin vs No. 1 Michigan State	60–63	BTN	14,260
	8	2:30 pm	No. 5 Michigan vs No. 4 Nebraska	77–58
5	9	6:30 pm	No. 7 Penn State vs No. 2 Ohio St.	69–68	BTN	14,530
	10	9:00 pm	No. 14 Rutgers vs No. 3 Purdue	75–82
Semifinals – Saturday, March 3
6	11	2:00 pm	No. 5 Michigan vs No. 1 Michigan State	75–64	CBS	19,812
	12	4:30 pm	No. 7 Penn St. vs No. 3 Purdue	70–78
Championship – Sunday, March 4
7	13	4:30 pm	No. 5 Michigan vs No. 3 Purdue	75–66	CBS	15,063
*Game times in Eastern Time. Rankings denote tournament seed

Bracket

	First round Wednesday, February 28 BTN					Second round Thursday, March 1 BTN					Quarterfinals Friday, March 2 BTN					Semifinals Saturday, March 3 CBS					Championship Sunday, March 4 CBS
											1	Michigan State	63
						8	Maryland	54			9	Wisconsin	60
						9	Wisconsin	59								1	Michigan State	64
																5	Michigan	75
											4	Nebraska	58
						5	Michigan	77*			5	Michigan	77
	12	Iowa	96			12	Iowa	71													5	Michigan	75
	13	Illinois	87																		3	Purdue	66
											2	Ohio State	68
						7	Penn State	65			7	Penn State	69
						10	Northwestern	57								7	Penn State	70
																3	Purdue	78
											3	Purdue	82
						6	Indiana	69			14	Rutgers	75
	11	Minnesota	54			14	Rutgers	76
	14	Rutgers	65

* denotes overtime period

Game summaries

First round

BTN

Feb 28 5:30 pm

Recap

No. 13 Illinois 87, No. 12 Iowa 96
Scoring by half: 31–35, 56–61
Pts: K. Nichols 31 Rebs: M. Finke 4 Asts: T. Lucas 8		Pts: J. Bohannon 25 Rebs: L. Garza 8 Asts: J. Bohannon 6

Madison Square Garden New York City, NY Attendance: 14,681 Referees: Terry Wymer, Bo Boroski, Lewis Garrison

BTN

Feb 28 8:00 pm

Recap

No. 14 Rutgers 65, No. 11 Minnesota 54
Scoring by half: 34–27, 31–27
Pts: C. Sanders 23 Rebs: D. Freeman 11 Asts: C. Sanders 2		Pts: I. Washington 18 Rebs: J. Murphy 9 Asts: D. McBrayer 3

Madison Square Garden New York City, NY Attendance: 14,681 Referees: Gene Steratore, Paul Szelc, Courtney Green

Second round

BTN

Mar 1 12:00 pm

Recap

No. 9 Wisconsin 59, No. 8 Maryland 54
Scoring by half: 28–26, 31–28
Pts: E. Happ 14 Rebs: E. Happ 7 Asts: B. Davison 2		Pts: K. Huerter 20 Rebs: B. Fernando 9 Asts: A. Cowan Jr. 4

Madison Square Garden New York City, NY Attendance: 13,815 Referees: Terry Wymer, Lamont Simpson, Kelly Pfeifer

BTN

Mar 1 2:30 pm

Recap

No. 12 Iowa 71, No. 5 Michigan 77 (OT)
Scoring by half: 40–35, 27–32 Overtime: 4–10
Pts: R. Kriener 14 Rebs: L. Garza 8 Asts: J. Bohannon 5		Pts: C. Matthews 16 Rebs: J. Teske 9 Asts: M. Abdur-Rahkman/Z. Simpson 3

Madison Square Garden New York City, NY Attendance: 13,815 Referees: D.J. Carstensen, Courtney Green, Larry Scirotto

BTN

Mar 1 6:30 pm

Recap

No. 10 Northwestern 57, No. 7 Penn State 65
Scoring by half: 30–30, 27–35
Pts: D. Pardon 14 Rebs: B. Benson 9 Asts: B. McIntosh 5		Pts: T. Carr 25 Rebs: J. Reaves 8 Asts: T. Carr 4

Madison Square Garden New York City, NY Attendance: 13,996

BTN

Mar 1 9:00 pm

Recap

No. 14 Rutgers 76, No. 6 Indiana 69
Scoring by half: 29–28, 47–41
Pts: C. Sanders 28 Rebs: D. Freeman 8 Asts: C. Sanders 3		Pts: J. Morgan 15 Rebs: J. Morgan 9 Asts: R. Johnson/J. Morgan 4

Madison Square Garden New York City, NY Attendance: 13,996

Quarterfinals

BTN

Mar 2 12:00 pm

Recap

No. 9 Wisconsin 60, No. 1 Michigan State 63
Scoring by half: 28-32, 32-31
Pts: E. Happ 22 Rebs: K. Iverson 5 Asts: B. Davison 5		Pts: M. Bridges 20 Rebs: M. Bridges 9 Asts: C. Winston 5

Madison Square Garden New York City, NY Attendance: 14,260

BTN

Mar 2 2:30 pm

Recap

No. 5 Michigan 77, No. 4 Nebraska 58
Scoring by half: 34–24, 43–34
Pts: M. Abdur-Rahkman 21 Rebs: M. Wagner 13 Asts: Z. Simpson 6		Pts: J. Palmer/I. Roby 16 Rebs: I. Roby 7 Asts: G. Watson/J. Palmer 2

Madison Square Garden New York City, NY Attendance: 10,292

BTN

Mar 2 6:30 pm

Recap

No. 7 Penn State 69, No. 2 Ohio State 68
Scoring by half: 33–32, 36–36
Pts: T. Carr 25 Rebs: J. Reaves/L. Stevens 7 Asts: T. Carr 5		Pts: K. Bates-Diop 25 Rebs: J. Tate 7 Asts: C. Jackson 6

Madison Square Garden New York City, NY

BTN

Mar 2 9:00 pm

Recap

No. 14 Rutgers 75, No. 3 Purdue 82
Scoring by half: 38–35, 37–47
Pts: G. Baker 25 Rebs: M. Williams 8 Asts: C. Sanders 4		Pts: C. Edwards/V. Edwards 26 Rebs: I. Hass 10 Asts: D. Mathias 7

Madison Square Garden New York City, NY Attendance: 14,530

Semifinals

CBS

Mar 3 2:00 pm

Recap

No. 1 Michigan State 64, No. 5 Michigan 75
Scoring by half: 29–26, 35–49
Pts: M. Bridges 17 Rebs: 3 tied with 7 Asts: C. Winston 5		Pts: 3 tied with 15 Rebs: M. Wagner 8 Asts: M. Abdur-Rahkman/C. Matthews 3

Madison Square Garden New York City, NY Attendance: 19,812

CBS

Mar 3 4:30 pm

Recap

No. 7 Penn State 70, No. 3 Purdue 78
Scoring by half: 31–33, 39–45
Pts: S. Garner 33 Rebs: T. Carr 9 Asts: T. Carr 4		Pts: C. Edwards 27 Rebs: I. Hass 7 Asts: V. Edwards 5

Madison Square Garden New York City, NY Attendance: 19,812

Championship

CBS

Mar 4 4:30 pm

Recap

No. 5 Michigan 75, No. 3 Purdue 66
Scoring by half: 38–33, 37–33
Pts: M. Wagner 17 Rebs: Z. Simpson 5 Asts: Z. Simpson 5		Pts: I. Haas 23 Rebs: C. Edwards/I. Haas 8 Asts: C. Edwards/V. Edwards 2

Madison Square Garden New York City, NY Attendance: 15,063

Sponsorship

Financial firm SoFi acquired presenting sponsorship of the tournament as part of a multi-year deal, including signage, presenting sponsorship of BTN telecasts of the tournament, and on-site marketing presences.^[5] The Tournament was branded as the 2018 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament presented by SoFi for sponsorship reasons.

All-Tournament Team

• Moritz Wagner, Michigan – Big Ten tournament Most Outstanding Player^[6]
• Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, Michigan
• Carsen Edwards, Purdue
• Tony Carr, Penn State
• Corey Sanders, Rutgers

References

1. "Big Ten tournament at MSG in 2018". USA Today. Associated Press. December 9, 2014. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
2. Rexrode, Joe (December 9, 2014). "Izzo concerned about '18 Big Ten tournament in New York". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
3. "Michigan wins Big Ten tournament: Wolverines at it again with 2nd straight title". CBSSports.com. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
4. "Big Ten Basketball Tournament Tiebreakers". Big Ten Conference. October 26, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
5. Bassam, Tom (February 6, 2018). "Big Ten hits from downtown with SoFi basketball deal". SportsPro. Retrieved February 7, 2018.
6. "2018 All-Tournament Team". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. March 4, 2018. Archived from the original on March 5, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2018.