2019 Big Ten men's basketball tournament

The 2019 Big Ten men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Big Ten Conference of the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The tournament returned to its more traditional Midwest roots as it will be held at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.^[2] The tournament was held from March 13 through March 17, 2019.

2019 Big Ten men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2018–19
Teams	14
Site	United Center Chicago, Illinois
Champions	Michigan State (6th title)
Winning coach	Tom Izzo (6th title)
MVP	Cassius Winston (Michigan State)
Attendance	122,242[1]
Television	BTN, CBS
Big Ten men's basketball tournaments ← 2018 2020 →

2018–19 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 5 Michigan State †	16	–	4		.800			32	–	7		.821
No. 13 Purdue	16	–	4		.800			26	–	10		.722
No. 8 Michigan	15	–	5		.750			30	–	7		.811
No. 21 Wisconsin	14	–	6		.700			23	–	11		.676
Maryland	13	–	7		.650			23	–	11		.676
Iowa	10	–	10		.500			23	–	12		.657
Minnesota	9	–	11		.450			22	–	14		.611
Ohio State	8	–	12		.400			20	–	15		.571
Indiana	8	–	12		.400			19	–	16		.543
Penn State	7	–	13		.350			14	–	18		.438
Illinois	7	–	13		.350			12	–	21		.364
Rutgers	7	–	13		.350			14	–	17		.452
Nebraska	6	–	14		.300			19	–	17		.528
Northwestern	4	–	16		.200			13	–	19		.406
† 2019 Big Ten tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Michigan State defeated Michigan 65–60 in the championship game to win the tournament, marking the school's sixth tournament championship. 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 remain unchanged from the 2018 tournament.^[3]

Seed	School	Conf.	Tiebreak 1	Tiebreak 2
1	Michigan State	16–4	1–1 vs. Purdue	2–0 vs. Michigan
2	Purdue	16–4	1–1 vs. Michigan St	0–1 vs. Michigan
3	Michigan	15–5
4	Wisconsin	14–6
5	Maryland	13–7
6	Iowa	10–10
7	Minnesota	9–11
8	Ohio State	8–12	1–0 vs. Indiana
9	Indiana	8–12	0–1 vs. Ohio State
10	Penn State	7–13	3–1 vs. Illinois/Rutgers
11	Illinois	7–13	1–2 vs. Penn State/Rutgers	1–1 vs. Mich St/Purdue
12	Rutgers	7–13	1–2 vs. Penn State/Illinois	0–3 vs. Mich St/Purdue
13	Nebraska	6–14
14	Northwestern	4–16

Schedule

Session	Game	Time*	Matchup#	Television	Attendance	Score
First round – Wednesday, March 13
1	1	5:30 pm	No. 13 Nebraska vs. No. 12 Rutgers	BTN	16,473	68–61
	2	8:00 pm	No. 14 Northwestern vs. No. 11 Illinois			69–74 (OT)
Second round – Thursday, March 14
2	3	11:30 am	No. 9 Indiana vs. No. 8 Ohio State	BTN	16,207	75–79
	4	2:00 pm	No. 13 Nebraska vs. No. 5 Maryland			69–61
3	5	6:00 pm	No. 10 Penn State vs. No. 7 Minnesota		16,535	72–77 (OT)
	6	8:30 pm	No. 11 Illinois vs. No. 6 Iowa			62−83
Quarterfinals – Friday, March 15
4	7	11:30 am	No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 1 Michigan State	BTN	17,369	70−77
	8	2:00 pm	No. 13 Nebraska vs. No. 4 Wisconsin			62–66
5	9	6:00 pm	No. 7 Minnesota vs. No. 2 Purdue		18,575	75–73
	10	8:30 pm	No. 6 Iowa vs. No. 3 Michigan			53–74
Semifinals – Saturday, March 16
6	11	12:00 pm	No. 1 Michigan State vs. No. 4 Wisconsin	CBS	18,468	67–55
	12	2:30 pm	No. 7 Minnesota vs. No. 3 Michigan			49–76
Championship – Sunday, March 17
7	13	2:30 pm	No. 1 Michigan State vs. No. 3 Michigan	CBS	18,615	65–60

*Game times in Central Time. #Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Bracket

	First round Wednesday, March 13 BTN					Second round Thursday, March 14 BTN					Quarterfinals Friday, March 15 BTN					Semifinals Saturday, March 16 CBS					Championship Sunday, March 17 CBS
											1	Michigan State	77
						8	Ohio State	79			8	Ohio State	70
						9	Indiana	75								1	Michigan State	67
																4	Wisconsin	55
											4	Wisconsin	66
						5	Maryland	61			13	Nebraska	62
	12	Rutgers	61			13	Nebraska	69													1	Michigan State	65
	13	Nebraska	68																		3	Michigan	60
											2	Purdue	73
						7	Minnesota	77*			7	Minnesota	75
						10	Penn State	72								7	Minnesota	49
																3	Michigan	76
											3	Michigan	74
						6	Iowa	83			6	Iowa	53
	11	Illinois	74*			11	Illinois	62
	14	Northwestern	69

* denotes overtime period

Game summaries

First round

BTN

March 13 5:30 pm

No. 13 Nebraska 68, No. 12 Rutgers 61
Scoring by half: 26−25, 42−36
Pts: James Palmer Jr., 34 Rebs: Isaiah Roby, 6 Asts: Glynn Watson Jr., 5		Pts: Eugene Omoruyi, 16 Rebs: Myles Johnson, 11 Asts: Eugene Omoruyi, 5

United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 16,473 Referees: Larry Scirott, Paul Szelc, Kelly Pfieffer

BTN

March 13 8:00 pm

No. 14 Northwestern 69, No. 11 Illinois 74 (OT)
Scoring by half: 27−30, 34−31 Overtime: 8−13
Pts: A.J. Turner, 21 Rebs: Anthony Gaines, 9 Asts: A.J. Turner, 5		Pts: Giorgi Bezhanishvili, 26 Rebs: Andres Feliz, 10 Asts: Andres Feliz, 6

United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 16,473 Referees: Terry Oglesby, Terry Wymer, Chris Beaver

Second round

BTN

March 14 11:30 am

No. 9 Indiana 75, No. 8 Ohio State 79
Scoring by half: 28−35, 47−44
Pts: Devonte Green, 26 Rebs: Juwan Morgan, 7 Asts: Romeo Langford, 5		Pts: Keyshawn Woods, 18 Rebs: Kaleb Wesson, 13 Asts: C. J. Jackson, 5

United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 16,207 Referees: Bo Boroski, Larry Scriotto, Bill Ek

BTN

March 14 2:00 pm

No. 13 Nebraska 69, No. 5 Maryland 61
Scoring by half: 32−20, 37−41
Pts: James Palmer Jr., 21 Rebs: Tanner Borchardt, 9 Asts: 3 tied, 3		Pts: Anthony Cowan Jr., 18 Rebs: Bruno Fernando, 8 Asts: Darryl Morsell, 5

United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 16,207 Referees: Terry Wymer, Steve McJunkins, Rob Kueneman

BTN

March 14 6:00 pm

No. 10 Penn State 72, No. 7 Minnesota 77 (OT)
Scoring by half: 34−30, 27−31 Overtime: 11−16
Pts: Lamar Stevens, 24 Rebs: 2 tied, 7 Asts: Josh Reaves, 5		Pts: Amir Coffey, 22 Rebs: Jordan Murphy, 14 Asts: 3 tied, 5

United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 16,535 Referees: Terry Oglesby, Paul Szelc, Rob Riley

BTN

March 14 8:30 pm

No. 11 Illinois 62, No. 6 Iowa 83
Scoring by half: 31−37, 31−46
Pts: Giorgi Bezhanishvili, 12 Rebs: Giorgi Bezhanishvili, 6 Asts: Ayo Dosunmu, 6		Pts: Nicholas Baer, 17 Rebs: Joe Wieskamp, 7 Asts: Connor McCaffery, 8

United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 16,535 Referees: D.J. Carstensen, Kelly Pfeifer, Courtney Green

Quarterfinals

BTN

March 15 11:30 am

No. 1 Michigan State 77, No. 8 Ohio State 70
Scoring by half: 36−30, 40−41
Pts: Cassius Winston, 18 Rebs: Cassius Winston, 7 Asts: Kenny Goins, 6		Pts: Keyshawn Woods, 16 Rebs: 5 tied, 3 Asts: 2 tied, 2

United Center Chicago, IL Referees: Terry Oglesby, Paul Szelc, Rob Riley

BTN

March 15 2:00 pm

No. 4 Wisconsin 66, No. 13 Nebraska 62
Scoring by half: 34–29, 32–32
Pts: 2 tied, 14 Rebs: Ethan Happ, 7 Asts: 2 tied, 4		Pts: Glynn Watson Jr., 23 Rebs: Isaiah Roby, 6 Asts: Glynn Watson Jr., 3

United Center Chicago, IL Referees: D.J. Carstensen, Kelly Pfeifer, Bill Ek

BTN

March 15 6:00 pm

No. 2 Purdue 73, No. 7 Minnesota 75
Scoring by half: 39-42, 34-33
Pts: Matt Haarms, 16 Rebs: Trevion Williams, 9 Asts: Ryan Cline, 8		Pts: Jordan Murphy, 27 Rebs: Daniel Oturu, 10 Asts: 2 Tied, 4

United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 17,369 Referees: Terry Wymer, Courtney Green, Lamont Simpson

BTN

March 15 8:30 pm

No. 3 Michigan 74, No. 6 Iowa 53
Scoring by half: 40-27, 34-26
Pts: Ignas Brazdeikis, 15 Rebs: Jon Teske, 10 Asts: Zavier Simpson, 11		Pts: 2 Tied, 14 Rebs: Tyler Cook, 6 Asts: Jordan Bohannon, 3

United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 18,575 Referees: Bo Boroski, Larry Scirotto, Rob Kueneman

Semifinals

CBS

March 16 12:00 pm

No. 1 Michigan State 67, No. 4 Wisconsin 55
Scoring by half: 35-27, 32-28
Pts: Cassius Winston, 21 Rebs: Kenny Goins, 12 Asts: Cassius Winston, 6		Pts: Ethan Happ, 20 Rebs: Ethan Happ, 6 Asts: 2 tied, 3

United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 18,468 Referees: Terry Oglesby, Kelly Pfeifer, Courtney Green

CBS

March 16 2:30 pm

No. 7 Minnesota 49, No. 3 Michigan 76
Scoring by half: 19-38, 30-38
Pts: Amir Coffey, 14 Rebs: Jordan Murphy, 6 Asts: Dupree McBrayer, 7		Pts: Isaiah Livers, 21 Rebs: Jon Teske, 8 Asts: Zavier Simpson, 9

United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 18,468 Referees: D.J. Carstensen, Terry Wymer, Rob Kueneman

Championship

CBS

March 17 2:30 pm

No. 1 Michigan State 65, No. 3 Michigan 60
Scoring by half: 23-31, 42-29
Pts: Matt McQuaid, 27 Rebs: Xavier Tillman, 12 Asts: Cassius Winston, 11		Pts: Ignas Brazdeikis, 19 Rebs: Jon Teske, 10 Asts: Zavier Simpson, 10

United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 18,615 Referees: Bo Boroski, Larry Scirotto, Paul Szelc

All-Tournament Team

• Cassius Winston, Michigan State – Big Ten tournament Most Outstanding Player^[4]
• Ignas Brazdeikis, Michigan
• Zavier Simpson, Michigan
• Jordan Murphy, Minnesota
• James Palmer Jr., Nebraska

References

1. "B1G Tournament enjoys second-largest attendance figure in 20-year history". Saturday Tradition. March 18, 2019. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
2. "Big Ten basketball tournament locations for 2019, 2020, beyond". Land of 10. February 28, 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
3. "Big Ten Basketball Tournament Tiebreakers". Big Ten Conference. October 26, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
4. "Michigan State Edges Michigan, 65-60 To Win Big Ten tournament Title". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. March 17, 2019. Archived from the original on September 11, 2020. Retrieved March 18, 2019.