2021 Big Ten women's basketball tournament

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.

2021 Big Ten women's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2020–21
Teams	13
Site	Bankers Life Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN
Champions	Maryland (5th title)
Winning coach	Brenda Frese (5th title)
MVP	Diamond Miller (Maryland)
Television	BTN, FS2, ESPNU
Big Ten women's basketball tournaments ← 2020 2022 →

2020–21 Big Ten women's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 7 Maryland †	17	–	1		.944			26	–	2		.929
No. 12 Indiana	16	–	2		.889			20	–	5		.800
No. 21 Rutgers	10	–	3		.769			14	–	5		.737
No. 16 Michigan	9	–	4		.692			16	–	6		.727
Northwestern	11	–	7		.611			16	–	9		.640
Iowa	11	–	8		.579			20	–	9		.690
No. 22 Ohio State	9	–	7		.563			13	–	7		.650
Michigan State	8	–	7		.533			15	–	9		.625
Nebraska	9	–	10		.474			13	–	13		.500
Minnesota	7	–	11		.389			8	–	13		.381
Penn State	6	–	13		.316			9	–	15		.375
Purdue	4	–	14		.222			7	–	16		.304
Illinois	2	–	16		.111			5	–	18		.217
Wisconsin	2	–	18		.100			5	–	19		.208
† 2021 Big Ten tournament winner As of March 27, 2021 Rankings from AP poll

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.^[1] 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.^[2]

Seed	School	Conf	Tiebreaker
1	Maryland‡##	17–1
2	Indiana##	16–2
3	Rutgers##	10–3
4	Michigan##	9–4
5	Northwestern#	11–7
6	Iowa#	11–8
7	Michigan State#	7–7
8	Nebraska#	9–10
9	Minnesota#	7–11
10	Penn State#	6–12
11	Purdue#	4–14
12	Illinois	2–16
13	Wisconsin	2–17
‡ – Big Ten Conference regular season champions. ## – Received a double bye in the conference tournament. # – Received a first-round bye in the conference tournament. Overall record are as of the end of the regular season.

Schedule

Game	Time	Matchup	Score	Television	Attendance
First round – Tuesday, March 9
1	5:00 pm	No. 12 Illinois vs. No. 13 Wisconsin	67−42	BTN	460
Second round – Wednesday, March 10
2	11:00 am	No. 8 Nebraska vs. No. 9 Minnesota	72−61	BTN	716
3	25 min. after game 2	No. 5 Northwestern vs. No. 12 Illinois	67−42
4	6:30 pm	No. 7 Michigan State vs. No. 10 Penn State	75−66	FS2	1,064
5	25 min. after game 4	No. 6 Iowa vs. No. 11 Purdue	83−72
Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 11
6	11:00 am	No. 1 Maryland vs. No. 8 Nebraska	83−73	FS2	779
7	25 min. after game 6	No. 4 Michigan vs. No. 5 Northwestern	49−65
8	6:30 pm	No. 2 Indiana vs. No. 7 Michigan State	61−69
9	25 min. after game 8	No. 3 Rutgers vs. No. 6 Iowa	62−73
Semifinals – Friday, March 12
10	2:00 pm	No. 1 Maryland vs. No. 5 Northwestern	85−52	FS2
11	25 min. after game 10	No. 6 Iowa vs. No. 7 Michigan State	87−72
Championship – Saturday, March 13
12	2:00 pm	No. 1 Maryland vs. No. 6 Iowa	104−84	ESPNU	1,202
Game times in Eastern Time. Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Bracket

• All times are Eastern.

	First round Tuesday, March 9 BTN[3]					Second round Wednesday, March 10 BTN/FS2					Quarterfinals Thursday, March 11 FS2					Semifinals Friday, March 12 FS2					Championship Saturday, March 13 ESPNU
											1	Maryland	83
						8	Nebraska	72			8	Nebraska	73
						9	Minnesota	61								1	Maryland	85
																5	Northwestern	52
											4	Michigan	49
						5	Northwestern	67			5	Northwestern	65
	12	Illinois	67			12	Illinois	42													1	Maryland	104
	13	Wisconsin	42																		6	Iowa	84
											2	Indiana	61
						7	Michigan State	75			7	Michigan State	69
						10	Penn State	66								7	Michigan State	72
																6	Iowa	87
											3	Rutgers	62
						6	Iowa	83			6	Iowa	73
						11	Purdue	72

* denotes overtime period

References

1. "Ohio State women's basketball players to use postseason ban as motivation". ESPN.com. January 4, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
2. "2021 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament Schedule Announced". BigTen.org. February 24, 2021. Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
3. "2021 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament Bracket" (PDF). BigTen.org. Big Ten Conference. March 6, 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 7, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2021.