After almost going down to the wire — with No. 2 seed Northwestern clinching in their 65-53 win over Rutgers Sunday night in the final regular season game on the calendar — the 2023 Big Ten stadium is set for this week’s United Center in Chicago.
Michigan State, which has played just 19 conference games due to its game with Minnesota being canceled after the East Lansing shooting that killed three students and injured five others, will be the No. 4 seed and starts the session at 2:30. Friday night against 5th seed Iowa, 12th seed Wisconsin or 13th seed Ohio State. (The Buckeyes opened the round against the Badgers on Wednesday, and the winner of that game faces the Hawkeyes on Thursday afternoon.)
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Meanwhile, No. 8-ranked Michigan basketball will open its career against No. 9-ranked Rutgers on Thursday. UM had shot at the No. 2 seed, but fell apart in the second half against Indiana on Sunday afternoon. The Wolverines won their only game against the Scarlet Knights this season, 58-45 on February 23 in Piscataway NJ Dug McDaniel led UM with 16 points in that game. The Wolverines likely need at least two wins to boost their NCAA tournament hopes after losing three straight games in overtime, including road losses to Illinois on Thursday and Indiana. The winner of the match-up between the Wolverines and the Scarlet Knights will face a tough task in trying to make it to the semifinals on Saturday: Top-seeded Purdue awaits Friday afternoon looking for a No. 1 seed case in the NCAA Tournament.
Assuming Iowa prevails over OSU or Wisconsin, the Spartans would get a chance to pit their Devils against the Hawkeyes; MSU suffered an epic meltdown against the Hawkeyes last weekend, losing in the OT after leading by 13 with 2:03 left to play.
The championship game is set for Sunday afternoon, as usual, with the 68-team NCAA Championship stadium revealed shortly after. Here’s the full tournament schedule:
2023 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Schedule
All games are at the United Center in Chicago and broadcast on the Big Ten Network, except where noted:
The first round is on Wednesday
Game 1: No. 12 Wisconsin vs. No. 13 Ohio State, 6:30 p.m
Game 2: No. 11 Nebraska vs. No. 14 Minnesota, around 9 p.m
The second round is on Thursday
Third game: No. 8 Michigan vs. No. 9 Rutgers, noon.
Fourth game: 5 Iowa vs. the winner of Game 1, approximately 2:30 p.m
Fifth game: No. 7 Illinois vs. No. 10 Penn State, 6:30 p.m
Game 6: No. 6 Maryland vs. Winner of Game 2, approximately 9 p.m
Quarter-finals on Friday
Game 7: No. 1 Purdue against the winner of Game 3, noon.
Game 8: No. 4 Michigan State vs. the winner of Game 4, approximately 2:30 p.m
Game 9: No. 2 Northwestern vs. Winner of Game 5, 6:30 p.m
Game 10: No. 3 Indiana vs. the winner of Game 6, approximately 9 p.m
Semi-final matches on Saturday
Game 11: Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 8, 1 p.m., CBS.
Game 12: Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner, approximately 3:30 p.m., CBS.
Sunday final
Game 13: Winner of Game 11 vs. Winner of Game 12, 3:30 p.m., CBS.
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