97.1 The Ticket -- For a third straight year, Michigan State has earned a piece of the Big Ten regular season title.
The No. 16 Spartans took care of business Sunday afternoon, beating Ohio State 80-69 on senior day to share the title with Wisconsin and Maryland. Riding a five-game winning streak, the Spartans will be the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.
Michigan State will play its quarterfinal game Friday at 6:30 p.m. against Ohio State or Purdue, as it looks to add a few more quality wins to its quickly improving résumé ahead of the NCAA Tournament.
MSU went 1-0 against the Buckeyes and dropped its lone contest of the year with No. 10 seed Purdue, a 29-point blowout at Mackey Arena back in early January.
Michigan, meanwhile, ended its regular season with a loss at Maryland on Sunday, landing in the No. 9 spot for the conference tournament. Michigan knew it would be in the 8-9 game against Rutgers before Sunday's finale, but it was simply a matter of who would be the higher seed.
The Wolverines swept two games this season from the upstart Scarlet Knights, who appear headed to the program's first NCAA Tournament since 1991. Rutgers enters the conference tournament coming off wins over Maryland and at Purdue to close the regular season. They're in a good position to receive and at-large bid to the Big Dance at this point, but a win Thursday could be the one that seals the deal.
As conference tournaments are ready to ramp up this week, here's a look at the Big Ten Tournament bracket and schedule for the event, which starts Wednesday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
The 2020 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament bracket is set. #B1GTourney pic.twitter.com/M2mVxPb7lD
— Big Ten Men's Hoops (@B1GMBBall) March 9, 2020Schedule of play
Wednesday -- 1st round
Game 1 -- No. 12 Minnesota vs. No. 13 Northwestern -- 6 p.m., BTNGame 2 -- No. 11 Indiana vs. No. 14 Nebraska -- approx. 8:30 p.m., BTN
Thursday -- 2nd round
Game 3 -- No. 8 Rutgers vs. No. 9 Michigan -- noon, BTNGame 4 -- No. 5 Iowa vs. Game 1 winner -- approx. 2:30 p.m., BTNGame 5 -- No. 7 Ohio State vs. No. 10 Purdue -- 6:30 p.m., BTNGame 6 -- No. 6 Penn State vs. Game 2 winner -- approx. 9 p.m., BTN
Friday -- Quarterfinals
Game 7 -- No. 1 Wisconsin vs. Game 3 winner -- noon, BTNGame 8 -- No. 4 Illinois vs. Game 4 winner -- approx. 2:30 p.m., BTNGame 9 -- No. 2 Michigan State vs. Game 5 winner -- 6:30 p.m., BTNGame 10 -- No. 3 Maryland vs. Game 6 winner -- approx. 9 p.m., BTN
Saturday -- Semifinals
Game 11 -- Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner -- 1 p.m., CBSGame 12 -- Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner -- approx. 3:30 p.m., CBS
Sunday -- Championship
Game 13 -- Game 11 winner vs. Game 12 winner -- 3:30 p.m., CBS
