Big Ten Tournament bracket: Michigan basketball to face Penn State in first round
For the first time since the Big Ten expanded to 14 teams in 2014-15, Michigan Wolverines basketball will play in the Big Ten Tournament’s Wednesday night opening round. Fifth-year head coach Juwan Howard‘s crew finished 3-17 in league play and sits last in the standings.
The No. 14-seeded Michigan Wolverines will take on No. 11 seed Penn State Wednesday night at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn., with the winner to face No. 6 seed Indiana Thursday night. Penn State beat Maryland Sunday night in the conference’s final regular-season game to secure the No. 11 seed.
Penn State won the lone meeting between the two teams in the regular season, 79-73 at The Palestra in Philadelphia. In their first season under head coach Mike Rhoades, the Nittany Lions are 15-16 overall and 9-11 in Big Ten play.
After winning at least one game in every Big Ten Tournament during a 13-year stretch from 2008-19, 12 of which were under John Beilein, the winningest coach in program history, Michigan is just 1-2 in the event under Howard. The Wolverines beat Maryland in 2021 before falling to Ohio State in the semifinals. They lost their first game each of the last two years, to Indiana and Rutgers, respectively.
With an 8-23 overall record and the most losses in a season in program history, Michigan will have to win five games in as many days to secure its first NCAA Tournament bid since 2022. U-M missed the Big Dance last season after making five-straight Sweet 16 appearances.
Despite the tough season, Howard noted after Michigan’s 85-70 loss to Nebraska Sunday at Crisler Center that there’s still basketball left to play.
“We still have an opportunity and a chance to make the tournament,” Howard remarked. “We play in the Big Ten Tournament, which starts on Wednesday for us. We are going to look at it one game at a time. This season is now over — by no means.”
Michigan has won the Big Ten Tournament three times in the past — in the inaugural event in 1998 and then in back-to-back seasons in 2017 and 2018. The Wolverines’ three titles are tied for the third-most among Big Ten teams, trailing only Michigan State (6) and Ohio State (4). With a 25-21 record, U-M has the fourth-best Big Ten Tournament winning percentage.
The No. 14 seed has a 4-9 record in the Big Ten Tournament. Three of those victories were notched by Ohio State in 2023, which became the first team to open play on Wednesday and reach the Saturday semifinals. The Buckeyes’ run ended with a lopsided loss to eventual tournament champion Purdue.
