How to watch Buckeyes as Big Ten Tournament tips off this week
COLUMBUS – Following a bad stretch in which they lost three of their final four regular season games, the Buckeyes open the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Ohio State finished 12-8 in Big Ten play, good enough to earn a first-round bye and the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament. The Buckeyes will play the winner of Wednesday night’s Minnesota-Penn State game on Thursday afternoon, 25 minutes after the conclusion of the Maryland vs. Michigan State game at 6:30 p.m.
The top four seeds — No. 1 Illinois, No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 3 Purdue and No. 4 Rutgers — all secured double byes to the quarterfinals.
A year ago, the Buckeyes made a deep run in the Big Ten Tournament, beating Minnesota in the second round, Purdue in the quarterfinal and Michigan in the semifinal. They ultimately fell to Illinois in an overtime thriller to finish as the league tournament runners-up. They’ll need to get better to replicate that run this time around.
“I think we need rest but we also we need to we need to get better in some areas,” Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said. “Rest and health are critical. But there are issues that we’ve got to continue to improve in. We’ve taken some strides in some areas. We’ve not turned the ball over like this in a while. We’ve not been the sloppy or careless with the ball.”
Sunday’s title game is set for 3:30 p.m. with the NCAA Tournament Selection Show at 6 p.m. The Big Ten Network will televise all games through the quarterfinals, with CBS broadcasting the semifinals and championship game.
This year’s tournament will be the first since 2019 to allow a full crowd. Two years ago, the entire tournament was canceled due to COVID-19, and attendance was limited to 8,000 spectators last season.
Check out the full Big Ten Tournament schedule below:
Big Ten Tournament First Round
Wednesday, March 9
No. 12 Northwestern vs. No. 13 Nebraska, 6:30 p.m. ET (BTN)
No. 11 Penn State vs. No. 14 Minnesota, 25 minutes after Game 1 (BTN)
Second Round
Thursday, March 10
No. 8 Michigan vs. No. 9 Indiana, 11:30 a.m. ET (BTN)
No. 5 Iowa vs. Northwestern/Nebraska, 25 minutes after Game 1 (BTN)
No. 7 Michigan State vs. No. 10 Maryland, 6:30 p.m. ET (BTN)
No. 6 Ohio State vs. Penn State/Minnesota, 25 minutes after Game 3 (BTN)
Quarterfinals
Friday, March 11
No. 1 Illinois vs. Michigan or Indiana, 11:30 a.m. (BTN)
No. 4 Rutgers vs. Iowa/Northwestern/Nebraska, 25 minutes after Game 1 (BTN)
No. 2 Wisconsin vs. Maryland/Michigan State, 6:30 p.m. (BTN)
No. 3 Purdue vs. Ohio State/Penn State/Minnesota, 25 minutes after Game 3 (BTN)
Semifinals
Saturday, March 12
Game 1, 1 p.m. ET (CBS)
Game 2, 25 minutes after Game 1 (CBS)
Big Ten Tournament Tournament championship game
Sunday, March 14
3:30 p.m. ET (CBS)
