The Road to the Big Ten Tournament Title Starts Tuesday

The 2026 TIAA Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament tips off tomorrow at the United Center. After an epic season full of highs, lows, win streaks, and upsets, we're bound to see some thrillers in Chicago. Check out the opening schedule and the bracket below! Get more tournament stories here .

The First Four (Tuesday)

With all 18 teams competing this year, we'll have four teams taking the court on Tuesday to start things off.

Maryland vs. Oregon

On Tuesday, No. 17 Maryland opens the tournament against No. 16 Oregon in hopes of redeeming its loss to the Ducks. The Terps will need to find answers for Nate Bittle and Takai Simpkins, who each netted 16 points back in January. To repeat its previous 64-54 victory , Oregon will look to control the paint again; it outscored Maryland 32-12 down low. The winner will advance to play No. 9 seed Iowa on Wednesday.

Northwestern vs. Penn State

It'll be a quasi-home game for No. 15 seed Northwestern when it takes on No. 18 seed Penn State in Chicago. Nick Martinelli went off with a career-high-matching 34-point performance in their January meeting. In addition to limiting Martinelli, the Nittany Lions need to play clean basketball; they handed the Wildcats 19 points off turnovers, which nearly made the difference in Northwestern's 94-73 victory . No. 10 seed Indiana awaits the winner.

Second Round Showdowns

While No. 10 seed Indiana and No. 9 seed Iowa don't know their opponents just yet, a couple second-round matchups are already set.

USC vs. Washington

A West Coast classic heads to Chicago when No. 13 seed USC faces familiar foe and No. 12 seed Washington. The Huskies handled the Trojans in both of their meetings this season, winning 84-76 in December and 91-72 just last week. Washington's scoring leader Hannes Steinbach buried 22+ points in each game and had a strong supporting cast with a 20+ point performance from Desmond Claude and Zoom Diallo. USC will need to lock down the Huskies' leaders and establish a presence in the paint to win on Wednesday.

Rutgers vs. Minnesota

No. 14 seed Rutgers and No. 11 seed Minnesota wrap up our second round action in a rematch of the Gophers' 80-61 regular season victory just two weeks ago. Cade Tyson went off for Minnesota, making seven of nine three-pointers to finish with 27 points and 10 rebounds. The Gophers 15-of-26 performance beyond the arc made the difference in an otherwise even matchup. That's not Minnesota's typical game plan – it averages 34.5% from three – so we'll be interested to see how this shakes out the second time around.

Catch All the Action

After six days packed with Big Ten Men's Basketball, we will crown a new conference tournament champion. Will Michigan go back-to-back for the first time since 2017-18? Will one of our other top seeds challenge the 19-1 (B1G) Wolverines? Could a Cinderella story emerge? Tune in and find out, or grab seats and see for yourself !

Viewing information, schedule, and bracket here .

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