The IU men's basketball team locked up the 6th seed for this week's Big Ten Tournament by virtue of Penn State's loss against Nebraska on Sunday night.
IU finished its conference schedule with a loss to Ohio State on Friday that gave the Hoosiers a 9-9 record in the Big Ten. Penn State's loss on Sunday dropped them to 9-9 in conference as well, but the Hoosiers owned the tiebreaker over the Nittany Lions because of their win in the January game between the two teams.
IU will play at approximately 9 p.m. Thursday night in Madison Square Garden against the winner of the matchup between 11-seed Minnesota and 14-seed Rutgers. Those two teams, which IU went a combined 3-0 against this season, will play Wednesday night.
The Hoosiers haven't had much historical success at the Big Ten Tournament, with a 12-20 all-time record at the event and no tournament titles. Last season, IU was the 10th seed and beat 7-seed Iowa before losing to Wisconsin in the quarterfinals.
If the Hoosiers win their first game in the tournament, they will move on to play against 3-seed Purdue on Friday night. The two schools have renewed their rivalry in the Big Ten Tournament just once before, when Purdue beat IU in Chicago in 1998.
This is the first time the Big Ten has played its postseason tournament in Madison Square Garden. Because the Big East plays its conference tournament there, the Big Ten had to move its tournament up one week earlier than usual. The bottom four teams in the conference will kick off the Big Ten Tournament with two games Wednesday night.
Jake Thomer
