# 2001 Big Ten men's basketball tournament

The 2001 Big Ten men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Big Ten Conference and was played from March 8 to March 11, 2001 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. The championship was won by Iowa who defeated Indiana in the championship game. As a result, Iowa received the Big Ten's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Due to NCAA sanctions, Ohio State has vacated the records from this tournament.

## Seeds

All Big Ten schools participated in the tournament. Teams were seeded by conference record, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with identical conference records. Seeding for the tournament was determined at the close of the regular conference season. The top five teams received a first round bye.
| Seed | School | Conference | 1st Tiebreaker | 2nd Tiebreaker | 3rd Tiebreaker |
| 1 | Illinois | 13–3 | 1–0 vs MSU | | |
| 2 | Michigan State | 13–3 | 0–1 vs Ill | | |
| 3 | Ohio State | 11–5 | | | |
| 4 | Indiana | 10–6 | | | |
| 5 | Wisconsin | 9–7 | | | |
| 6 | Iowa | 7–9 | 1–1 vs PSU | 1–1 vs Ill | 0–1 vs MSU |
| 7 | Penn State | 7–9 | 1–1 vs Iowa | 1–1 vs Ill | 0–2 vs MSU |
| 8 | Purdue | 6–10 | | | |
| 9 | Minnesota | 5–11 | | | |
| 10 | Michigan | 4–12 | | | |
| 11 | Northwestern | 3–13 | | | |

## Bracket

| Opening round March 8 | Opening round March 8 | Opening round March 8 | Quarterfinals March 9 | Quarterfinals March 9 | Quarterfinals March 9 | Semifinals March 10 | Semifinals March 10 | Semifinals March 10 | Championship March 11 | Championship March 11 | Championship March 11 |
| | | | 1 | #4 Illinois | 83 | | | | | | |
| | | | 8 | Purdue | 66 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Purdue | 91 | 8 | Purdue | 66 | | | | | | |
| 9 | Minnesota | 77 | | | | | | | | | |
| 9 | Minnesota | 77 | | | | 1 | #4 Illinois | 56 | | | |
| | | | | | | 4 | Indiana | 58 | | | |
| | | | 4 | Indiana | 64 | | | | | | |
| | | | 5 | #23 Wisconsin | 52 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | 4 | Indiana | 61 |
| | | | | | | | | | 6 | Iowa | 63 |
| | | | 2 | #2 Michigan State | 63 | | | | | | |
| | | | 7 | Penn State | 65 | | | | | | |
| 7 | Penn State | 82 | 7 | Penn State | 65 | | | | | | |
| 10 | Michigan | 80 | | | | | | | | | |
| 10 | Michigan | 80 | | | | 7 | Penn State | 74 | | | |
| | | | | | | 6 | Iowa | 94 | | | |
| | | | 3 | #24 Ohio State | 66 | | | | | | |
| | | | 6 | Iowa | 75 | | | | | | |
| 6 | Iowa | 72 | 6 | Iowa | 75 | | | | | | |
| 11 | Northwestern | 55 | | | | | | | | | |
Source

## Game summaries
### Opening round

* ESPN2
* March 8 2:00 pm
No. 9 Minnesota 77, No. 8 Purdue 91 :
* Scoring by half: 40-45, 37-46 ||
* United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 20,003 Referees: Ed Hightower, Art McDonald, Jerry Petro
* ESPN
* March 8 4:30 pm
No. 10 Michigan 80, No. 7 Penn State 82 :
* Scoring by half: 42-37, 38-45 ||
* United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 20,003 Referees: Rick Hartzell, Gene Monje, Dan Chrisman
* ESPN Plus
* March 8 7:00 pm
No. 11 Northwestern 55, No. 6 Iowa 72 :
* Scoring by half: 15-30, 40-42 ||
* United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 20,003 Referees: Phil Bova, Sid Rodeheffer, Tom Clark

### Quarterfinals

* ESPN2
* March 9 12:30 pm
No. 5 Wisconsin 52, No. 4 Indiana 64 :
* Scoring by half: 28-24, 24-40 ||
* United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 22,679 Referees: Ed Hightower, Art McDonald, Zelton Steed
* ESPN2
* March 9 3:00 pm
No. 8 Purdue 66, No. 1 Illinois 83 :
* Scoring by half: 33-47, 33-36 ||
* United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 22,679 Referees: Ted Hillary, Gene Monje, Sid Rodeheffer
* ESPN Plus
* March 9 7:40 pm
No. 7 Penn State 65, No. 2 Michigan State 63 :
* Scoring by half: 31-30, 34-33 ||
* United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 21,739 Referees: Donnee Gray, Phil Bova, Jerry Petro
* ESPN2
* March 9 10:00 pm
No. 6 Iowa 75, No. 3 Ohio State 66 :
* Scoring by half: 22-33, 53-33 ||
* United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 21,739 Referees: Tom Rucker, Mike Sanzere, Tom Clark

### Semifinals

* CBS
* March 10 2:30 pm
No. 4 Indiana 58, No. 1 Illinois 56 :
* Scoring by half: 26-29, 32-27 ||
* United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 23,418 Referees: Phil Bova, Ted Hillary, Gene Monje
* CBS
* March 10 5:00 pm
No. 7 Penn State 74, No. 6 Iowa 94 :
* Scoring by half: 33-49, 41-45 ||
* United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 23,418 Referees: Ed Hightower, Tom Rucker, Mike Sanzere

### Championship

* CBS
* March 11 3:30 pm
No. 6 Iowa 63, No. 4 Indiana 61 :
* Scoring by half: 26-32, 37-29 ||
* United Center Chicago, IL Attendance: 22,081 Referees: Ed Hightower, Ted Hillary, Tom Rucker

## All-Tournament team

* Reggie Evans, Iowa – Big Ten tournament Most Outstanding Player
* Brian Cook, Illinois
* Kirk Haston, Indiana
* Jared Jeffries, Indiana
* Joe Crispin, Penn State