Michigan State beats Michigan to win Big Ten Tournament

Michigan State erased a 13-point deficit in the second half to beat Michigan Sunday to win the 2019 Big Ten Tournament, with a 65-60 victory in the final game before the NCAA Tournament.

The Spartans were the top seed in this year’s tournament, but had to rally to end the Wolverines’ quest for a third consecutive conference crown. This is the sixth Big Ten Tournament title for Michigan State, the most in the conference, and their first since 2016. These two schools have won the last four Big Ten Tournaments.

Sunday was the third meeting between these two rivals in 22 days. Michigan State won both previous matchups, a 77-70 victory in Ann Arbor on Feb. 24 and a 75-63 win in East Lansing on Mar. 9. All three were comeback victories for the Spartans.

After a one-year stint at Madison Square Garden, the Big Ten tourney returns to America’s heartland. If you remember last year’s tourney, the Big Ten went a week early (February 28 - March 4) and had an extra week of waiting before Selection Sunday. It didn’t seem to hurt the tournament champion, Michigan, which went on to the NCAA tournament finals.

This year, games will run March 13 - March 17 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. The Michigan State Spartans are the top seed and looking to improve their seeding in the Big Dance, but they’ll have their hands full with the other three top seeds in Purdue, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Outside the top four sits No. 5 seed Maryland, one of the more dangerous teams in the country, let alone the conference. Can the Terps put together a run? Can Penn State string together some wins? From top to bottom, the Big Ten is tight, so this one should be fun.

At least one No. 1-seed in the NCAA tournament is still up for grabs, and there’s a chance that a Big Ten squad that runs the tournament could snag it. MSU is the favorite in that regard, but Michigan could have an outside shot at it. Indiana has an opportunity to pick up more wins to potentially play its way into the NCAA tournament. The Hoosiers have an interesting resume, to say the least, with two wins over Michigan State and no losses to any team worse than No. 77 in KenPom.

The top nine teams receive first-round byes and the top four teams receive double-byes to the quarterfinals. Teams are seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.

Here is the full tournament bracket and day-by-day schedule. Game times subject to change, and the second game in each session will start 25 minutes after the conclusion of the previous game. We’ll be updating it with results along the way.

Game 1: No. 13 Nebraska 68, No. 12 Rutgers 61

Game 2: No. 11 Illinois 74, No. 14 Northwestern 69 (OT)

Game 3: No. 8 Ohio State 79, No. 9 Indiana 75

Game 4: No. 13 Nebraska 69, No. 5 Maryland 61

Game 5: No. 7 Minnesota 77, No. 10 Penn State 72 (OT)

Game 6: No. 6 Iowa 83, No. 11 Illinois 62

Game 7: No. 1 Michigan State 77, No. 8 Ohio State 70

Game 8: No. 4 Wisconsin 66, No. 13 Nebraska 62

Game 9: No. 7 Minnesota 75, No. 2 Purdue 73

Game 10: No. 3 Michigan 74, No. 6 Iowa 53

Game 11: No. 1 Michigan State 67, No. 4 Wisconsin 55

Game 12: No. 3 Michigan 76, No. 7 Minnesota 49

Game 13: No. 1 Michigan State 65, No. 3 Michigan 60