Big Ten Tournament: Michigan State Downs Ohio State, 68-64

For more on the Ohio State Buckeyes, head over to Along The Olentangy. For updates on the MIchigan State Spartans, visit The Only Colors. For more on the entire tournament, stay with our Big Ten Tournament StoryStream. For wall to wall coverage of the 2012 NCAA Tournament, stay tuned to SB Nation’s dedicated college hoops hub.

The final conference tournament championship of 2012 gets underway on Sunday as Michigan State and Ohio State battle for the Big Ten title. Both teams were part of a three-way split of the Big Ten regular season championship, and each comes into the matchup with perhaps a shot at a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Michigan State cruised to the tournament finals with two double-digit wins. In the quarterfinals, the Spartans hung 92 points on Iowa in a 17-point win. They followed that up with a 13-point win over Wisconsin, handling the Badgers’ ugly-it-up style with ease.

For more on the two teams, head over to Ohio State Buckeyes blog Along The Olentangy and Michigan Wolverines blog Maize N Brew. For more on the entire tournament, keep it on our Big Ten Tournament StoryStream.

After Michigan upset Ohio State 56-51 on national TV three weeks ago, the Buckeyes came out determined and looking for revenge in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament Saturday.

Green had 16 rebounds on his own, compared to 20 for the entire Wisconsin team. Green wasn’t particularly effective shooting — he shot just 3-for-9 from the field with seven turnovers — but his performance defensively and on the interior was enough to make the difference. He also was his typically unselfish self, giving out five assists. He finished with a team-leading 14 points.

For more on these two teams, visit Michigan State blog The Only Colors and Wisconsin blog Bucky’s Fifth Quarter. You can find full coverage of the tournament in our Big Ten Tournament StoryStream,

The No. 1 seed Michigan State Spartans stormed back in the first half of their Big Ten Tournament semifinal matchup with Wisconsin to take a ten point lead into the locker room. The lead was the result of a 21-point swing that saw the Spartans go from down 10 to up 11 over the final 10 minutes of the first half.

Game Date/Time: Saturday, 4:05 p.m. ET

TV: CBS

The two teams met twice in the regular season, with MSU picking up the win both times. They defeated the Badgers in a 63-60 overtime contest on Jan. 3 and defeated them more easily on Feb. 16, 69-55. The Spartans will be attempting to carry their No. 1 seed all the way into the finals and to the championship.

The game will tip off at 1:40 p.m. ET and will be televised nationally on ESPN.

The Ohio State Buckeyes made it a clean sweep of top-seeded teams to advance in the Big Ten Tournament on Friday with an 88-71 win over the Purdue Boilermakers in the night cap. Jared Sullinger was everywhere for the Buckeyes, scoring 30 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in the win. With the quarterfinal victory, the Buckeyes move one step closer to the Big Ten Tournament title and perhaps bragging rights over the two teams they shared the regular season title with, Michigan State and Michigan.

Sullinger made 12 of his 17 attempts from the field and all five of his free throws to pace the Buckeyes in the win. All five Ohio State starters were in double figures, carrying the load while the bench scored just four points for the game. Deshaun Thomas added 22 points, William Buford and Lenzelle Smith Jr. each scored 11 points and Aaron Craft finished with 10 points.

You can click here for the complete Big Ten Tournament Bracket.

You can find full coverage of the tournament in our Big Ten Tournament StoryStream, so follow along throughout the day. For more on the Hoosiers head over to The Crimson Quarry. For the Wisconsin Badgers side, check out Bucky’s Fifth Quarter.

Top seed Michigan State led by as many as 28 en route to a dominating 92-75 win over No. 8 seed Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals on Friday afternoon.

Big Ten Player of the Year Draymond Green led the way for the Spartans with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Teammate Adreian Payne had a career-high 16 points to go with seven rebounds.

Friday’s quarterfinal will tip off at 2 p.m. ET and will be televised nationally on ESPN.

You can click here for the complete Big Ten Tournament Bracket.

Day 1 of the Big Ten Tournament is in the books and all went relatively according to plan. Three of the four higher-seeded teams won on Thursday, but the one team that didn’t may be at home wondering what might’ve been on Selection Sunday.

Iowa opened the day with a win, knocking off Illinois by three to earn the right to face top-seeded Michigan State. Indiana handled its business easily, putting away Penn State to advance to Friday’s quarterfinals, where Wisconsin awaits. The upset came in the third matchup of the day, when Northwestern was knocked off by Illinois, likely squashing the Wildcats’ NCAA Tournament hopes. In the night cap, Purdue moved on and will face Ohio State in the quarters.

Hummel scored just 10 points in his first tournament game in three years, but he was key in facilitating the offense. It’s worth reiterating: Purdue scored 79 points in regulation of a Big Ten conference game. That’s how efficient they were. They shot 56 percent from the field and 52 percent from behind the three-point line. Five different Boilermakers scored in double-figures and they had 17 assists on 28 field goals as a team. In other words, nothing was stopping their offense tonight.

The Huskers didn’t play poorly either — 61 points is plenty many nights in the B1G — turning the ball over just eight times all game, but they couldn’t stop the Boilermakers, and defense wins championships, as any coach will tell you. Nebraska senior Bo Spencer led all scorers with 22 points in the loss.

For more on these two teams, visit Northwestern blog Sippin’ on Purple, MInnesota blog The Daily Gopher and Big Ten blog Off Tackle Empire.

For more on the Hoosiers head over to The Crimson Quarry. For the Penn State side of life, check out Black Shoe Diaries. You can also find full coverage of the tournament in our Big Ten Tournament StoryStream and at SB Nation Indiana.

Incredibly, the Illini failed to get to the free throw line. Matt Gaetens was the leading scorer for Iowa as he has been for most of the season, but it took until late in the first half for him to attempt a three-point shot. He ultimately finished with 20 points and was 2-5 from behind the arc.

Iowa had a chance to ice the game late, but Aaron White missed the front end of a one-and-one with 27 seconds remaining, which was followed up by a made three-point shot by Joseph Bertrand to pull Iowa within one. Iowa would get the impeding inbound to Gaetens, who did an excellent job to run time off the clock before drawing the foul. He hit both free throws, icing the game for the Hawkeyes.