‘Around the Big Ten’: Basketball season winds down, tournament set & hockey change

In this edition of Around the Big Ten, SiriusXM host Pete Pistone updates the status of this year’s basketball and hockey tournaments as the regular seasons come to an end.

For more news and analysis about the conference, listen to SiriusXM Big Ten Radio (Ch. 372) on the SiriusXM app now.

HOOPS HEADED TO FINISH LINE

There are just two weeks left in the Big Ten basketball regular season. The conference tournament is in place, albeit at a different site than originally planned.

This year’s men’s basketball tourney will be held in Indianapolis rather than Chicago’s United Center. Lucas Oil Field will host this year’s edition and game times have been slated.

The tournament is slated to tip off at 6:30pm ET on March 10, followed by a second game that starts 25 minutes after the completion of the first contest. The second round of the tournament will take place on March 11, and features four games played between two sessions, with the first session tipping off at 11:30am ET and the second session beginning at 6:30pm ET.

On March 12, the quarterfinals will feature four games played between two sessions, with the first session beginning at 11:30am ET and the second session starting at 6:30pm ET.

The semifinals and final will be played on March 13 and March 14.

The first semifinal will tip off at 1pm ET on March 13, with the second semifinal beginning 25 minutes following the conclusion of the first game.

The Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament championship game tips off at 3:30pm ET on March 14.

HOCKEY TOURNAMENT MOVED

The Big Ten Conference Administrators Council, which includes the Directors of Athletics and Senior Women Administrators from all 14 member institutions, approved measures to change the dates of the 2021 Big Ten Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament from March 18-20 to March 14-16. The tournament will take place as previously planned at Compton Family Ice Arena on the campus of the University of Notre Dame.

The decision to change the dates of the tournament was made in order to ease compression between the regular season and postseason tournaments in the interest of the health and safety of student-athletes, coaches and officials. The tournament will include Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, and Wisconsin, and will consist of six games, with three games on Sunday, two games on Monday, and the championship game on Tuesday.