There’s a reason the Big Ten decided to expand its men’s tournament in 2026 and let all 18 teams participate, making it a six-day basketball extravaganza in Chicago instead of a nice, long weekend.
As long as TV networks or streamers are willing to televise these games, there’s always a chance someone will watch, even if teams such as No. 15 seed Northwestern and No. 17 seed Maryland are on that day’s schedule.
But getting fans to come out to the United Center for the early slate of games has been a challenge for the coast-to-coast conference. Only the most die-hard students and alumni showed up Wednesday on Day 2 to watch eight teams that likely would be eliminated by Friday, if not by the end of the night.
Big Ten Tournament: Washington outlasts USC in overtime for 83-79 win in second round
Northwestern had the alleged hometown advantage Wednesday night against Indiana, and though the sparse crowd was dominated by red-clad Hoosier fans, the Wildcats held on for a 74-61 second-round win to extend the Nick Martinelli Farewell Tour for at least one more day.
Martinelli led the Wildcats with 28 points and three steals, while freshman guard Jake West added 18 points in the upset.
“When you come into the locker room (at halftime) and know this could be your last 20 minutes with this jersey on, and all the work you’ve put in with these coaches and players, you just can’t let that slip,” Martinelli said. “We’ve let it slip too much this year. Obviously we have an opportunity (Thursday). I don’t know how we’re even going to be able to sleep tonight we’re so excited.”
Northwestern takes on seventh-seeded Purdue on Thursday, with the winner meeting second-seeded Nebraska in a Friday quarterfinal. With 6-11 Arrinten Page out again Wednesday with an illness and likely out Thursday, it’s a tall task for the undersized Wildcats.
“I know we’re going to fight,” coach Chris Collins said. “I can’t promise what the result is going to be, but I know our guys are going to give everything these next 24 hours to get ready for Purdue.”
After a tight first half, the Wildcats led by three with 13:18 left when a flagrant foul was called on Indiana’s Nick Dorn on West’s driving attempt. West hit a pair of free throws, and NU used that moment to go into a higher gear, increasing the lead to 13 in four minutes. They remained in control from there, thanks mostly to the play of Martinelli and West.
The Wildcats earned the chance to extend their season Wednesday by beating Penn State, the worst team in the conference. That meant one more game for Martinelli, who on Tuesday was named first-team All-Big Ten by the Associated Press.
Martinelli, who has won back-to-back Big Ten scoring titles, is a pleasure to watch but couldn’t carry the team by himself in a difficult season for a program that thought it had turned a corner a couple of years ago. Despite the record, this has been one of Collins’ better coaching efforts. The Wildcats were 2-13 in the conference at one point, and he noted the kids could’ve been thinking of Cancun or Fort Lauderdale.
Instead, they’ve won five of their last seven games to at least go out on a respectable note.
“A lot of teams would’ve shut down. We were 2-13 (in conference) with a lot of gut-wrenching losses,” Collins said. “Games that we had big leads, games that we just let slip away. That wore on our team. For our guys to hang in there, and since that stretch win five of seven. … And the two we lost were a buzzer-beater at Minnesota and a game against Purdue that came down to the last shot. These last seven games we’ve been playing our best basketball.”
The more the merrier is not an applicable term when it comes to the bloated Big Ten Tournament. The conference might be sending nine teams to the NCAA Tournament, but only a half-dozen have a realistic shot at winning this tournament: the four teams with a bye into the quarterfinals — Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska and Illinois — and maybe Purdue and Wisconsin.
But every conference tournament seems to have one underdog slip through the field, and Northwestern at least has proved it’s not going to quit.
“This is the most games I’ve won in the Big Ten Tournament,” Martinelli said. “It’s super motivating to have guys sticking by your side after all the struggles we’ve been through.”
Earlier in the day, ninth-seeded Iowa (21-11) trounced Maryland 74-57, using a 21-0 run to put away an overmatched Terrapins team that finished 12-21. Iowa takes on No. 8 seed Ohio State on Thursday. In the second afternoon game, No. 12 seed Washington beat 14th-seeded USC 83-79 in overtime for the Huskies’ third win of the year over the Trojans.
Despite shooting 29-for-70 from the field, Washington (16-16) earned its first win in Big Ten Tournament history.
After the Huskies players spoke, the moderator asked: “Any more questions for the student-athletes?”
“I’ve got a question for you,” Washington coach Danny Sprinkle said. “Why do you guys keep getting down 15 points in the half? Can you cut that out?”
“Coach, we’ve got to stop that,” said Huskies guard Zoom Diallo, who scored 22 points.
“I like that,” Sprinkle replied.
Sounds like a plan.
The Huskies face fifth-seeded Wisconsin on Thursday but will need to dial in from start to finish to pull off an upset and Zoom into Friday’s quarterfinal matchup against Illinois.
The action should get much more interesting Thursday when Wisconsin, Purdue and UCLA all join in, but the real fun starts Friday with Michigan and Michigan State, the favorites to meet in Sunday’s title game, playing their quarterfinal opponents.
By then, the United Center figures to be rocking, no matter the matchup.
