Nov. 3, 2013
Big Ten Tournament Bracket | Tournament Central
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State, the Co-Big Ten regular season champions, will play in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament as the No. 1 seed after finishing the regular season with a 5-1 conference record. The Nittany Lions will play the winner of fifth seeded Iowa vs. fourth seeded Michigan in the first semifinal match on Friday at 10 a.m. and will be broadcast live on BTN. The entire tourney will be played at Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio.
The Blue and White won its second-straight Big Ten regular season championship this season and seventh in program history. Penn State shared the title with Northwestern, as both programs finished with 5-1 Big Ten records. The Lions earned the No. 1 seed in the tourney because PSU won the head-to-head matchup by a score of 2-0 on October 5.
The Nittany Lions come into the tourney as the reigning back-to-back Big Ten Tournament champions, winning the 2012 title in Iowa City and the 2011 crown at home in Happy Valley. Head coach Charlene Morett and the PSU program has won more Big Ten Tournament titles than anyone else, claiming six championships in the 19 year history.
Penn State went 1-1 against its possible semifinal opponents, both being highly contested matches. The Lions defeated Iowa 2-1, scoring twice in the second half to grab the victory in Iowa City. Michigan was the only team that managed to defeat the Lions in conference play, pulling out a 2-1 overtime win in the final match of the regular season.
Prior to the Blue and White's semifinal showdown on Friday, there will be three first round matches in Columbus on Thursday. The aforementioned Iowa vs. Michigan match will open the tourney on Thursday at 10 a.m. followed by No. 2 Northwestern vs. the hosts, No. 7 Ohio State at 12:15 p.m. The first round will conclude with No. 3 Michigan State taking on No. 6 Indiana at 2:30 p.m.
After Penn State's semifinal match on Friday, the second semifinal of the day is scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. and will pit the winner of the NU/OSU match against the winner MSU/IU contest. The final will be played on Sunday at noon. The tournament's champion will earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
BTN will provide live coverage of the quarterfinals, semifinals and final of the tournament. All three of Thursday's games will be live streamed on the Big Ten Digital Network (BTDN). The first semifinal match on Friday will be live on BTN, while the second semifinal will air on delay at 11:30 p.m. ET that evening. The championship game will air live on BTN.