2018–19 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season

The 2018–19 Big Ten men's basketball season began with practices in October 2018, followed by the start of the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season on November 6, 2018. The regular season ended on March 10, 2019.

2018–19 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	14
TV partner(s)	Big Ten Network, ESPN, Fox, FS1 CBS
2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
Regular season champions (shared)	Michigan State and Purdue
Season MVP	Cassius Winston, Michigan State
Top scorer	Carsen Edwards, Purdue
Tournament
Venue	United Center, Chicago, Illinois
Champions	Michigan State
Runners-up	Michigan
Finals MVP	Cassius Winston

2018–19 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 5 Michigan State †	16	–	4		.800			32	–	7		.821
No. 13 Purdue	16	–	4		.800			26	–	10		.722
No. 8 Michigan	15	–	5		.750			30	–	7		.811
No. 21 Wisconsin	14	–	6		.700			23	–	11		.676
Maryland	13	–	7		.650			23	–	11		.676
Iowa	10	–	10		.500			23	–	12		.657
Minnesota	9	–	11		.450			22	–	14		.611
Ohio State	8	–	12		.400			20	–	15		.571
Indiana	8	–	12		.400			19	–	16		.543
Penn State	7	–	13		.350			14	–	18		.438
Illinois	7	–	13		.350			12	–	21		.364
Rutgers	7	–	13		.350			14	–	17		.452
Nebraska	6	–	14		.300			19	–	17		.528
Northwestern	4	–	16		.200			13	–	19		.406
† 2019 Big Ten tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

The 2018–19 season marked the first time in Big Ten history that the teams played a 20-game conference schedule.^[1] With a win over Northwestern on March 9, 2019, Purdue won a share of the Big Ten regular season championship, its conference-leading 24th championship.^[2] Later that same day, Michigan State defeated Michigan to earn a share of the championship, marking back-to-back championships for the Spartans.^[3] Due to tie-breaking rules,^[4] Michigan State received the No. 1 seed for the Big Ten tournament.^[5]

The Big Ten tournament returned to its more traditional Midwest roots and was held at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.^[6] The Tournament was held from March 13 through March 19, 2019. Michigan State won the Big Ten tournament championship, defeating Michigan for the third time on the season in the championship game.^[7]

Michigan State guard Cassius Winston was named Big Ten Player of the Year.^[8] Winston, Ethan Happ and Carsen Edwards were 2019 consensus All-Americans.^[9] Purdue coach Matt Painter was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the fourth time and NABC Coach of the Year.^[8][10]

In addition to Michigan State, who received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, the conference set a conference record by sending eight teams to the Tournament: Michigan, Purdue, Wisconsin, Maryland, Iowa, Minnesota, and Ohio State.^[11][12] Michigan State advanced to the Final Four.^[13] The conference also sent two schools to the National Invitation Tournament: Indiana and Nebraska.^[14]

Following the season, Romeo Langford (14th overall), headlined a class of 6 Big Ten conference athletes that were drafted in the 2019 NBA draft. Michigan had two players drafted.^[15]

Head coaches

Coaching changes prior to the season

There were no coaching changes following the 2017–18 season.

Coaches

The following are the preseason coaching summaries for all conference teams entering the 114th season of Big Ten Conference men's basketball. The table includes former NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament champion coach Tom Izzo and former Big Ten Conference champion coaches Izzo, John Beilein and Matt Painter. 10 of the 14 coaches have had NCAA tournament appearances at their current school.^[16]

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Years at school	Overall record	Big Ten record	Big Ten titles	NCAA tournaments	NCAA Final Fours	NCAA Championships
Illinois	Brad Underwood	Oklahoma State	2	14–18	4–14	0	0	0	0
Indiana	Archie Miller	Dayton	2	16–15	9–9	0	0	0	0
Iowa	Fran McCaffery	Siena	9	151–120	68–76	0	3	0	0
Maryland	Mark Turgeon	Texas A&M	8	157–81	49–30*	0	3	0	0
Michigan	John Beilein	West Virginia	12	248–143	111–87	2	8	2	0
Michigan State	Tom Izzo	Michigan State (Asst.)	24	574–225	269–122	8	21	7	1
Minnesota	Richard Pitino	Florida International	6	90–78	31–59	0	1	0	0
Nebraska	Tim Miles	Colorado State	7	97–97	46–62	0	1	0	0
Northwestern	Chris Collins	Duke (Asst.)	6	88–77	36–54	0	1	0	0
Ohio State	Chris Holtmann	Butler	2	25–9	15–3	0	1	0	0
Penn State	Pat Chambers	Boston University	8	113–122	38–87	0	0	0	0
Purdue	Matt Painter	Purdue (Assoc.)	14	295–149	142–88	2	10	0	0
Rutgers	Steve Pikiell	Stony Brook	3	30–37	6–30	0	0	0	0
Wisconsin	Greg Gard	Wisconsin (Assoc.)	4	57–36	31–23	0	2	0	0

Notes:

• All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
• Year at school includes 2018–19 season.
• Overall and Big Ten records are from time at current school and are through the beginning of the season.
• Turgeon's ACC conference record excluded since Maryland began Big Ten Conference play in 2014–15.
• Source:^[17]

Preseason

Big Ten players received significant preseason accolades. Carsen Edwards was named Preseason National Player of the Year by the Associated Press (AP) and Ethan Happ joined him on the preseason AP All-American team.^[18]

Preseason All-Big Ten

Prior to the conference's annual media day, unofficial awards and a preseason poll were chosen by a panel of 28 writers, two for each team in the conference. Michigan State was the consensus preseason selection to win the conference, receiving 22 of 28 first place votes.^[19]

Rank	Team
1	Michigan State (22)
2	Michigan (4)
3	Indiana (1)
4	Nebraska
5	Purdue (1)
6	Wisconsin
7	Maryland
8	Ohio State
9	Minnesota
10	Iowa
11	Penn State
12	Northwestern
13	Illinois
14	Rutgers
(first place votes)

On October 11, 2018, a panel of conference media selected a 10-member preseason All-Big Ten Team and Player of the Year. Junior Edwards who had averaged 18.5 points and tallied 97 three point shots as a sophomore was selected as player of the year. He and Happ were unanimous selections by the Big Ten Conference basketball media to the Preseason All-Big Ten team. Indiana and Michigan State each had two preseason All-Big Ten selections.^[20][21]

Honor	Recipient
Preseason Player of the Year	Carsen Edwards*, Purdue
Preseason All-Big Ten Team	Carsen Edwards, Purdue
	Ethan Happ*, Wisconsin
	Romeo Langford, Indiana
	Juwan Morgan, Indiana
	Anthony Cowan Jr., Maryland
	Charles Matthews, Michigan
	Nick Ward, Michigan State
	Cassius Winston, Michigan State
	Jordan Murphy, Minnesota
	James Palmer Jr., Nebraska
*Unanimous selections

Preseason watchlists

Several Big Ten players were selected to notable preseason watchlists.^[18] Below is a table of notable preseason watch lists.

	Wooden	Naismith	Robertson	Cousy	West	Erving	Malone	Abdul-Jabbar	Olson	Tisdale	Notes
Carsen Edwards, Purdue	Y	Y		Y							[22][23][24]
Ethan Happ, Wisconsin	Y	Y						Y			[22][23][25]
Romeo Langford, Indiana	Y	Y			Y						[22][23][26]
Charles Matthews, Michigan	Y	Y									[22][23]
Juwan Morgan, Indiana	Y	Y					Y				[22][23][27]
Jordan Murphy, Minnesota	Y	Y					Y				[22][23][27]
James Palmer Jr., Nebraska	Y	Y			Y						[22][23][26]
Jalen Smith, Maryland								Y			[25]
Lamar Stevens, Penn State						Y					[28]
Nick Ward, Michigan State	Y							Y			[22][25]
Aaron Wiggins, Maryland						Y					[28]
Cassius Winston, Michigan State	Y	Y		Y							[22][23]

Preseason national polls

Main article: 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season § Pre-season polls

	Sporting News[29]	AP	Athlon Sports[30]	Bleacher Report	Blue Ribbon Yearbook[31]	CBS Sports[32]	Coaches	ESPN	Lindy's Sports[33]	NBC Sports[34]	SBNation[35]	Sports Illustrated[36]	USBWA
Illinois
Indiana						23			25		25
Iowa
Maryland	21
Michigan	10	19	24		23	17	18		21	23	21	18
Michigan State	12	10	10		10	10	10		10	13	11	10
Minnesota
Nebraska			25				25
Northwestern
Ohio State
Penn State
Purdue		24			19		22		17		22	20
Rutgers
Wisconsin

Five of the fourteen teams had multiple preseason publications name them as preseason top 25 selections. Michigan and Michigan State were included in every publication that was found to publish a list during this season. Michigan State had several top ten selections. Purdue, Indiana, Nebraska and Maryland also had media support in preseason polls. Michigan's only top 10 selection was The Sporting News, which was also Maryland's only top 25 selection.

Regular season

2018 ACC–Big Ten Challenge (Tied 7–7)

Date	Time	ACC team	B1G team	Score	Location	Television	Attendance	Challenge leader
Nov 26	7:00 pm	Clemson	Nebraska	68–66	Littlejohn Coliseum • Clemson, South Carolina	ESPN2	6,974	B1G (1–0)
	9:00 pm	Boston College	Minnesota	68–56	Conte Forum • Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts	ESPN2	4,389	Tied (1–1)
Nov 27	7:00 pm	Notre Dame	Illinois	76–74	Edmund P. Joyce Center • South Bend, Indiana	ESPNU	8,053	ACC (2–1)
	7:00 pm	No. 13 Virginia Tech	Penn State	63–62	Bryce Jordan Center • University Park, Pennsylvania	ESPN2	8,373	Tied (2–2)
	7:30 pm	Louisville	No. 9 Michigan State	82–78 OT	KFC Yum! Center • Louisville, Kentucky	ESPN	15,477	ACC (3–2)
	9:00 pm	NC State	No. 22 Wisconsin	79–75	Kohl Center • Madison, Wisconsin	ESPN2	17,012	Tied (3–3)
	9:00 pm	Pittsburgh	No. 14 Iowa	69–68	Carver–Hawkeye Arena • Iowa City, Iowa	ESPNU	10,158	B1G (4–3)
	9:30 pm	No. 3 Duke	Indiana	90–69	Cameron Indoor Stadium • Durham, North Carolina	ESPN	9,314	Tied (4–4)
Nov 28	7:00 pm	Miami	Rutgers	57–54	Watsco Center • Coral Gables, Florida	ESPNU	6,376	B1G (5–4)
	7:00 pm	Syracuse	No. 16 Ohio State	72–62	Value City Arena • Columbus, Ohio	ESPN2	16,962	Tied (5–5)
	7:30 pm	No. 4 Virginia	No. 24 Maryland	76–71	Xfinity Center • College Park, Maryland	ESPN	17,950	ACC (6–5)
	9:15 pm	No. 15 Florida State	No. 19 Purdue	73–72	Donald L. Tucker Civic Center • Tallahassee, Florida	ESPN2	9,978	ACC (7–5)
	9:15 pm	Georgia Tech	Northwestern	67–61	Welsh-Ryan Arena • Evanston, Illinois	ESPNU	6,378	ACC (7–6)
	9:30 pm	No. 11 North Carolina	No. 7 Michigan	84–67	Crisler Center • Ann Arbor, Michigan	ESPN	12,707	Tied (7–7)
Winners are in bold Game times in EST Wake Forest did not play due to the ACC having one more team than the B1G.

2018 Gavitt Tipoff Games (Big Ten 5–3)

Date	Time	Big East team	Big Ten team	Score	Location	Television	Attendance	Leader
Tue., Nov. 13	6:30 PM	Xavier	Wisconsin	77–68	Cintas Center • Cincinnati, OH	FS1	10,312	Big Ten (1–0)
	8:30 PM	Georgetown	Illinois	88–80	State Farm Center • Champaign, IL	FS1	14,656	Tied (1–1)
Wed., Nov. 14	6:30 PM	No. 8 Villanova	No. 18 Michigan	73–46	Finneran Pavilion • Villanova, PA	FS1	6,501	Big Ten (2–1)
	7:30 PM	Seton Hall	Nebraska	80–57	Pinnacle Bank Arena • Lincoln, NE	BTN	15,713	Big Ten (3–1)
	8:30 PM	No. 24 Marquette	Indiana	96–73	Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall • Bloomington, IN	FS1	17,222	Big Ten (4–1)
Thu., Nov. 15	7:00 PM	Creighton	Ohio State	69–60	CHI Health Center Omaha • Omaha, NE	FS1	17,146	Big Ten (5–1)
	9:00 PM	DePaul	Penn State	72–70 OT	Wintrust Arena • Chicago, IL	FS1	3,926	Big Ten (5–2)
Fri., Nov. 16	7:00 PM	St. John's	Rutgers	84–65	Louis Brown Athletic Center • Piscataway, NJ	BTN	7,102	Big Ten (5–3)
WINNERS ARE IN BOLD. Game Times in EST. Rankings from AP Poll (Nov 12). Did not participate: Butler; Providence (Big East); Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue (Big Ten)

Rankings

See also: 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Weekly sourced rankings can be found at the above article. Several Big Ten teams were among the preseason ranked teams in both the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll. Michigan State, Michigan, Purdue and Nebraska were ranked in at least one poll, while Indiana, Maryland and Wisconsin also received votes.^[37][38] After the regular season Michigan State, Michigan (both top 10), Purdue and Wisconsin were in the AP Poll.^[39] After the season the final Coaches Poll was published they continued to be ranked as was Maryland and Iowa, Minnesota and Ohio State received votes.^[40]

Legend

		Improvement in ranking
		Drop in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
RV		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll
(Italics)		Number of first place votes

		Pre/ Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Wk 17	Wk 18	Wk 19	Wk 20	Final
Illinois	AP
	C
Indiana	AP	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	25T	22	23	21	22	25
	C	RV		RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	25	22	24	25	RV
Iowa	AP			20	14	18	22	23	24	24	RV	23	19	RV	20	21	21	22				n/a
	C			22	15	19	21	24	21	20T	25	24	21	25	20	17	19	21	RV			RV
Maryland	AP	RV	RV	RV	24	23	RV	RV			RV	19	13	21	24	24	24	17	24	21	RV	n/a
	C	RV		RV	RV	23	23	24	RV			22	16	24	RV	25	25T	20	24	21	RV	22
Michigan	AP	19	18	9	7	5	5(1)	4(1)	2(9)	2(9)	2(9)	2(9)	5	5	7	6	7	9	7	10	8	n/a
	C	18		8	5	5(1)	5(3)	5(3)	4(4)	4(4)	4(6)	4(6)	6	5	7	7	7	10	7	11	8	11
Michigan State	AP	10	11	11	9	10	9	10	8	8	6	6	6 (2)	6	9	11	10	6	9	6	5	n/a
	C	10		11	8	10	9	8	7	7	5	6	5	8	11	12	11	8	11	7	6	3
Minnesota	AP				RV		RV	RV			RV	RV		RV								n/a
	C			RV	RV						RV	RV										RV
Nebraska	AP	RV	RV	RV	RV	24	RV	25	RV	24	RV	RV	RV	RV
	C	25		24	RV	25	25	22	23	23T	RV	RV	RV
Northwestern	AP
	C
Ohio State	AP		RV	23	16	19	15	15	13	14	16	RV										n/a
	C			23	16	17	14	14	11	12	17	RV	RV									RV
Penn State	AP
	C
Purdue	AP	24	23	24	16	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	17	15	12	15	14	11	13	13	n/a
	C	22		19	16	24	RV	RV	RV			RV	RV	18	15	11	13	12	9	12	13	8
Rutgers	AP
	C
Wisconsin	AP	RV	RV	25	22	12	16	16	15	22	RV	RV	RV	24	19	20	22	19	21	19	21	n/a
	C	RV		RV	22	16	19	17	16	23T	RV	RV	RV	23	19	23	23	18	21	19	21	24

Player of the week

Throughout the conference regular season, the Big Ten offices named one or two players of the week and one or two freshmen of the week each Monday. On December 18, Juwan Morgan earned United States Basketball Writers Association National Player of the Week recognition.^[41]

Kaleb Wesson

Week	Player of the week	Freshman of the week
November 12, 2018[42]	Carsen Edwards, PUR	Jalen Smith, MD
	Ethan Happ, WISC
November 19, 2018[43]	Ethan Happ (2), WISC	Romeo Langford, IND
November 26, 2018[44]	Cassius Winston, MSU	Gabe Kalscheur, MINN
	Ethan Happ (3), WISC
December 3, 2018[45]	Jordan Poole, MICH	Iggy Brazdeikis, MICH
December 10, 2018[46]	Carsen Edwards (2), PUR	Romeo Langford (2), IND
	Ethan Happ (4), WISC	Iggy Brazdeikis (2), MICH
December 17, 2018[47]	Juwan Morgan, IND	Jalen Smith (2), MD
December 24, 2018[48]	Kaleb Wesson, OSU	Daniel Oturu, MINN
December 31, 2018[49]	Cassius Winston (2), MSU	Iggy Brazdeikis (3), MICH
January 7, 2019[50]	Nick Ward, MSU	Romeo Langford (3), IND
January 14, 2019[51]	Bruno Fernando, MD	Romeo Langford (4), IND
January 21, 2019[52]	Cassius Winston (3), MSU	Joe Wieskamp, IOWA
January 28, 2019[53]	Cassius Winston (4), MSU	Iggy Brazdeikis (4), MICH
	Jordan Murphy, MINN
February 4, 2019[54]	Carsen Edwards (3), PUR	Joe Wieskamp (2), IOWA
February 11, 2019[55]	Giorgi Bezhanishvili, ILL	Ayo Dosunmu, ILL
February 18, 2019[56]	Jordan Murphy (2), MINN	Ayo Dosunmu (2), ILL
February 25, 2019[57]	Cassius Winston (5), MSU	Daniel Oturu (2), MINN
March 4, 2019[58]	Amir Coffey, MINN	Ron Harper Jr., RUT
March 10, 2019[59]	Juwan Morgan (2), IND	Jalen Smith (3), MD
	Amir Coffey (2), MINN

Early season tournaments

11 of the 14 Big Ten teams participated in early season tournaments. Each team's finish is noted below. Indiana, Ohio State, and Rutgers did not participate in a tournament.^[60] Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, and Wisconsin participated in the Gavitt Tip-Off Games against Big East Conference teams for a fourth consecutive year. The result was a 5–3 victory for the Big Ten.^[61][62] All Big Ten teams also participated in the ACC–Big Ten Challenge against Atlantic Coast Conference teams, the 20th year for the event. The 2018 results were a 7–7 tie.^[63]

Team	Tournament	Finish
Illinois	Maui Invitational	8th
Iowa	2K Sports Classic	1st
Maryland	Veterans Classic[64]	1–0
Michigan	Hall of Fame Tip-Off	1st
Michigan State	Las Vegas Invitational	1st
Minnesota	Vancouver Showcase	3–0
Nebraska	CBE Hall of Fame Classic	2nd
Northwestern	Wooden Legacy	5th
Purdue	Charleston Classic	2nd
Penn State	Cancún Challenge	2nd
Wisconsin	Battle 4 Atlantis	2nd

ACC–Big Ten Challenge

Date	Time	ACC team	B1G team	Score	Location	Television	Attendance	Challenge leader
Nov 26	7:00 pm	Clemson	Nebraska	68–66	Littlejohn Coliseum • Clemson, South Carolina	ESPN2	6,974	B1G (1–0)
	9:00 pm	Boston College	Minnesota	68–56	Conte Forum • Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts	ESPN2	4,389	Tied (1–1)
Nov 27	7:00 pm	Notre Dame	Illinois	76–74	Edmund P. Joyce Center • South Bend, Indiana	ESPNU	8,053	ACC (2–1)
	7:00 pm	No. 13 Virginia Tech	Penn State	63–62	Bryce Jordan Center • University Park, Pennsylvania	ESPN2	8,373	Tied (2–2)
	7:30 pm	Louisville	No. 9 Michigan State	82–78 OT	KFC Yum! Center • Louisville, Kentucky	ESPN	15,477	ACC (3–2)
	9:00 pm	NC State	No. 22 Wisconsin	79–75	Kohl Center • Madison, Wisconsin	ESPN2	17,012	Tied (3–3)
	9:00 pm	Pittsburgh	No. 14 Iowa	69–68	Carver–Hawkeye Arena • Iowa City, Iowa	ESPNU	10,158	B1G (4–3)
	9:30 pm	No. 3 Duke	Indiana	90–69	Cameron Indoor Stadium • Durham, North Carolina	ESPN	9,314	Tied (4–4)
Nov 28	7:00 pm	Miami	Rutgers	57–54	Watsco Center • Coral Gables, Florida	ESPNU	6,376	B1G (5–4)
	7:00 pm	Syracuse	No. 16 Ohio State	72–62	Value City Arena • Columbus, Ohio	ESPN2	16,962	Tied (5–5)
	7:30 pm	No. 4 Virginia	No. 24 Maryland	76–71	Xfinity Center • College Park, Maryland	ESPN	17,950	ACC (6–5)
	9:15 pm	No. 15 Florida State	No. 19 Purdue	73–72	Donald L. Tucker Civic Center • Tallahassee, Florida	ESPN2	9,978	ACC (7–5)
	9:15 pm	Georgia Tech	Northwestern	67–61	Welsh-Ryan Arena • Evanston, Illinois	ESPNU	6,378	ACC (7–6)
	9:30 pm	No. 11 North Carolina	No. 7 Michigan	84–67	Crisler Center • Ann Arbor, Michigan	ESPN	12,707	Tied (7–7)
Winners Are In Bold Game times in EST Wake Forest did not play due to the ACC having one more team than the B1G.

Gavitt Tipoff Games

Date	Time	Big East team	Big Ten team	Score	Location	Television	Attendance	Leader
Tue., Nov. 13	6:30 PM	Xavier	Wisconsin	77–68	Cintas Center • Cincinnati, OH	FS1	10,312	Big Ten (1–0)
	8:30 PM	Georgetown	Illinois	88–80	State Farm Center • Champaign, IL	FS1	14,656	Tied (1–1)
Wed., Nov. 14	6:30 PM	No. 8 Villanova	No. 18 Michigan	73–46	Finneran Pavilion • Villanova, PA	FS1	6,501	Big Ten (2–1)
	7:30 PM	Seton Hall	Nebraska	80–57	Pinnacle Bank Arena • Lincoln, NE	BTN	15,713	Big Ten (3–1)
	8:30 PM	No. 24 Marquette	Indiana	96–73	Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall • Bloomington, IN	FS1	17,222	Big Ten (4–1)
Thu., Nov. 15	7:00 PM	Creighton	Ohio State	69–60	CHI Health Center Omaha • Omaha, NE	FS1	17,146	Big Ten (5–1)
	9:00 PM	DePaul	Penn State	72–70 OT	Wintrust Arena • Chicago, IL	FS1	3,926	Big Ten (5–2)
Fri., Nov. 16	7:00 PM	St. John's	Rutgers	84–65	Louis Brown Athletic Center • Piscataway, NJ	BTN	7,102	Big Ten (5–3)
Winners Are In Bold. Game Times in EST. Rankings from AP Poll (Nov 12). Did not participate: Butler; Providence (Big East); Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue (Big Ten)

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Each team will play 20 conference games, and at least one game against each opponent. The 2018–19 season marked the first time in Big Ten history that the teams played a 20-game conference schedule.^[1] The new schedule included a regional component to increase the frequency of games among teams in similar areas. Over the course of a six-year cycle (12 playing opportunities), in-state rivals will play each other 12 times, regional opponents will play 10 times, and all other teams will play nine times.^[1] Three in-state series will be guaranteed home-and-homes: Illinois and Northwestern, Indiana and Purdue, and Michigan and Michigan State will always play twice.^[65] The conference opponent list was released on April 19, 2018.^[66]

	Illinois	Indiana	Iowa	Maryland	Michigan	Michigan St	Minnesota	Nebraska	Northwestern	Ohio St	Penn St	Purdue	Rutgers	Wisconsin
vs. Illinois	–	2–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	0–1	2–0
vs. Indiana	0–2	–	2–0	1–0	2–0	0–2	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	2–0	1–1	0–1
vs. Iowa	0–1	0–2	–	1–0	0–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	2–0
vs. Maryland	1–0	0–1	0–1	–	2–0	1–0	0–2	0–2	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–1
vs. Michigan	0–1	0–2	1–0	0–2	–	2–0	0–2	0–1	0–2	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–1
vs. Michigan St	1–0	2–0	0–2	0–1	0–2	–	0–1	0–2	0–1	0–2	0–1	1–1	0–2	0–1
vs. Minnesota	1–1	0–1	0–1	2–0	2–0	1–0	–	1–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–1
vs. Nebraska	1–1	0–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	1–1	–	0–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–0
vs. Northwestern	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	–	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	2–0
vs. Ohio State	1–1	0–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	0–1	0–1	1–1	–	0–1	2–0	1–1	1–0
vs. Penn State	0–2	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	–	2–0	1–1	2–0
vs. Purdue	0–1	0–2	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–1	0–2	0–2	–	0–1	0–1
vs. Rutgers	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–1	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	–	1–0
vs. Wisconsin	0–2	1–0	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–1	0–2	0–1	0–2	1–0	0–1	–
Total	7–13	8–12	10–10	13–7	15–5	16–4	9–11	6–14	4–16	8–12	7–13	16–4	7–13	14–6

The Big Ten led the nation in average attendance with 12,691 patrons, outpacing the SEC (11,527), ACC (10,912), Big 12 (10,170) and Big East (9,999). Of the 351 schools that host Division I basketball competition, Wisconsin (5th, 17,170), Nebraska (10th, 15,341), Indian (12th, 15,206), Michigan State (13th, 14,797), Purdue (14th, 14,467), Maryland (18th, 14,009), Ohio State (19th, 13,922), Iowa (23rd, 12,869), Michigan (24th, 12,505), and Illinois (25th, 12,456) were all among the top 25 in attendance.^[67] It marked the 43rd consecutive season that the Big Ten has led the nation in attendance.^[68]

Honors and awards

All-Big Ten awards and teams

On March 11, 2019, the Big Ten announced most of its conference awards, with separate slates of awards from the media and the coaches.^[8] Cassius Winston was selected as Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year. Winston and Carsen Edwards were unanimous first team All-Big Ten selections by both the coaches and the media. Purdue coach Matt Painter was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the fourth time, which tied him for third most in conference history behind Gene Keady and Bobby Knight, with 7 and 5, respectively.^[8][10]

Honor	Coaches	Media
Player of the Year	Cassius Winston, Michigan State	Cassius Winston, Michigan State
Coach of the Year	Matt Painter, Purdue	Matt Painter, Purdue
Freshman of the Year	Ignas Brazdeikis, Michigan	Ignas Brazdeikis, Michigan
Defensive Player of the Year	Josh Reaves, Penn State	Not Selected
Sixth Man of the Year	Xavier Tillman, Michigan State	Not Selected
All-Big Ten First Team	Carsen Edwards, Purdue	Carsen Edwards, Purdue
	Bruno Fernando, Maryland	Bruno Fernando, Maryland
	Ethan Happ, Wisconsin	Ethan Happ, Wisconsin
	Lamar Stevens, Penn State	Jordan Murphy, Minnesota
	Cassius Winston, Michigan State	Cassius Winston, Michigan State
All-Big Ten Second Team	Ignas Brazdeikis, Michigan	Ignas Brazdeikis, Michigan
	Anthony Cowan Jr., Maryland	Tyler Cook, Iowa
	Romeo Langford, Indiana	Anthony Cowan Jr., Maryland
	Jordan Murphy, Minnesota	Zavier Simpson, Michigan
	Zavier Simpson, Michigan	Lamar Stevens, Penn State
All-Big Ten Third Team	Jordan Bohannon, Iowa	Amir Coffey, Minnesota
	Amir Coffey, Minnesota	Romeo Langford, Indiana
	Tyler Cook, Iowa	Juwan Morgan, Indiana
	James Palmer Jr., Nebraska	James Palmer Jr., Nebraska
	Nick Ward, Michigan State	Nick Ward, Michigan State
All-Big Ten Honorable Mention	Geo Baker, Rutgers	Geo Baker, Rutgers
	Ryan Cline, Purdue	Jordan Bohannon, Iowa
	Ayo Dosunmu, Illinois	Ryan Cline, Purdue
	Kenny Goins, Michigan State	Ayo Dosunmu, Illinois
	Matt McQuaid, Michigan State	Trent Frazier, Illinois
	Juwan Morgan, Indiana	Luka Garza, Iowa
	Dererk Pardon, Northwestern	Kenny Goins, Michigan State
	Jordan Poole, Michigan	Matt Haarms, Purdue
	Jon Teske, Michigan	Vic Law, Northwestern
	Kaleb Wesson, Ohio State	Matt McQuaid, Michigan State
	Not Selected	Charles Matthews, Michigan
		Eugene Omoruyi, Rutgers
		Dererk Pardon, Northwestern
		Jordan Poole, Michigan
		Josh Reaves, Penn State
		Jon Teske, Michigan
		D'Mitrik Trice, Wisconsin
		Kaleb Wesson, Ohio State
All-Freshman Team	Ignas Brazdeikis, Michigan	Not Selected
	Ayo Dosunmu, Illinois
	Romeo Langford, Indiana
	Jalen Smith, Maryland
	Joe Wieskamp, Iowa
All-Defensive Team	Nojel Eastern, Purdue	Not Selected
	Bruno Fernando, Maryland
	Matt McQuaid, Michigan State
	Josh Reaves, Penn State
	Zavier Simpson, Michigan

USBWA

On March 12, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association released its 2018–19 Men's All-District Teams, based upon voting from its national membership. There were nine regions from coast to coast, and a player and coach of the year were selected in each. The following lists all the Big Ten representatives selected within their respective regions.^[69]

District II (NY, NJ, DE, DC, PA, WV) Lamar Stevens, Penn State

District V (OH, IN, IL, MI, MN, WI) Player of the Year Cassius Winston, Michigan State Coach of the Year Matt Painter, Purdue All-District Team Iggy Brazdeikis, Michigan Carsen Edwards, Purdue Ethan Happ, Wisconsin Romeo Langford, Indiana Jordan Murphy, Minnesota Zavier Simpson, Michigan Cassius Winston, Michigan State

District VI (IA, MO, KS, OK, NE, ND, SD) Tyler Cook, Iowa James Palmer Jr., Nebraska

NABC

The National Association of Basketball Coaches announced their Division I All-District teams on March 21, recognizing the nation's best men's collegiate basketball student-athletes. Selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC, the selections on this list were then eligible for NABC Coaches' All-America Honors. The following list represented the District 7 players chosen to the list.^[70]

First Team Cassius Winston, Michigan State Carsen Edwards, Purdue Ethan Happ, Wisconsin Bruno Fernando, Maryland Jordan Murphy, Minnesota

Second Team Zavier Simpson, Michigan Tyler Cook, Iowa Anthony Cowan, Maryland Iggy Brazdeikis, Michigan Lamar Stevens, Penn State

Other awards

Happ, Edwards and Winston were 2019 consensus All-Americans (second team).^[9] Brazdeikis was an Associated Press All-American honorable mention selection.^[71] Matt Painter was named NABC Coach of the Year.^[10]

Postseason

Big Ten tournament

Main article: 2019 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament

Michigan State emerged as the champion of the 2019 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament by defeating in-state rival Michigan 65–60 in the championship game.^[72] As the top seed,^[4][73] their path included a double bye and victories over Ohio State and Wisconsin.^[5]

	First round Wednesday, March 13 BTN					Second round Thursday, March 14 BTN					Quarterfinals Friday, March 15 BTN					Semifinals Saturday, March 16 CBS					Championship Sunday, March 17 CBS
											1	Michigan State	77
						8	Ohio State	79			8	Ohio State	70
						9	Indiana	75								1	Michigan State	67
																4	Wisconsin	55
											4	Wisconsin	66
						5	Maryland	61			13	Nebraska	62
	12	Rutgers	61			13	Nebraska	69													1	Michigan State	65
	13	Nebraska	68																		3	Michigan	60
											2	Purdue	73
						7	Minnesota	77*			7	Minnesota	75
						10	Penn State	72								7	Minnesota	49
																3	Michigan	76
											3	Michigan	74
						6	Iowa	83			6	Iowa	53
	11	Illinois	74*			11	Illinois	62
	14	Northwestern	69

* denotes overtime period

NCAA tournament

Main article: 2019 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

The winner of the Big Ten tournament, Michigan State, received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Eight Big Ten teams received bids to the NCAA tournament, the most of any conference in the tournament and the most in the conference's history.^[11][12] Seven teams reaching the round of 32 established another conference record.^[74] Michigan State reached the final four for the 10th time.^[13] In the postseason, the Big Ten had a 13–8 record in the NCAA tournament.^[74]

Seed	Region	School	First Four	First Round	Second Round	Sweet Sixteen	Elite Eight	Final Four	Championship
2	East	Michigan State	N/A	defeated (15) Bradley 76–65	defeated (10) Minnesota 70–50	defeated (3) LSU 80–63	defeated (1) Duke 68–67	lost to (3 W) Texas Tech 51–61
2	West	Michigan	N/A	defeated (15) Montana 74–55	defeated (10) Florida 64–49	lost to (3) Texas Tech 44–63
3	South	Purdue	N/A	defeated (14) Old Dominion 61–48	defeated (6) Villanova 87–61	defeated (2) Tennessee 99–94OT	lost to (1) Virginia 75–80OT
5	South	Wisconsin	N/A	lost to (12) Oregon 54–72
6	East	Maryland	N/A	defeated (11) Belmont 79–77	lost to (3) LSU 67–69
10	East	Minnesota	N/A	defeated (7) Louisville 86–76	lost to (2) Michigan State 50–70
10	South	Iowa	N/A	defeated (7) Cincinnati 79–72	lost to (2) Tennessee 77–83OT
11	Midwest	Ohio State	N/A	defeated (6) Iowa State 20–14	lost to (3) Houston 59–74
		W–L (%):	0–0 (–)	7–1 (.875)	3–4 (.429)	2–1 (.667)	1–1 (.500)	0–1 (.000)	0–0 (–) Total: 13–8 (.619)

National Invitation Tournament

Main article: 2019 National Invitation Tournament

Two Big Ten teams received invitations to the National Invitation Tournament.^[14] The conference had a 3–2 record in the NIT tournament.^[74]

Seed	Bracket	School	First round	Second round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals
1	Indiana	Indiana	defeated (8) Saint Francis (PA) 89–72	defeated (5) Arkansas 63–60	lost to (6) Wichita State 63–73
4	TCU	Nebraska	defeated (5) Butler 80–76	lost to (1) TCU 72–88
		W–L (%):	2–0 (1.000)	1–1 (.500)	0–1 (.000)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–) Total: 3–2 (.600)

2019 NBA draft

Main article: 2019 NBA draft

Six players were drafted from Big Ten teams during the 2019 NBA draft. Two players were drafted from Michigan and two were drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers.^[15]

Round	Pick	Overall	Player	NBA Club	B1G team
1	14	14	Romeo Langford	Boston Celtics(from Sacramento via Philadelphia)[A]	Indiana
1	28	28	Jordan Poole	Golden State Warriors	Michigan
2	3	33	Carsen Edwards	Philadelphia 76ers(from Cleveland via New York and Orlando;[B][C][D] traded to Boston)[a]	Purdue
2	4	34	Bruno Fernando	Philadelphia 76ers (from Chicago via L.A. Lakers;[E] traded to Atlanta)[i]	Maryland
2	15	45	Isaiah Roby	Detroit Pistons(from Detroit via Oklahoma City and Boston;[F] traded to Dallas)[ii]	Nebraska
2	17	47	Ignas Brazdeikis	Sacramento Kings(from Orlando via New York;[C][G] traded to New York)[b]	Michigan

Pre-draft trades

Prior to the day of the draft, the following trades were made and resulted in exchanges of draft picks between the teams below.

1. July 10, 2015: Sacramento Kings to Philadelphia 76ers^[75]

   • Philadelphia acquired Nik Stauskas, Carl Landry, Jason Thompson, and a 2019 first-round pick
   • Sacramento acquired the draft rights to Artūras Gudaitis and Luka Mitrović

   June 23, 2016: Philadelphia 76ers to Boston Celtics^[76]

   • Boston acquired a 2017 first-round pick (No. 3 - Jayson Tatum) and a 2019 first-round pick
   • Philadelphia acquired a 2017 first-round pick (No. 1 - Markelle Fultz)
2. January 5, 2015: Cleveland Cavaliers to New York Knicks (three-team trade with Oklahoma City)^[77]

   • New York acquired Lou Amundson, Alex Kirk, Lance Thomas, and Cleveland's 2019 second-round pick
   • Cleveland acquired Iman Shumpert, J. R. Smith, and Oklahoma City's protected 2015 first-round pick
   • Oklahoma City acquired Dion Waiters
3. July 9, 2015: New York Knicks to Orlando Magic^[78]

   • Orlando acquired cash considerations and the right to swap 2019 second-round picks between New York and Orlando
   • New York Knicks acquired Kyle O'Quinn via a sign-and-trade deal
4. February 7, 2019: Orlando Magic to Philadelphia 76ers^[79]

   • Philadelphia acquired Jonathon Simmons, a 2020 first-round pick, and a 2019 second-round pick
   • Orlando acquired Markelle Fultz
5. July 7, 2016: Chicago Bulls to Los Angeles Lakers^[81]

   • Los Angeles Lakers acquired José Calderón and two future second-round picks
   • Chicago acquired the draft rights to Ater Majok

   July 6, 2018: Los Angeles Lakers to Philadelphia 76ers^[82]

   • Philadelphia acquired cash considerations and a 2019 second-round pick
   • Los Angeles Lakers acquired Isaac Bonga
6. February 19, 2015: Detroit Pistons to Oklahoma City Thunder (three-team trade with Utah)^[85]

   • Oklahoma City acquired D. J. Augustin, Kyle Singler, and a 2019 second-round pick
   • Detroit acquired Reggie Jackson
   • Utah acquired a 2017 second-round pick

   July 14, 2015: Oklahoma City Thunder to Boston Celtics^[86]

   • Boston acquired Perry Jones III, a 2019 second-round pick, and cash considerations
   • Oklahoma City acquired a 2018 second-round pick

   July 7, 2017: Boston Celtics to Detroit Pistons^[87]

   • Detroit acquired Avery Bradley and a 2019 second-round pick
   • Boston acquired Marcus Morris
7. July 14, 2017: New York Knicks to Sacramento Kings^[89]

   • Sacramento acquired a 2019 second-round pick and cash considerations
   • New York acquired the rights to hire Scott Perry as general manager

Draft-day trades

Draft-day trades were made on June 20, 2019, the day of the draft.

1. June 20, 2019: Boston Celtics to Philadelphia 76ers^[80]

   • Philadelphia acquired Boston's first-round pick (No. 20 - Matisse Thybulle)
   • Boston acquired Philadelphia's first- and second-round picks (No. 24 - Ty Jerome and No. 33 - Carsen Edwards)
2. June 20, 2019: Sacramento Kings to New York Knicks^[90][91]

   • New York acquired Sacramento's second-round pick (No. 47 - Ignas Brazdeikis)
   • Sacramento acquired New York's second-round pick (No. 55 - Kyle Guy) and cash considerations

Post-draft trades

The following trades were reportedly agreed prior to and on the day of the draft and were completed at a later date. Due to salary cap reasons, most of these trades were officially announced on July 6, after the NBA moratorium period ended.

1. July 6, 2019: Philadelphia 76ers to Atlanta Hawks^[83][84]

   • Atlanta acquired a 2019 second-round pick (No. 34 - Bruno Fernando)
   • Philadelphia acquired a 2019 second-round pick (No. 57 - Jordan Bone) and two future second-round picks
2. June 27, 2019: Dallas Mavericks to Detroit Pistons^[88]

   • Detroit acquired a 2019 second-round pick (No. 37 - Deividas Sirvydis)
   • Dallas acquired a 2019 second-round pick (No. 45 - Isaiah Roby) and two future-second round picks

Coaching changes following the season

Following the season, Fred Hoiberg was named coach of Nebraska Cornhuskers men's basketball where his grandfather, Jerry Bush, had coached for nine years and in Lincoln, Nebraska where he was born.^[92] Following the season, Juwan Howard was named coach of Michigan Wolverines men's basketball where he had been an All-American in 1994 as a player.^[93]