2023–24 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season

The 2023–24 Big Ten men's basketball season was the season for Big Ten Conference basketball teams that began with practices in October 2023, followed by the start of the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November 2023. The regular season ended on March 10, 2024.

2023–24 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	14
TV partner(s)	Big Ten Network, Fox, FS1, CBS, Peacock
2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
Regular season champions	Purdue
Season MVP	Zach Edey, Purdue
Tournament
Venue	Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Champions	Illinois
Runners-up	Wisconsin
Finals MVP	Terrence Shannon Jr.

2023–24 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 2 Purdue	17	–	3		.850			34	–	5		.872
No. 6 Illinois †	14	–	6		.700			29	–	9		.763
Nebraska	12	–	8		.600			23	–	11		.676
Northwestern	12	–	8		.600			22	–	12		.647
Wisconsin	11	–	9		.550			22	–	14		.611
Indiana	10	–	10		.500			19	–	14		.576
Iowa	10	–	10		.500			19	–	15		.559
Michigan State	10	–	10		.500			20	–	15		.571
Minnesota	9	–	11		.450			19	–	15		.559
Ohio State	9	–	11		.450			22	–	14		.611
Penn State	9	–	11		.450			16	–	17		.485
Maryland	7	–	13		.350			16	–	17		.485
Rutgers	7	–	13		.350			15	–	17		.469
Michigan	3	–	17		.150			8	–	24		.250
† 2024 Big Ten tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

With a win over Michigan State on March 2, Purdue clinched a share of the Big Ten regular season championship.^[1] With a win over Illinois on March 5, the Boilermakers secured the outright Big Ten regular season championship for the second consecutive season and 26th overall.^[2]

Purdue center Zach Edey was named Big Ten Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg and Purdue coach Matt Painter were named co-Big Ten Coaches of the Year.

The Big Ten tournament was held from March 13 through March 17, 2024 at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.^[3] Illinois defeated Wisconsin in the championship game to win their fourth tournament title.^[4]

In addition to Illinois, who received the conference' automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue, and Wisconsin received bids to the tournament.

Three schools also received invitations to the National Invitation Tournament: Iowa, Minnesota, and Ohio State.

The season marked the last season played with 14 teams in the conference, with four schools (Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington) joining the conference in 2024.^[5] This was the first season played under the Big Ten's new seven-year media rights deal.^[6] As a result, no conference games were played on ESPN and some games were played on Peacock for the first time.

Head coaches

Coaching changes

Penn State

On March 22, 2023, Micah Shrewsberry left Penn State to take the head coaching job at Notre Dame.^[7] On March 29, the school named VCU head coach Mike Rhoades the team's new head coach.^[8]

Ohio State

On February 14, 2024, Chris Holtmann was fired after 25 games, he finished his career at Ohio State with an overall record of 137–85.^[9] Ohio State promoted assistant coach Jake Diebler as interim head coach.

Coaches

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Years at school	Overall record	Big Ten record	Big Ten titles	Big Ten tournament titles	NCAA Tournaments	NCAA Final Fours	NCAA Championships
Illinois	Brad Underwood	Oklahoma State	7	103–79 (.566)	66–52 (.559)	1	1	3	0	0
Indiana	Mike Woodson	New York Knicks (Asst.)	3	44–26 (.629)	21–19 (.525)	0	0	2	0	0
Iowa	Fran McCaffery	Siena	14	263–176 (.599)	126–118 (.516)	0	1	7	0	0
Maryland	Kevin Willard	Seton Hall	2	22–13 (.629)	11–9 (.550)	0	0	1	0	0
Michigan	Juwan Howard	Miami Heat (Asst.)	5	79–47 (.627)	46–31 (.597)	1	0	2	0	0
Michigan State	Tom Izzo	Michigan State (Asst.)	29	687–280 (.710)	332–160 (.675)	10	6	25	8	1
Minnesota	Ben Johnson	Xavier (Asst.)	3	22–42 (.344)	6–33 (.154)	0	0	0	0	0
Nebraska	Fred Hoiberg	Chicago Bulls	5	40–83 (.325)	18–61 (.228)	0	0	0	0	0
Northwestern	Chris Collins	Duke (Asst.)	11	155–162 (.489)	68–119 (.364)	0	0	2	0	0
Ohio State	Jake Diebler (interim)†	Ohio State (Asst.)	1	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0	0	0	0	0
Penn State	Mike Rhoades	VCU	1	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0	0	0	0	0
Purdue	Matt Painter	Purdue (Assoc.)	19	403–201 (.667)	209–120 (.635)	4	2	14	0	0
Rutgers	Steve Pikiell	Stony Brook	8	107–107 (.500)	56–60 (.483)	0	0	2	0	0
Wisconsin	Greg Gard	Wisconsin (Assoc.)	9	164–93 (.638)	90–61 (.596)	2	0	5	0	0

Notes:

• All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
• Year at school includes 2023–24 season.
• Overall and Big Ten records are from time at current school only and are through the beginning of the season.
• † Chris Holtmann was fired on February 14, 2024. He finished his career at Ohio State with an overall record of 137–84.
• Source:^[10]

Preseason

Preseason Big Ten poll

Prior to the conference's annual media day, conference standings were projected by panel of writers.^[11]

Rank	Team
1	Purdue (24)
2	Michigan State (4)
3	Maryland
4	Illinois
5	Wisconsin
6	Indiana
7	Ohio State
8	Northwestern
9	Iowa
10	Rutgers
11	Michigan
12	Nebraska
13	Penn State
14	Minnesota
(first place votes)

Preseason All-Big Ten

A select media panel named a preseason All-Big Ten team and player of the year.^[12]

Honor	Recipient
Preseason Player of the Year	Zach Edey, Purdue
Preseason All-Big Ten Team	Boo Buie, Northwestern
	Zach Edey, Purdue
	Dawson Garcia, Minnesota
	A.J. Hoggard, Michigan State
	Clifford Omoruyi, Rutgers
	Julian Reese, Maryland
	Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois
	Keisei Tominaga, Nebraska
	Tyson Walker, Michigan State
	Jahmir Young, Maryland

Preseason All-American teams

Player	AP[13]
Zach Edey	1st

Preseason national polls

Main article: 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season § Pre-season polls

	AP[14]	Blue Ribbon Yearbook[15]	CBS Sports[16]	Coaches[17]	ESPN[18]	FOX Sports[19]	Lindy's Sports[20]	Sporting News[21]	Sports Illustrated[22]
Illinois	25		18		25				25
Indiana
Iowa
Maryland			23			19	25	16
Michigan
Michigan State	4	5	11	4	4	4	4	5	5
Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern
Ohio State
Penn State
Purdue	3	2	1	2	3	3	3	2	3
Rutgers
Wisconsin

Preseason watchlists

Below is a table of notable midseason watch lists.

Player	Wooden[23]	Naismith[24]	Naismith DPOY	Robertson	Cousy[25]	West[26]	Erving [27]	Malone[28]	Abdul-Jabbar [29]
Jamison Battle, Ohio State							Y
Ace Baldwin Jr., Penn State					Y
Boo Buie, Northwestern	Y	Y			Y
Coen Carr, Michigan State							Y
Zach Edey, Purdue	Y	Y							Y
Dawson Garcia, Minnesota									Y
Coleman Hawkins, Illinois								Y
A.J. Hoggard, Michigan State		Y
Fletcher Loyer, Purdue						Y
Clifford Omoruyi, Rutgers		Y							Y
Julian Reese, Maryland								Y
Payton Sandfort, Iowa							Y
Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois	Y	Y				Y
Tyler Wahl, Wisconsin							Y
Tyson Walker, Michigan State	Y	Y				Y
Kel'el Ware, Indiana									Y
Jahmir Young, Maryland	Y	Y			Y

Regular season

2023 Gavitt Tipoff Games (Tied 4–4)

Date	Time	Big East team	Big Ten team	Score	Location	Television	Attendance	Leader
Mon., Nov. 13	6:30 p.m.	St. John's	Michigan	89–73	Madison Square Garden • New York, NY	FS1	14,188	Big Ten (1–0)
	8:30 p.m.	Xavier	No. 2 Purdue	83–71	Mackey Arena • West Lafayette, IN	FS1	14,876	Big Ten (2–0)
Tue., Nov. 14	6:00 p.m.	Providence	Wisconsin	72–59	Amica Mutual Pavilion • Providence, RI	FS1	12,069	Big Ten (2–1)
	8:00 p.m.	No. 4 Marquette	No. 23 Illinois	71–64	State Farm Center • Champaign, IL	FS1	15,544	Tied (2–2)
	10:00 p.m.	No. 8 Creighton	Iowa	92–84	CHI Health Center Omaha • Omaha, NE	FS1	17,352	Big East (3–2)
Wed., Nov. 15	8:30 p.m.	Georgetown	Rutgers	71–60	Jersey Mike's Arena • Piscataway, NJ	FS1	8,000	Tied (3–3)
Fri., Nov. 17	6:30 p.m.	Butler	No. 18 Michigan State	74–54	Breslin Center • East Lansing, MI	FS1	14,797	Big Ten (4–3)
	8:30 p.m.	No. 21 Villanova	Maryland	57–40	Finneran Pavilion • Villanova, PA	FS1	6,501	Tied (4–4)
WINNERS ARE IN BOLD. Game Times in EST. Rankings from AP Poll. Did not participate: Connecticut, DePaul, Seton Hall (Big East); Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State (Big Ten)

Rankings

See also: 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

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	25	23	RV	24	20	16	13	11	9	10	14	10	14	10	14	12	13	12	13	10	6
	C	RV	23	22	24	18	16	11	9	8	10	14	11	14	12	14	12	16	12	14	10	7
Indiana	AP	RV
	C	RV					RV		RV
Iowa	AP		RV
	C	RV	RV	RV
Maryland	AP	RV
	C	RV
Michigan	AP		RV	RV
	C		RV
Michigan State	AP	4	18	21	RV	RV		RV	RV	RV	RV		RV		RV	RV	RV		RV			RV
	C	4 (4)	19	19	25	RV		RV	RV	RV	RV		RV		RV	RV	RV				RV	RV
Minnesota	AP
	C
Nebraska	AP				RV													RV		RV	RV
	C							RV	RV	RV		RV						RV	RV	RV	RV
Northwestern	AP					RV	25	RV	RV	RV	RV			RV	RV	RV		RV				RV
	C					RV	RV				RV			RV	RV	RV		RV	RV	RV		RV
Ohio State	AP				RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV
	C	RV			RV	25	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV
Penn State	AP
	C
Purdue	AP	3 (3)	2 (7)	2 (5)	1 (60)	4	3	1 (48)	1 (46)	1 (49)	1 (54)	2 (20)	2 (17)	2 (14)	2 (16)	2 (16)	3	2 (4)	3 (4)	3 (4)	3	2
	C	2 (5)	2 (3)	2 (5)	1 (32)	4	4	1 (20)	1 (24)	1 (23)	1 (21)	2 (12)	2 (8)	2 (8)	2 (7)	2 (8)	3	3 (4)	3 (1)	3 (2)	3	2
Rutgers	AP
	C
Wisconsin	AP	RV	RV			23	23	24	23	21	15	11	13	6	11	20	RV	RV			23	RV
	C	RV	RV			RV	23	24	23	21	15	8	10	6	9	21	RV	RV			24	RV

Early season tournaments

Of the 14 Big Ten teams, nine participated in early season tournaments.^[30] Eight teams participated in the Gavitt Tipoff Games.^[31]

Team	Tournament	Finish
Indiana	Empire Classic	3rd
Iowa	Rady Children's Invitational	3rd
Maryland	Asheville Championship	4th
Michigan	Battle 4 Atlantis	6th
Northwestern	Hall of Fame Tip-Off	2nd
Ohio State	Emerald Coast Classic	1st
Penn State	ESPN Events Invitational	8th
Purdue	Maui Invitational	1st
Wisconsin	Fort Myers Tip-Off	1st

Players 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.

Week	Player of the week	Freshman of the week
November 13, 2023[32]	Dawson Garcia, Minnesota	Owen Freeman, Iowa
November 20, 2023[33]	Ben Krikki, Iowa	Owen Freeman (2), Iowa
November 27, 2023[34]	Zach Edey, Purdue	John Blackwell, Wisconsin
December 4, 2023[35]	Boo Buie, Northwestern	Owen Freeman (3), Iowa
December 11, 2023[36]	Zach Edey (2), Purdue	John Blackwell (2), Wisconsin
December 18, 2023[37]	Fletcher Loyer, Purdue	Owen Freeman (4), Iowa
January 2, 2024[38]	Jahmir Young, Maryland	Mackenzie Mgbako, Indiana
January 8, 2024[39]	Marcus Domask, Illinois	Owen Freeman (5), Iowa
January 15, 2024[40]	Jahmir Young (2), Maryland	Owen Freeman (6), Iowa
January 22, 2024[41]	Zach Edey (3), Purdue	John Blackwell (3), Wisconsin
January 29, 2024[42]	Boo Buie (2), Northwestern	Owen Freeman (7), Iowa
February 5, 2024[43]	Zach Edey (4), Purdue	Cam Christie, Minnesota
February 12, 2024[44]	Jeremiah Williams, Rutgers	Owen Freeman (8), Iowa
February 19, 2024[45]	Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois	Owen Freeman (9), Iowa
February 26, 2024[46]	Zach Edey (5), Purdue	Mackenzie Mgbako (2), Indiana
March 4, 2024[47]	Payton Sandfort, Iowa	Cam Christie (2), Minnesota
March 11, 2024[48]	Zach Edey (6), Purdue	John Blackwell (4), Wisconsin

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Each team is scheduled to play 20 conference games with at least one game against each opponent.

	Illinois	Indiana	Iowa	Maryland	Michigan	Michigan St	Minnesota	Nebraska	Northwestern	Ohio St	Penn St	Purdue	Rutgers	Wisconsin
vs. Illinois	–	0–1	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	0–2	0–1
vs. Indiana	1–0	–	0–1	0–2	0–1	0–1	0–2	2–0	1–0	0–2	1–0	2–0	1–0	1–1
vs. Iowa	2–0	1–0	–	2–0	1–1	0–1	0–2	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	2–0	0–1	1–1
vs. Maryland	1–1	2–0	0–2	–	0–1	2–0	1–0	0–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–0
vs. Michigan	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	–	2–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	2–0	2–0	0–1
vs. Michigan St	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–2	0–2	–	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–2	1–0	0–1	2–0
vs. Minnesota	1–0	2–0	2–0	0–1	0–1	1–1	–	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–0	0–1	1–0
vs. Nebraska	1–0	0–2	1–0	1–0	0–2	0–1	1–1	–	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–1
vs. Northwestern	1–1	0–1	1–0	0–2	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	–	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–0	1–0
vs. Ohio State	1–0	2–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	–	1–0	0–1	0–2	2–0
vs. Penn State	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–1	2–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	1–1		1–0	0–1	0–1
vs. Purdue	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	–	0–2	0–2
vs. Rutgers	2–0	0–1	1–0	1–0	0–2	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	–	1–1
vs. Wisconsin	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	0–2	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	–
Total	14–6	10–10	10–10	7–13	3–17	10–10	9–11	12–8	12–8	9–11	9–11	17–3	7–13	11–9

Final regular season records

Honors and awards

All-Big Ten awards and teams

On March 12, 2024, the Big Ten announced most of its conference awards.^[49]

Honor	Coaches	Media
Player of the Year	Zach Edey, Purdue	Zach Edey, Purdue
Co-Coach of the Year	Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska	Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska
	Matt Painter, Purdue	Matt Painter, Purdue
Co-Freshman of the Year	Mackenzie Mgbako, Indiana	Owen Freeman, Iowa
	Owen Freeman, Iowa
Defensive Players of the Year	Ace Baldwin Jr., Penn State	Not selected
Sixth Man of the Year	Mason Gillis, Purdue	Not selected
All-Big Ten First Team	Boo Buie, Northwestern	Boo Buie, Northwestern
	Marcus Domask, Illinois	Zach Edey, Purdue
	Zach Edey, Purdue	Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois
	Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois	Braden Smith, Purdue
	Braden Smith, Purdue	Jahmir Young, Maryland
All-Big Ten Second Team	Tony Perkins, Iowa	Marcus Domask, Illinois
	AJ Storr, Wisconsin	Dawson Garcia, Minnesota
	Keisei Tominaga, Nebraska	AJ Storr, Wisconsin
	Tyson Walker, Michigan State	Tyson Walker, Michigan State
	Jahmir Young, Maryland	Kel'el Ware, Indiana
All-Big Ten Third Team	Ace Baldwin Jr., Penn State	Ace Baldwin Jr., Penn State
	Brooks Barnhizer, Northwestern	Coleman Hawkins, Illinois
	Dawson Garcia, Minnesota	Payton Sandfort, Iowa
	Rienk Mast, Nebraska	Bruce Thornton, Ohio State
	Payton Sandfort, Iowa	Keisei Tominago, Nebraska
	Kel'el Ware, Indiana	Not selected
All-Big Ten Honorable Mention	Coleman Hawkins, Illinois	Malik Reneau, Indiana
	Malik Reneau, Indiana	Josh Dix, Iowa
	Owen Freeman, Iowa	Owen Freeman, Iowa
	Donta Scott, Maryland	Ben Krikke, Iowa
	Julian Reese, Maryland	Tony Perkins, Iowa
	Malik Hall, Michigan State	Julian Reese, Maryland
	A.J. Hoggard, Michigan State	Malik Hall, Michigan State
	Elijah Hawkins, Minnesota	A.J. Hoggard, Michigan State
	Jamison Battle, Ohio State	Elijah Hawksin, Minnesota
	Bruce Thornton, Ohio State	Rienk Mast, Nebraska
	Zach Hicks, Penn State	Brooks Barnhizer, Northwestern
	Nick Kern Jr., Penn State	Jamsison Battle, Ohio State
	Mason Gillis, Purdue	Clifford Omoruyi, Rutgers
	Lance Jones, Purdue	Lance Jones, Purdue
	Fletcher Loyer, Purdue	Fletcher Loyer, Purdue
	Clifford Omoruyi, Rutgers	Not selected
	Chucky Hepburn, Wisconsin	Not selected
	Tyler Wahl, Wisconsin	Not selected
All-Freshman Team	John Blackwell, Wisconsin	Not selected
	Cam Christie, Minnesota
	Owen Freeman, Iowa
	DeShawn Harris-Smith, Maryland
	Mackenzie Mgbako, Indiana
All-Defensive Team	Ace Baldwin Jr., Penn State	Not selected
	Brooks Barnhizer, Northwestern
	Zach Edey, Purdue
	Chucky Hepbrun, Wisconsin
	Clifford Omoruyi, Rutgers
	Kel'el Ware, Indiana

Three Big Ten athletes were named Academic All-America: Marcus Domask (Illinois, First Team), Payton Sandfort (Iowa, Second Team), Jamison Battle (Ohio State, Third Team).^[50]

Postseason

Big Ten tournament

Main article: 2024 Big Ten men's basketball tournament

This section is transcluded from 2024 Big Ten men's basketball tournament. (edit | history)

	First round Wednesday, March 13 Peacock					Second round Thursday, March 14 BTN					Quarterfinals Friday, March 15 BTN					Semifinals Saturday, March 16 CBS					Championship Sunday, March 17 CBS
											1	Purdue	67
						8	Michigan State	77			8	Michigan State	62
						9	Minnesota	67								1	Purdue	75
																5	Wisconsin	76*
											4	Northwestern	61
						5	Wisconsin	87			5	Wisconsin	70
	12	Maryland	65			12	Maryland	56													5	Wisconsin	87
	13	Rutgers	51																		2	Illinois	93
											2	Illinois	77
						7	Iowa	78			10	Ohio State	74
						10	Ohio State	90								2	Illinois	98
																3	Nebraska	87
											3	Nebraska	93
						6	Indiana	61			6	Indiana	66
	11	Penn State	66			11	Penn State	59
	14	Michigan	57

* denotes overtime period

NCAA Tournament

Main article: 2024 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

The winner of the Big Ten Tournament, Illinois, received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Six Big Ten teams received bids to the NCAA tournament.

Seed	Region	School	First round	Second round	Sweet Sixteen	Elite Eight	Final Four	Championship
1	Midwest	Purdue	Defeated (16) Grambling State, 78–50	Defeated (8) Utah State, 106–67	Defeated (5) Gonzaga, 80–68	Defeated (2) Tennessee, 72–66	Defeated (S11) NC State, 63–50	Lost to (E1) UConn 60–75
3	East	Illinois	Defeated (14) Morehead State, 85–69	Defeated (11) Duquesne, 89–63	Defeated (2) Iowa State, 72–69	Lost to (1) UConn, 52–77	DNP
5	South	Wisconsin	Lost to (12) James Madison, 61–72	DNP
8	South	Nebraska	Lost to (9) Texas A&M, 83–98	DNP
9	West	Michigan State	Defeated (8) Mississippi State, 69–51	Lost to (1) North Carolina, 69–85	DNP
9	East	Northwestern	Defeated (8) Florida Atlantic, 77–65	Lost to (1) UConn, 58–75	DNP
		W–L (%):	4–2 (.667)	2–2 (.500)	2–0 (1.000)	1–1 (.500)	1–0 (1.000)	0–1 (.000) Total: 10–6 (.625)

National Invitation Tournament

Main article: 2024 National Invitation Tournament

Three Big Ten teams received invitations to the National Invitation Tournament.

Seed	School	First round	Second round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals
2	Ohio State	Defeated Cornell, 88–83	Defeated (3) Virginia Tech, 81–73	Lost to (4) Georgia, 77–79	DNP
3	Iowa	Defeated Kansas State, 91–82	Lost to (2) Utah, 82–91	DNP
–	Minnesota	Defeated (4) Butler, 73–72	Lost to (1) Indiana State, 64–76	DNP
	W–L (%):	3–0 (1.000)	1–2 (.333)	0–1 (.000)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–) Total: 4–3 (.571)