The 2020–21 Big Ten men's basketball season began with practices in October 2020, followed by the start of the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November 2020. The regular season ended in March 2021.

The Big Ten announced the season schedule on November 18, 2020 with games starting on December 13 and featuring games played on December 25 and 26. The schedule had built-in collapsible byes to attempt to make up for expected COVID-19 issues. The conference played the highest percentage of scheduled conference games in the nation, having only four games that could not be played.

With a win over rival Michigan State on March 4, 2021, Michigan won the Big Ten regular season championship based on winning percentage as the Wolverines did not play a full 20-game schedule due to COVID-19 issues.

The Big Ten tournament was originally to be held at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois from March 10–14, 2021. However, on February 9, the conference announced the tournament would be played at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana to better deal with testing concerns raised by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Illinois defeated Ohio State in the championship game to win the Big Ten tournament and receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Iowa big man Luka Garza was named Big Ten Player of the Year for the second consecutive year. Michigan coach Juwan Howard was named Big Ten Coach of the Year. Garza and Illinois point guard Ayo Dosunmu were consensus first-team All-Americans.

In addition to Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue, Rutgers, and Wisconsin received bids to the NCAA tournament. The nine bids to the tournament marked a conference record.

Head coaches

Coaching changes

Penn State On October 21, 2020, Pat Chambers resigned after an internal investigation by the school into inappropriate conduct by Chambers. It had been reported in July that former player Rasir Bolton had left the program due to comments to him by Chambers. New allegations involving Chambers surfaced after the school's investigation. Assistant coach Jim Ferry served as interim coach for the 2020–21 season.

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 ChampionshipsIllinois Oklahoma State447–4924–34 0 0 0 0 0Indiana Archie Miller Dayton455–43 28–32 0 0 0 0 0Iowa Fran McCaffery Siena11196–14389–95 0 0 4 0 0Maryland Mark Turgeon Texas A&M10204–99 76–43* 1 0 4 0 0Michigan Juwan Howard Miami Heat (Asst.)219–1210–10 0 0 0 0 0Michigan State Tom Izzo 26628–241299–132 10 6 22 8 1Minnesota FIU8127–10848–82 0 0 2 0 0Nebraska Fred Hoiberg Chicago Bulls27–252–18 0 0 0 0 0Northwestern Chris Collins 8 109–119 43–85 0 0 1 0 0Ohio State Butler 4 66–29 34–24 0 0 2 0 0Penn State Jim Ferry (interim) Penn State (Asst.) 1 0–0 0–0 0 0 0 0 0Purdue Matt Painter 16 337–174 167–103 3 1 11 0 0Rutgers Steve Pikiell Stony Brook 5 64–65 24–32 0 0 0 0 0Wisconsin Greg Gard 6 101–57 56–35 1 0 3 0 0 Notes: All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only. Year at school includes 2020–21 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:

Preseason

Preseason All-Big Ten On November 8, 2020, a panel of conference media selected a 10-member preseason All-Big Ten Team and Player of the Year. Honor Recipient Preseason Player of the Year Luka Garza*, Iowa Preseason All-Big Ten Team Kofi Cockburn, Illinois Ayo Dosunmu*, Illinois Luka Garza*, Iowa Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana Joe Wieskamp, Iowa Aaron Henry, Michigan State Marcus Carr, Minnesota Trevion Williams, Purdue Geo Baker, Rutgers Nate Reuvers, Wisconsin*Unanimous selections

Preseason national polls

AP AthlonSports Blue RibbonYearbook CBS Sports Coaches ESPN Lindy'sSports SportsIllustratedIllinois 8 9 11 410 8 12 4Indiana 25 Iowa 4 78 96 6 10 6Maryland Michigan 25 17 Michigan State 13 13 19 13 12 13 20 14Minnesota Nebraska Northwestern Ohio State 23 21 23 24 24 22 21Penn State Purdue Rutgers 24 19 2423 Wisconsin 7 6 7 87 7 6 16

Regular season

2020 ACC–Big Ten Challenge (Big Ten 7–5) DateTimeACC teamB1G teamScoreLocationTelevisionAttendanceChallengeleader Dec 8 5:00 p.m. Miami Purdue 58–54 Watsco Center • Coral Gables, Florida ESPN2 0 ACC 1–0 7:00 p.m. Boston College Minnesota 80–85OT Williams Arena • Minneapolis, Minnesota ESPNU 0 Tied 1–1 7:30 p.m. No. 16 North Carolina No. 3 Iowa 80–93 Carver–Hawkeye Arena • Iowa City, Iowa ESPN 583 B1G 2–1 7:30 p.m. Notre Dame No. 22 Ohio State 85–90 Edmund P. Joyce Center • South Bend, Indiana ESPN2 156 B1G 3–1 9:00 p.m. No. 15 Virginia Tech Penn State 55–75 Cassell Coliseum • Blacksburg, Virginia ESPNU 250 B1G 4–1 9:30 p.m. No. 10 Duke No. 6 Illinois 68–83 Cameron Indoor Stadium • Durham, North Carolina ESPN 0 B1G 5–1 9:30 p.m. Syracuse No. 21 Rutgers 69–79 Rutgers Athletic Center • Piscataway, New Jersey ESPN2 0 B1G 6–1 Dec 9 5:00 p.m. Clemson Maryland 67–51 Littlejohn Coliseum • Clemson, South Carolina ESPN2 1,876 B1G 6–2 7:15 p.m. NC State Michigan Canceled Crisler Center • Ann Arbor, Michigan Canceled Canceled Canceled 7:15 p.m. Georgia Tech Nebraska 75–64 Pinnacle Bank Arena • Lincoln, Nebraska ESPNU 0 B1G 6–3 7:15 p.m. No. 20 Florida State Indiana 69–67OT Donald L. Tucker Civic Center • Tallahassee, Florida ESPN 2,956 B1G 6–4 9:15 p.m. No. 18 Virginia No. 4 Michigan State Canceled John Paul Jones Arena • Charlottesville, Virginia Canceled Canceled Canceled 9:15 p.m. Pittsburgh Northwestern 71–70 Welsh-Ryan Arena • Evanston, Illinois ESPNU 0 B1G 6–5 Dec 19 12:00 p.m. No. 23 Louisville No. 12 Wisconsin 48–85 Kohl Center • Madison, Wisconsin ESPN2 0 B1G 7–5 Winners are in boldGame times in ESTWake Forest did not play due to the ACC having one more team than the B1G.The NC State/Michigan, and Virginia/Michigan State games were canceled due to positive COVID-19 tests for NC State, and Virginia.The Louisville/Wisconsin game was postponed due to COVID-19 issues at Louisville, but the game was eventually played on December 19.

Source:

2020 Gavitt Tipoff Games (Cancelled)

Plans announced in May 2020 called for Butler, Creighton, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Villanova, and Xavier to represent the Big East and Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Purdue, Rutgers, and Wisconsin the Big Ten in the 2020 Gavitt Tipoff Games,Cohen, Matt, "IU men’s basketball to compete in 2020 Gavitt Games," Indiana Daily Student, May 19, 2020 Accessed March 27, 2021 which were scheduled for November 16–20, 2020. After the NCAA delayed the start of the 2020–21 season from November 10 to November 25 due to the COVID-19 pandemic,Wang, Gene, "NCAA delays start of basketball season two weeks, plans no changes to postseason tournament," washingtonpost.com, September 16, 2020 Accessed March 9, 2021 however, the Big East and Big Ten jointly announced on October 28, 2020, that the 2020 Gavitt Tipoff Games were cancelled and the series would be on hiatus for a year. In their statement, the two conferences also announced their intention to resume the games during the 2021–22 season.

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 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Wk16 Wk17 FinalIllinois AP 8 5 6 13 18 15 12 14 22 19 12 6 5 54 3 2 C 10 10 9 13 18 16 12 13 24 22 13 6 5 44 3 2 8Indiana AP RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV Iowa AP 4 33 3 (1) 4 10 5 5 4 7 8 1511 9 5 5 8 C6 6 3 (1) 3 (2) 5 11 7 8 4 7 8 16 14 12 8 6 8 13Maryland AP RVRV RV C RV RV RV RV RVMichigan AP 25 RVRV 25 19 16 10 7 7 4 4 3 3 3 2 (4) 4 4 C RV RV RV 24 19 15 9 5 7 4 4 3 3 3 (1) 2 (1) 4 4 4Michigan State AP 13 84 4 12 17 23 RV RV RV C12 12 4 4 11 18 RV RV RV RV RV RV Minnesota AP RV RV 21 16 23 17 21 RV RV C RV 24 17 19 17 20 RV RV Nebraska AP C Northwestern AP 19 RV RV C 22 RV Ohio State AP 23 23 22 20 23 25 RV 21 15 13 7 4 4 4 7 9 7 C2424 20 19 20 21 RV RV 18 15 9 5 4 5 10 10 7 15Penn State AP C RV Purdue AP RV RV RV 24 24 RV RV 23 20 20 C RV RV RV RV RV RV 25 RV RV 23 19 20 RVRutgers AP 24 24 21 19 11 14 15 RV RV 25RV C 23 23 22 17 12 13 14 RV RV RV RV RV RV RVWisconsin AP 7 413 12 9 6 8 9 10 14 19 21 21 23 25 RV RV C 7 7 13 12 9 7 10 9 10 13 20 21 21 24 RV RV RV AP does not release a post-tournament poll.

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.

Week Player of the week Freshman of the weekNovember 30, 2020 Luka Garza, Iowa Zach Edey, PurdueAdam Miller, IllinoisDecember 7, 2020Trayce Jackson-Davis, IndianaHunter Dickinson, MichiganDecember 14, 2020 Ayo Dosunmu, IllinoisHunter Dickinson (2), MichiganLuka Garza (2), IowaDecember 21, 2020Boo Buie, NorthwesternMason Gillis, PurdueDecember 28, 2020 Marcus Carr, MinnesotaHunter Dickinson (3), MichiganAyo Dosunmu (2), IllinoisJanuary 3, 2021Liam Robbins, MinnesotaHunter Dickinson (4), MichiganJanuary 11, 2021 Trayce Jackson-Davis (2), IndianaHunter Dickinson (5), MichiganJordan Bohannon, IowaJanuary 18, 2021 Liam Robbins (2), MinnesotaBrandon Newman, PurdueTrevion Williams, PurdueJanuary 25, 2021Isaiah Livers, MichiganJaden Ivey, PurdueFebruary 1, 2021Ayo Dosunmu (3), Illinois Brandon Newman (2), PurdueFebruary 8, 2021Ayo Dosunmu (4), IllinoisJaden Ivey (2), PurdueFebruary 15, 2021Joe Wieskamp, IowaHunter Dickinson (6), MichiganFebruary 22, 2021 Luka Garza (3), IowaHunter Dickinson (7), MichiganDuane Washington Jr., Ohio StateMarch 1, 2021Geo Baker, RutgersAndré Curbelo, IllinoisMarch 8, 2021Aaron Henry, Michigan StateZach Edey (2), Purdue

Conference matrix This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Each team was scheduled to play 20 conference games, and at least one game against each opponent. However, due to COVID-19 pandemic protocols some games were cancelled, officially declared as "no contest".

Illinois Indiana Iowa Maryland Michigan Michigan St Minnesota Nebraska Northwestern Ohio St Penn St Purdue Rutgers Wisconsinvs. Illinois – 0−20–11−00−11−00−20−20−21–10–20–11–00–2vs. Indiana2–0 – 0−20−11−02−00−10−11−11–00−12–02–01–0vs. Iowa1–02−0 – 0−11−00−21–10−10−21–10−10–10–20–2vs. Maryland0–11−01−0 – 2−00−10−20−21−01–02−01–11–11–1vs. Michigan1–00−10−10−2 – 1−11−10−10−10–10−10–10–10–2vs. Michigan St0–10−22–01−01−1 – 1−00−21−01–10−12–01–11–0vs. Minnesota2–01−01−12−01−10−1 – 1−11−00–11−01–12–01–0vs. Nebraska2–01−01−02−01−02−01−1 – 1−01–01−11–00–12–0vs. Northwestern2–01−12−00−11−00−10−10−1 – 1–11−01–02–02–0vs. Ohio State1–10−11−10−11−01−11−00−11−1 – 0−22–00–20–1vs. Penn State2–01−01−00−21−01−00−11−10−12–0 – 2–00–11–1vs. Purdue1–00−21−01−11−00−21−10−10−10–20−2 – 1–00–1vs. Rutgers0–10−22−01−11−01−10−21−00−22–01−00–1 – 1–0vs. Wisconsin2–00−12−01−12−00−10−10−20−21–01−11–00–1 –Total16–47–1214–69–1114–39–116–143–166–1312–87–1213–610–1010–10

Honors and awards

All-Big Ten awards and teams On March 9, 2021, the Big Ten announced most of its conference awards.