Big Ten Tournament 2015: Round 2 Scores, Updated Bracket, Quarterfinals Schedule

The 2015 Big Ten Tournament continues on Thursday with the second round. Today's action started with 12 teams left standing, including Minnesota and Penn State, which picked up wins on the opening day. Only eight will remain heading into Friday.

Wisconsin, Maryland, Michigan State and Purdue are the top four seeds. They all received a bye to the quarterfinals and will play the winners of today's games in the next round tomorrow. The tournament will conclude on Selection Sunday.

With that in mind, let's check out all of the important details for the conference's postseason tournament, including the results and upcoming schedule. It's followed by a recap of Thursday's second-round action. The information will be updated throughout the day.

Round 2 Scores and Bracket

Time (ET)	Team	Team	Score
12 p.m.	(8) Illinois	(9) Michigan	73-55 Michigan
2:25 p.m.	(5) Iowa	(13) Penn State	67-58 Penn State
6:30 p.m.	(7) Indiana	(10) Northwestern	71-56, Indiana
8:55 p.m.	(6) Ohio State	(11) Minnesota	79-73, Ohio State

Round 1	Round 2	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
		(1) Wisconsin
		(9) Michigan
	(8) Illinois 55
	(9) Michigan 73
		(4) Purdue
		(13) Penn State	TBD
	(5) Iowa		TBD
(12) Nebraska 65	(13) Penn State			TBD
(13) Penn State 68			TBD	TBD
		(2) Maryland	TBD
		(7) Indiana
	(7) Indiana
	(10) Northwestern
		(3) Michigan State
		(6) Ohio State
	(6) Ohio State
(11) Minnesota 80	(11) Minnesota
(14) Rutgers 68

Quarterfinals Schedule

Time (ET)	Team	Team
12 p.m.	(1) Wisconsin	(9) Michigan
2:25 p.m.	(4) Purdue	(13) Penn State
6:30 p.m.	(2) Maryland	(7) Indiana
8:55 p.m.	(3) Michigan State	(6) Ohio State

Day 2 Recap

Michigan 73, Illinois 55

Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press

Michigan pulled away from Illinois in the latter stages of the first half and cruised to a 73-55 victory to reach the quarterfinals. Aubrey Dawkins led the way offensively for the Wolverines with 18 points. Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman added 15.

It was a wild opening 20 minutes. Michigan raced out to a 14-2 lead. Illinois responded with a 13-0 run of its own to grab the lead by one. That seemed to awaken the Wolverines, who finished the half on a 26-8 blitz to take command.

Scott Phillips of College Basketball Talk commented on how the Fighting Illini seemed to lose their collective fire:

Whatever John Beilein told the Wolverines at halftime stopped the game of runs. They came out composed in the second half and never let Illinois make a comeback bid. That was in large part due to the shooting disparity from beyond the arc. Michigan made seven threes compared to one for the Illini.

Brendan F. Quinn of MLive.com noted coming into the tournament Beilein talked to his team about the run Connecticut made in the Big East Tournament in 2011. His overall message being if a team gets hot at the right time, watch out.

"Anything can happen in these things," Beilein said. "It's difficult to do, but if you get it going a little bit ..."

Today's blowout win can certainly provide a confidence boost. Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News praised the work being done by the veteran head coach:

Illinois was on the NCAA Tournament bubble coming into the Big Ten Tournament. Losing its first game obviously doesn't help the team's cause, especially given the lopsided nature of the defeat. Now the decision rests in the hands of the selection committee.

Michigan moves on to a matchup with Wisconsin. While the Wolverines will be underdogs, they did force the Badgers into overtime before falling short in the regular-season meeting. They need to replicate today's strong showing to have a chance at the upset.

Penn State 67, Iowa 58

Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press

Who says we have to wait until the actual NCAA tournament for some Cinderella stories?

No. 13 Penn State won its second game in two days by knocking off No. 5 Iowa Thursday, 67-58. D.J. Newbill led the way with 18 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals, and Ross Travis added 17 points and seven rebounds.

It looked like the game would be over early, especially since Penn State just played a tight contest against Nebraska Wednesday and Iowa was fresh. The Hawkeyes jumped out to a 27-19 lead at intermission and then stretched it to double digits in the opening minutes of the second half.

However, Penn State bounced back and went on an extended run to take a 42-40 lead.

As Audrey Snyder of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette noted, there was an element of belief with the underdogs:

What’s more, the Nittany Lions made the run without much scoring from Newbill, who actually led all Power Five conference players in points per game this season. Then it was his turn, and Newbill scored or assisted on 12 straight Penn State points to extend the lead to 54-45.

Iowa made a late charge to cut the lead to 58-56 in the final minute, but Travis converted on a monumentally important and-one with 30 seconds remaining to put the game away.

Next up for Penn State is a date with No. 4 Purdue in Friday’s quarterfinals. The Boilermakers only played the Nittany Lions once this season and needed overtime to win, 84-77. Perhaps this newfound momentum can help Penn State get over the top this time around.

Indiana 71, Northwestern 56 

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

The best way to get off the bubble in March is by racking up wins right before Selection Sunday, and Indiana did just that Thursday when it destroyed Northwestern to the tune of 71-56.

James Blackmon Jr. led the way for the Hoosiers with 25 points, seven assists and six rebounds, while Yogi Ferrell added 17 points and five assists. Bryant McIntosh spearheaded the attack for Northwestern with 13 points and five assists, although his team never really had a chance to win.

ESPN College Basketball pointed out that the Hoosiers wasted little time jumping out to a commanding lead and making a statement to the selection committee in the process:

"

Somebody must have told Indiana they are on the bubble... pic.twitter.com/djRE37jYTR

— ESPN College BBall (@ESPNCBB) March 12, 2015"

Indiana turned that advantage into a 36-22 halftime lead and then simply put it on cruise control after intermission. Northwestern did trim the deficit to 11 after the Hoosiers took their foot off the gas a bit, but the game was never in doubt.

It was a three-point barrage for the Hoosiers, which is a risky proposition in March. They finished with an 11-of-32 mark from downtown (34.4 percent). Fortunately for them, their defense stepped up when it had to (which has not been the case for much of the season) and held Northwestern to a mere 56 points.

As Ryan Ginn of Scout.com noted, the Big Ten tournament has not exactly been kind to local teams in recent years:

Next up for the Hoosiers is a date with Maryland. The Terrapins split their two contests with Indiana this season, with the home team winning each time. It seems only appropriate that the rubber match takes place on a neutral court.

A win over a formidable Maryland squad would likely be enough for Indiana to lock up a bid to the NCAA tournament.

Ohio State 79, Minnesota 73

Kiichiro Sato/Associated Press

The Big Ten’s best NBA prospect will live to fight another day at the Big Ten tournament.

D’Angelo Russell shook off some first half struggles to lead Ohio State to a 79-73 victory over Minnesota Thursday. Russell finished with 23 points, five rebounds, four assists, three blocks and a steal, while senior guard Shannon Scott tallied a career-high 21 points to go along with six assists and five rebounds.

Minnesota received 16 points from DeAndre Mathieu, but typical leader Andre Hollins shot a measly 4-of-14 from the field.

It was a back-and-forth affair in the first half and was tied at 35 at intermission. Minnesota actually took the lead out of the locker rooms, but the Buckeyes went on 15-4 run to open up 57-46 advantage. This being March, Minnesota simply didn’t go away and closed the gap to 65-63 with five minutes remaining.

Russell, Scott and Marc Loving took over from there and scored the final 14 points for the Buckeyes.

Russell hit a monumental three when the Golden Gophers made a late charge to put the Buckeyes ahead by seven. Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman had the reaction:

Scott has experienced an up-and-down career at Ohio State, but he appeared ready to take control in March of his final season Thursday. Beau Bishop of 10TV in Columbus commented on Scott’s performance against Minnesota:

Thad Matta also became the all-time winningest coach in Ohio State history with the victory.

Next up for the Buckeyes is a date with Michigan State in Friday’s quarterfinals. Ohio State and the Spartans played one of the most entertaining games of the entire Big Ten season earlier this year, and Michigan State came away with the three-point victory after Denzel Valentine drilled a three in the final seconds.

Here’s to another contest that comes down to the end.