The University of Wisconsin women’s basketball team earned the 11th seed in the upcoming Big Ten Conference Tournament and will play Illinois in the first round on Thursday at 2pm CT. This year’s tournament will be held at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill., for the first time and run from Thursday through Sunday.
The Badgers wrapped up the regular season with an 11-18 mark and finished 11th in the Big Ten standings at 3-13.
Illinois enters the tournament as the No. 6 weed after finishing 9-7 in the conference and 16-12 overall this season. The Illini tied for fifth place in the final regular season standings but lost the tiebreaker to Michigan. Illinois won both meetings over Wisconsin this season, downing the Badgers 64-56 in Madison, Wis., on Feb. 3 and 60-53 in Champaign, Ill., on Feb. 18.
Wisconsin is 9-18 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament but has never been the 11th seed. The Badgers are 6-7 all-time in the opening round.
Penn State secured its second consecutive outright Big Ten Championship and the No. 1 seed in the tournament.