Coronavirus: Big Ten and Big 12 basketball tournaments to continue without fans

The Big 12 and Big Ten basketball tournaments will proceed without fans beginning with Thursday's games, following the lead of the NCAA Tournament in barring anybody but family and essential personnel. Each conference started Wednesday's tournament games with fans in attendance.

Going forward, Big 12 teams will be allowed 125 tickets on a game-by-game basis beginning with Thursday's quarterfinals at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. The arena will be cleared after each game. The tickets will go to guests of student-athletes and staff members, but pep bands, cheerleaders and dance teams won't be allowed.

Iowa State is playing Oklahoma State in a first-round game Wednesday and, with a win, would meet Kansas at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

At the Big Ten tourney in Indianapolis, attendance starting Thursday will be limited to student-athletes, coaches, event staff, essential team and conference staff, TV network partners, credentialed media and immediate family members of the participating teams.

Iowa plays Minnesota at approximately 1:30 p.m. (CT) Thursday (BTN).

The Big 12 policy also will be in place for its women's tournament, which begins Thursday night in Kansas City. Iowa State opens at 11 a.m. Friday against Kansas State in the quarterfinals.

'The attempt is to absolutely minimize the number of people here but still find a way to conduct events and actually get the opportunity to play games,” Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsy said.