Big Ten men’s basketball tournament bracket: Iowa starts Thursday vs. Nebraska or Northwestern

Iowa’s 74-72 loss at Illinois Sunday night dropped it to the No. 5 seed in this week’s Big Ten tournament, and forced it to begin play Thursday.

“We’re going there with a lot of confidence,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said after Sunday’s game. “We lost a tough game, but everything in that locker room was positive. Everybody’s got their head up. We have another opportunity this week in the Big Ten tournament. We’ll have them ready.”

Here is the Hawkeyes’ Big Ten tournament situation:

Day/time: Thursday, 12:55 p.m. (CT)

Where: Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis

Opponent: The winner of Wednesday night’s Nebraska-Northwestern game

Previous meetings: Iowa is 2-0 vs. Nebraska, beating the Huskers 98-75 in Iowa City Feb. 13, and 88-78 in Lincoln on Feb. 25. The Hawkeyes defeated Northwestern in Iowa City 82-61 on Feb. 28.

The schedule for the entire tourney (All times CT):

Wednesday

GAME 1: No. 12 Northwestern (7-13 in Big Ten) vs. No. 13 Nebraska (4-16), 5 p.m. (BTN)

GAME 2: No. 11 Penn State (7-13) vs. No. 14 Minnesota (4-16), 7:25 p.m. (BTN)

Thursday

GAME 3: No. 8 Michigan (11-9) vs. No. 9 Indiana (9-11), 10:30 a.m. (BTN)

GAME 4: No. 5 Iowa (12-8) vs. winner of Game 1, 12:55 p.m. (BTN)

GAME 5: No. 7 Michigan State (11-9) vs. No. 10 Maryland (7-13), 5:30 p.m. (BTN)

GAME 6: No. 6 Ohio State (12-8) vs. Winner of Game 2, 7:55 p.m. (BTN)

Friday quarterfinals

GAME 7: No. 1 Illinois (15-5) vs. winner of Game 3, 10:30 a.m. (BTN)

GAME 8: No. 4 Rutgers (12-8) vs. winner of Game 4, 12:55 p.m. (BTN)

GAME 9: No. 2 Wisconsin (15-5) vs. winner of Game 5, 5:30 p.m. (BTN)

GAME 10: No. 3 Purdue (14-6) vs. winner of Game 6, 7:55 p.m. (BTN)

Saturday semifinals

GAME 11: Winner of Game 7 vs. winner of Game 8, noon (CBS)

GAME 12: Winner of Game 9 vs. winner of Game 10, 2:25 p.m. (CBS)

Sunday championship

Winner of Game 11 vs. Winner of Game 12, 2:30 p.m. (CBS)