The 2026 Big Ten women's basketball tournament (branded as the 2026 Allstate Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament for sponsorship reasons) was a postseason women's basketball tournament for the Big Ten Conference of the 2025âÂÂ26 NCAA Division I women's basketball season which took place from March 4âÂÂ8, 2026. The tournament was held at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Following the completion of the 2025âÂÂ26 Big Ten Conference women's basketball regular season, the bracket was announced on March 1, 2026. The top four seeds were UCLA, Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota. Penn State, Northwestern, and Rutgers did not participate as the lowest three teams in the standings.
The UCLA Bruins were the tournament winner. As the tournament winner, the Bruins received the conference automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament.
Seeds
The top 15 Big Ten schools will participate in the tournament. Teams are seeded by conference record, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with identical conference records. The top nine teams will receive a first round bye and the top four teams will receive a double bye.
Schedule
<small>*Game times in EST through the semifinals and EDT for the championship. #Rankings denote tournament seeding.</small>
Bracket
<nowiki>*</nowiki> denotes overtime period
Game summaries
First round
Second round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Championship
All-Tournament team
- Kiki Rice, UCLA (Most Outstanding Player)
- Lauren Betts, UCLA
- Ava Heiden, Iowa
- Chance Gray, Ohio State
- Hannah Stuelke, Iowa
Tournament Notes
- New tournament records were set in the championship game by the UCLA Bruins in the victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes
- UCLA's 51 points was the largest margin of victory in a Big Ten Tournament Final. The previous record was IowaâÂÂs 33-point victory over Ohio State in the 2023 Big Ten women's basketball tournament.
- The Bruins' shooting percentage of 63.5 percent (40-for-63) from the field was the highest percentage by a team in any Big Ten Tournament game.
- The UCLA Bruins set the record for assists in any Big Ten Tournament game with 34
- The UCLA Bruins tied the record for most steals in the Big Ten Tournament Championship Game with 15.
- The UCLA 51 point margin of victory over number 8 ranked Iowa is the highest of a team over a top ten team in the NCAA era.
- For the second year in a row, a record-tying twelve Big Ten teams were invited to the 2026 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament: UCLA, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio State, Minnesota, Maryland, Michigan State, Washington, Illinois, Oregon, USC, and Nebraska. Five teams hosted first round games.
- Wisconin was invited to the 2026 Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament. They lost in the semifinals to Columbia.
References