Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament: How to Watch and Game Thread - #6 Seed UCLA Bruins vs. #14 Seed Rutgers Scarlet Knights

The Bruins meet the Scarlet Knights in the Third Round of the Big Ten Tournament.

Mar 12, 2026

After struggling earlier this season, Donovan Dent has played well down the stretch for the Bruins. (Photo Credit: Jan Kim Lim/uclabruins.com)

Tonight, the UCLA Bruins will play their first game in the 2026 Big Ten Tournament. This year, UCLA is the #6 seed, even though, they finished their regular season conference schedule with a 13-7 record just like last season when they earned the #4 seed.

As a result, the Bruins will face the #14 seed Rutgers Scarlet Knights, who upset hhe #11 seed Minnesota Golden Gophers yesterday, 72-67. That’s probably good news for UCLA since the Bruins beat the Scarlet Knights by 32 points to start February while they lost to Minnesota to end the month.

Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Rutgers may not start the same lineup UCLA faced when the teams met at the beginning of February. To be sure, most of their lineup probably won’t change, but if last night’s game against the Gophers is any indication, UCLA could see two guys who didn’t start at Pauley in tonight’s starting lineup.

The first change would replace Kaden Powers, who led Rutgers with 18 points against the Bruins last month, with Tariq Francis. If you’re like me, you probably read that last sentence and said, “What? Why would Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell sit a guy who put up 18 points the last time they played?” Well, last night, Francis scored 29 against the Golden Gophers. So, Pikiell will likely stick with Francis and hope his hot hand continues.

The other change may be more iffy. Last night, Pikiell started Lino Mark instead of Jamichael Davis. That is certainly more questionable considering Mark didn’t score in 17 minutes last night while Davis put up 13 points in 28 minutes. At the same time, against the Bruins last month, Davis got start and didn’t score while Mark scored ten off the bench. I kind of don’t want to say that it might not matter which player starts, but it might not matter which one starts.

The bottom line here is it shouldn’t matter. UCLA crushed the Scarlet Knights by 32 at Pauley. You would expect tonight’s margin of victory to be smaller because this game is on a neutral court at the Big Ten Tournament, but the last time I said that, the UCLA women’s team went out and obliterated the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Big Ten Women’s Tournament title game. A 51-point margin of victory isn’t going to happen tonight, but it should still be a relatively easy win for the Bruins.

Listen to the Game With TMB

Tonight’s game will be broadcast on Big Ten Network and streamed on FoxSports.com with Kevin Kugler, Robbie Hummel, and Andy Katz on the call. Of course, you can opt to listen to Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray on the radio or streamed on uclabruins.com instead. To watch or listen online, just right-click on the links so that you can open up another tab and have it going while you chat in the comments below.

This is your UCLA men’s basketball vs. Rutgers Scarlet Knights Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals game thread. Here’s how to watch, listen and stream tonight’s game.

Big Ten Tournament Third Round

Teams: #6 Seed UCLA Bruins (21-10, 13-7) vs. #14 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (14-18, 6-14)
Series Record: UCLA leads, 3-2
When: Approx. 6:00 pm PT, Thursday, March 12, 2026 (25 minutes after end of Northwestern vs. Purdue)
Where: United Center, Chicago, IL
TV: Big Ten Network with Kevin Kugler, Robbie Hummel, and Andy Katz
Live Stream: FoxSports.com and the Fox Sports app
Radio/Audio
Local Radio: AM 570 with Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray
Satellite Radio: SiriusXM Ch. 84
Online: uclabruins.com
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
Tournament Notes:
UCLA
Rutgers

Go Bruins!!!

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