The Gavitt Tipoff Games was an annual eight-game

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men's

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series played between the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

and the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...

early in the season. The games began in 2015 and were played annually until 2022 except in 2020, when they were cancelled because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The Gavitt Tipoff Games were played on the home courts of participating schools, with four hosted by Big Ten schools and four hosted by Big East schools each year. Originally, plans called for an eight-year deal, with each Big East team participating a minimum of six times and each Big Ten program taking part a minimum of four times. However, the cancellation of the 2020 games reduced the competition from eight to seven seasons, and the games cancelled that year prevented some teams from playing the minimum number originally envisioned: From the Big Ten,

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and Michigan State played only three games, while five Big East teams played only five.

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, which did not move from the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

to the Big East until the 2020-2021 season, never played in the Gavitt Tipoff Games. Each game played at a Big East campus was televised by

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and each game played on a Big Ten campus was televised by Fox Sports 1 or the

Big Ten Network Big Ten Network (BTN) is an American sports network based in Chicago, Illinois. The channel is dedicated to coverage of collegiate sports sanctioned by the Big Ten Conference, including live and recorded event telecasts, news, analysis programs, ...

. The series was named in honor of the late

Dave Gavitt David Roy Gavitt (October 26, 1937 – September 16, 2011) was an American college basketball coach and athletic director at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island. He was also well known as the first commissioner of the Big East Conference ...

(1937–2011), former

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

Providence College Providence College is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, local diocese, it offers 47 undergradua ...

who served from 1979 to 1990 as the first commissioner of the original Big East Conference of 1979–2013.

Conference records

Big East Conference (1–3–3)

Big Ten Conference (3–1–3)

Results

2015 Tied 4–4

2016 Tied 4–4

2017 Tied 4–4

2018 Big Ten 5–3

2019 Big Ten 5–3

2020 — Cancelled

Plans announced in May 2020 called for

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, Creighton, Georgetown, Marquette,

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

, St. John's, Villanova, and Xavier to represent the Big East and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

, and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

the Big Ten in the 2020 Gavitt Tipoff Games, which were scheduled for November 16–20, 2020. After the NCAA delayed the start of the 2020–21 season from November 10 to November 25 due to the

,Wang, Gene, "NCAA delays start of basketball season two weeks, plans no changes to postseason tournament," washingtonpost.com, September 16, 2020 Accessed March 9, 2021
/ref> however, the Big East and Big Ten jointly announced on October 28, 2020, that the 2020 Gavitt Tipoff Games were cancelled and the series would be on hiatus for a year. In their statement, the two conferences also announced their intention to resume the games during the 2021–22 season.

2021 Big East 6–2

2022 Big Ten 62

References

{{NCAA men's college basketball showcases navbox , state=collapsed Big East Conference men's basketball Big Ten Conference men's basketball College men's basketball competitions in the United States College basketball competitions Recurring sporting events established in 2015 2015 establishments in the United States