2018 Southland Conference men's basketball tournament

2018 Southland Conference men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2017–18
Teams	8
Site	Merrell Center Katy, Texas
Champions	Stephen F. Austin (5th title)
Winning coach	Kyle Keller (1st title)
MVP	T. J. Holyfield (Stephen F. Austin)
Television	ESPN3, ESPN2
Southland Conference men's basketball tournaments

2017–18 Southland Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Southeastern Louisiana	15	–	3		.833			22	–	12		.647
Nicholls State	15	–	3		.833			21	–	11		.656
Stephen F. Austin †	14	–	4		.778			28	–	7		.800
Sam Houston State	12	–	6		.667			21	–	15		.583
Lamar	11	–	7		.611			19	–	14		.576
New Orleans	11	–	7		.611			16	–	17		.485
Central Arkansas	10	–	8		.556			18	–	17		.514
Abilene Christian	8	–	10		.444			16	–	16		.500
Texas A&M–CC	8	–	10		.444			11	–	18		.379
McNeese State	8	–	10		.444			11	–	17		.393
Incarnate Word	2	–	16		.111			7	–	21		.250
Houston Baptist	2	–	16		.111			6	–	25		.194
Northwestern State	1	–	17		.056			4	–	25		.138
† 2018 Southland tournament winner

The 2018 Southland Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament that completes 2017–18 season in the Southland Conference. The tournament was held at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas from March 7–10, 2018.

Stephen F. Austin won the tournament by defeating Southeastern Louisiana in the championship game. As a result, the Lumberjacks received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Seeds

Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. Only the top eight teams in the conference qualified for the tournament. The top two seeds received double byes into the semifinals in the merit-based format. The No. 3 and No. 4 seeds received single byes to the quarterfinals.

Seed	School	Conference	Tiebreaker 1
1	Southeastern Louisiana	15–3	2–0 vs. Nicholls State
2	Nicholls State	15–3	0–2 vs. Southeastern Louisiana
3	Stephen F. Austin	14–4
4	Sam Houston State	12–6
5	New Orleans	11–7	2–0 vs. McNeese
6	Lamar	11–7	1–1 vs. McNeese
7	Central Arkansas	10–8
8	Texas A&M–Corpus Christi	8–10	3–0 vs. ACU/McNeese
–	Abilene Christian	8–10	1–2 vs. TAMU–CC/McNeese
–	McNeese State	8–10	0–2 vs. ACU/TAMU–CC

Schedule

Session	Game	Time*	Matchup#	Score	Television
First round – Wednesday, March 7, 2018
1	1	5:00 pm	No. 5 New Orleans vs. No. 8 Texas A&M–Corpus Christi	86–73	ESPN3
	2	7:30 pm	No. 6 Lamar vs. No. 7 Central Arkansas	57–67
Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 8, 2018
2	3	5:00 pm	No. 4 Sam Houston State vs. No. 5 New Orleans	85–63	ESPN3
	4	7:30 pm	No. 3 Stephen F. Austin vs. No. 7 Central Arkansas	86–64
Semifinals – Friday, March 9, 2018
3	5	5:00 pm	No. 1 Southeastern Louisiana vs. No. 4 Sam Houston State	89–79	ESPN3
	6	7:30 pm	No. 2 Nicholls State vs. No. 3 Stephen F. Austin	66–78
Championship – Saturday, March 10, 2018
4	7	8:30 pm	No. 1 Southeastern Louisiana vs. No. 3 Stephen F. Austin	55–59	ESPN2
*Game times in CST. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Source

Bracket

	First round Wednesday, March 7 ESPN3					Quarterfinals Thursday, March 8 ESPN3					Semifinals Friday, March 9 ESPN3					Championship Saturday, March 10 ESPN2
											1	SE Louisiana	89
											4	Sam Houston State	79
						4	Sam Houston State	85
	5	New Orleans	86			5	New Orleans	63
	8	Texas A&M–CC	73													1	SE Louisiana	55
																3	Stephen F. Austin	59
											2	Nicholls State	66
											3	Stephen F. Austin	78
						3	Stephen F. Austin	86
	6	Lamar	57			7	Central Arkansas	64
	7	Central Arkansas	67

See also

• 2018 Southland Conference women's basketball tournament