1979 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament

The 1979 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 1–3, 1979 at The Summit in Houston, Texas. The first round took place February 24 at the higher seeded campus sites.^[1][2]

1979 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1978–79
Teams	9
Site	The Summit Houston, Texas
Champions	Arkansas (2nd title)
Winning coach	Eddie Sutton (2nd title)
MVP	Sidney Moncrief (Arkansas)
Television	Metro Communications
Southwest Conference men's basketball tournaments ← 1978 1980 →

1978–79 Southwest Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 5 Arkansas†	13	–	3		.813			25	–	5		.833
Texas	13	–	3		.813			21	–	8		.724
Texas A&M	11	–	5		.688			24	–	9		.727
Baylor	9	–	7		.563			16	–	12		.571
Texas Tech	9	–	7		.563			19	–	11		.633
Houston	6	–	10		.375			16	–	15		.516
SMU	6	–	10		.375			11	–	16		.407
Rice	4	–	12		.250			7	–	20		.259
TCU	1	–	15		.063			6	–	21		.222
† 1979 SWC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

Number 1 seed Arkansas defeated 2 seed Texas 39–38 to win their 2nd championship and receive the conference's automatic bid to the 1979 NCAA tournament.

Format and seeding

The tournament consisted of 9 teams in a single-elimination tournament. The 3 seed received a bye to the Quarterfinals and the 1 and 2 seed received a bye to the Semifinals. ^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]}

Place	Seed	Team	Conference			Overall
			W	L	%	W	L	%
1	1	Arkansas	13	3	.813	25	5	.833
1	2	Texas	13	3	.813	21	8	.724
3	3	Texas A&M	11	5	.688	24	9	.727
4	4	Baylor	9	7	.563	16	12	.571
4	5	Texas Tech	9	7	.563	19	11	.633
6	6	Houston	6	10	.375	16	15	.516
6	7	SMU	6	10	.375	11	16	.407
8	8	Rice	4	12	.250	7	20	.259
9	9	TCU	1	15	.063	6	21	.222

Tournament

Date	Winner	Score	Loser	Notes
First Round
Feb 24	5 Texas Tech	82-49	8 Rice	at Texas Tech
	6 Houston	74-67	7 SMU	at Houston
	4 Baylor	104-78	9 TCU	at Baylor
Quarterfinals
Mar 1	5 Texas Tech	63-62 (OT)	3 Texas A&M
	6 Houston	83-82	4 Baylor
Semifinals
Mar 2	1 Arkansas	93-77	5 Texas Tech
	2 Texas	70-65	6 Houston
Finals
Mar 3	1 Arkansas	39-38	2 Texas