2016 Conference USA men's basketball tournament

The 2016 Conference USA men's basketball tournament was held from March 8–12, 2016, in Birmingham, Alabama, at Legacy Arena.^[1][2] Southern Miss did not participate in the tournament due to a self-imposed a postseason ban for pending NCAA violations.^[3] Middle Tennessee won the tournament, receiving the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

2016 Conference USA men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2015–16
Teams	13
Site	Legacy Arena Birmingham, Alabama
Champions	Middle Tennessee (1st title)
Winning coach	Kermit Davis (1st title)
MVP	Reggie Upshaw (Middle Tennessee)
Attendance	33,438
Television	ASN, CBSSN, FS1
Conference USA men's basketball tournaments ← 2015 2017 →

2015–16 Conference USA men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
UAB	16	–	2		.889			26	–	7		.788
Middle Tennessee †	13	–	5		.722			25	–	10		.714
Marshall	12	–	6		.667			17	–	16		.515
Louisiana Tech	12	–	6		.667			23	–	10		.697
Old Dominion	12	–	6		.667			25	–	13		.658
UTEP	10	–	8		.556			19	–	14		.576
Charlotte	9	–	9		.500			14	–	19		.424
Western Kentucky	8	–	10		.444			18	–	16		.529
North Texas	7	–	11		.389			12	–	20		.375
Rice	7	–	11		.389			12	–	20		.375
FIU	7	–	11		.389			13	–	19		.406
Florida Atlantic	5	–	13		.278			8	–	25		.242
Southern Miss*	5	–	13		.278			8	–	21		.276
UTSA	3	–	15		.167			5	–	27		.156
† 2016 C-USA Tournament winner *Ineligible for postseason play due to self-imposed postseason ban.

Seeds

Only 13 conference teams were eligible for the tournament. As a result, the top 11 teams received a bye to the Second Round of the tournament. The top 4 teams received a double bye to the Quarterfinals of the tournament.

Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.

Seed	School	Conference	Tiebreaker
1	UAB	16–2
2	Middle Tennessee	13–5
3	Marshall	12–6	2–1 vs. LA Tech & Old Dominion
4	Louisiana Tech	12–6	1–1 vs. Marshall & Old Dominion
5	Old Dominion	12–6	1–2 vs. LA Tech & Marshall
6	UTEP	10–8
7	Charlotte	9–9
8	Western Kentucky	8–10
9	North Texas	7–11	2–1 vs. Rice & FIU, 1-1 vs. Louisiana Tech
10	Rice	7–11	2–1 vs. North Texas & FIU, 0-2 vs. Louisiana Tech
11	FIU	7–11	0–2 vs. Rice & North Texas
12	Florida Atlantic	5–13
13	UTSA	3–15

Schedule

Game	Time*	Matchup#	Final Score	Television	Attendance
First round – Tuesday, March 8
1	4:00 pm	#12 Florida Atlantic vs. #13 UTSA	82–58	ASN	220
Second round – Wednesday, March 9
2	12:00 pm	#8 Western Kentucky vs. #9 North Texas	84–76	ASN	3,888
3	2:30 pm	#5 Old Dominion vs. #12 Florida Atlantic	72–46
4	6:00 pm	#7 Charlotte vs. #10 Rice	79–69		3,905
5	8:30 pm	#6 UTEP vs. #11 FIU	85–77
Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 10
6	12:00 pm	#1 UAB vs. #8 Western Kentucky	77–88	ASN	9,797
7	2:30 pm	#4 La Tech vs. #5 Old Dominion	52–68
8	6:00 pm	#2 Middle Tennessee vs. #7 Charlotte	79–61		3,933
9	8:30 pm	#3 Marshall vs #6 UTEP	87–85
Semifinals – Friday, March 11
10	3:00 pm	#5 Old Dominion vs #8 Western Kentucky	89–77	CBSSN	6,176
11	5:30 pm	#2 Middle Tennessee vs #3 Marshall	99–90
Championship – Saturday, March 12
12	1:30 pm	#2 Middle Tennessee vs #5 Old Dominion	55–53	FS1	5,519
*Game times in CT. #-Rankings denote tournament seed

Bracket

	First round Tuesday, March 8 ASN					Second round Wednesday, March 9 ASN					Quarterfinals Thursday, March 10 ASN					Semifinals Friday, March 11 CBSSN					Championship Saturday, March 12 FS1
											8	Western Kentucky	88
						9	North Texas	76			1	UAB	77
						8	Western Kentucky	84								8	Western Kentucky	77
																5	Old Dominion	89
											5	Old Dominion	68
						12	Florida Atlantic	46			4	Louisiana Tech	52
	13	UTSA	58			5	Old Dominion	72													5	Old Dominion	53
	12	Florida Atlantic	82																		2	Middle Tennessee	55
											7	Charlotte	61
						10	Rice	69			2	Middle Tennessee	79
						7	Charlotte	79								2	Middle Tennessee	99
																3	Marshall	90
											6	UTEP	85
						11	FIU	77			3	Marshall	87
						6	UTEP	85

See also

• 2016 Conference USA women's basketball tournament