2018 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament

The 2018 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament that completed the 2017–18 season in the Ohio Valley Conference. The tournament was held February 28 through March 3, 2018 at Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.^[1]

2018 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2017–18
Teams	8
Site	Ford Center Evansville, Indiana
Champions	Murray State (16th title)
Winning coach	Matt McMahon (1st title)
MVP	Jonathan Stark (Murray State)
Television	OVCDN/ESPN3, ESPNU, ESPN2
Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournaments ← 2017 2019 →

2017–18 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Murray State †	16	–	2		.889			26	–	6		.813
Belmont	15	–	3		.833			24	–	9		.727
Austin Peay	12	–	6		.667			19	–	15		.559
Jacksonville State	11	–	7		.611			23	–	13		.639
Tennessee Tech	10	–	8		.556			19	–	14		.576
Tennessee State	10	–	8		.556			15	–	15		.500
Southeast Missouri State*	8	–	10		.444			14	–	17		.452
Eastern Illinois	7	–	11		.389			12	–	19		.387
SIU Edwardsville	5	–	13		.278			9	–	21		.300
UT Martin	5	–	13		.278			10	–	21		.323
Eastern Kentucky	5	–	13		.278			11	–	20		.355
Morehead State	4	–	14		.222			8	–	21		.276
† 2018 OVC tournament winner *ineligible for postseason due to APR violations

Regular-season champion Murray State defeated Belmont in the championship game to win the tournament and received conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Seeds

Only the top eight teams in the conference qualified for the Tournament. Teams were seeded by record within the division and conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds received double byes to the semifinals under the merit-based format. The No. 3 and No. 4 seeds received a single bye to the quarterfinals. records.

Southeast Missouri State, despite finishing in seventh place, was ineligible for the tournament due to Academic Progress Rate violations.^[2]

Seed	School	Conf.	Tiebreaker
1	Murray State	16–2
2	Belmont	15–3
3	Austin Peay	12–6
4	Jacksonville State	11–7
5	Tennessee Tech	10–8	2–0 vs TSU
6	Tennessee State	10–8	0–2 vs TT
7	Eastern Illinois	7–11
8	SIU Edwardsville	5–13	2–1 vs EKU/UTM
–	UT Martin	5–13	2–2 vs SIUE/EKU
–	Eastern Kentucky	5–13	1–2 vs SIUE/UTM

Schedule

Game	Time	Matchup	Score	Television
First round – Wednesday, February 28
1	6:30 pm	No. 5 Tennessee Tech vs No. 8 SIU Edwardsville	60–51	OVC Digital Network
2	8:30 pm	No. 6 Tennessee State vs No. 7 Eastern Illinois	71–73	OVC Digital Network
Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 1
3	6:30 pm	No. 4 Jacksonville State vs No. 5 Tennessee Tech	73–70	OVC Digital Network
4	8:30 pm	No. 3 Austin Peay vs No. 7 Eastern Illinois	73–66	OVC Digital Network
Semifinals – Friday, March 2
5	7:00 pm	No. 1 Murray State vs No. 4 Jacksonville State	70–63	ESPNU
6	9:00 pm	No. 2 Belmont vs No. 3 Austin Peay	94–79	ESPNU
Championship – Saturday, March 3
7	7:00 pm	No. 1 Murray State vs No. 2 Belmont	68–51	ESPN2
All game times in Central Time Zone.

Bracket

	First round Wednesday, February 28 OVCDN					Quarterfinals Thursday, March 1 OVCDN					Semifinals Friday, March 2 ESPNU					Championship Saturday, March 3 ESPN2
											1	Murray State	70
											4	Jacksonville State	63
						4	Jacksonville State	73
	5	Tennessee Tech	60			5	Tennessee Tech	70
	8	SIU Edwardsville	51													1	Murray State	68
																2	Belmont	51
											2	Belmont	94
											3	Austin Peay	79
						3	Austin Peay	73
	6	Tennessee State	71			7	Eastern Illinois	66
	7	Eastern Illinois	73

Source^[3]

See also

• 2018 Ohio Valley Conference women's basketball tournament