2018 SWAC men's basketball tournament

The 2018 SWAC men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Southwestern Athletic Conference for the 2017–18 season. Tournament first round games were played at the campus of the higher seeded team on March 6. The remainder of the tournament was held on March 9 and 10, 2018 at the Delmar Fieldhouse in Houston.^[1]

2018 SWAC men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2017–18
Teams	8
Site	Delmar Fieldhouse Houston, Texas
First round site	Campus sites
Champions	Texas Southern (8th title)
Winning coach	Mike Davis (4th title)
MVP	Trae Jefferson (Texas Southern)
Television	ESPN3, ESPN2
SWAC men's basketball tournaments ← 2017 2019 →

2017–18 SWAC men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Grambling State*	13	–	5		.722			17	–	14		.548
Prairie View A&M	12	–	6		.667			16	–	18		.471
Texas Southern †	12	–	6		.667			16	–	20		.444
Arkansas–Pine Bluff	12	–	6		.667			14	–	21		.400
Southern	10	–	8		.556			15	–	18		.455
Jackson State	9	–	9		.500			12	–	20		.375
Alabama State	8	–	10		.444			8	–	23		.258
Alcorn State	7	–	11		.389			11	–	21		.344
Mississippi Valley State	4	–	14		.222			4	–	28		.125
Alabama A&M*	3	–	15		.167			3	–	28		.097
† 2018 SWAC tournament winner *ineligible for postseason due to APR violations

Texas Southern won the tournament by defeating Arkansas–Pine Bluff in the championship game, the Tigers' second consecutive championship. As a result, Texas Southern received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Seeds

The top eight teams competed in the conference tournament. Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. Grambling State, the conference's regular season champion, was ineligible for postseason play due to APR violations.

Seed	School	Conference	Tiebreaker
1	Arkansas–Pine Bluff	12–6	3–1 vs Prairie View A&M/Texas Southern
2	Prairie View A&M	12–6	2–2 vs Arkansas–Pine Bluff/Texas Southern
3	Texas Southern	12–6	1–3 vs Arkansas–Pine Bluff/Prairie View A&M
4	Southern	10–8
5	Jackson State	9–9
6	Alabama State	8–10
7	Alcorn State	7–11
8	Mississippi Valley State	4–14

Schedule and results

Game	Time	Matchup	Score
Quarterfinals – Tuesday, March 6 – campus sites
1	7:30 pm	No. 8 Mississippi Valley State at No. 1 Arkansas–Pine Bluff	73–77
2	7:30 pm	No. 5 Jackson State at No. 4 Southern	60–62
3	8:30 pm	No. 7 Alcorn State at No. 2 Prairie View A&M	71–87
4	8:00 pm	No. 6 Alabama State at No. 3 Texas Southern	76–90
Semifinals – Friday, March 9 – Delmar Fieldhouse, Houston, TX
5	2:30 pm	No. 1 Arkansas–Pine Bluff vs No. 4 Southern	71–65
6	8:30 pm	No. 2 Prairie View A&M vs No. 3 Texas Southern	74–88
Final – Saturday, March 10 – Delmar Fieldhouse, Houston, TX
7	3:00 pm	No. 1 Arkansas–Pine Bluff vs No. 3 Texas Southern	69–84
Game times in CST. Rankings denote tournament seed.

Bracket

	Quarterfinals March 6 ESPN3					Semifinals March 9 ESPN3					Finals March 10 TV coverage: ESPN2
	1	Arkansas–Pine Bluff	77
	8	Mississippi Valley State	73
						1	Arkansas–Pine Bluff	71
						4	Southern	65
	4	Southern	62
	5	Jackson State	60
											1	Arkansas–Pine Bluff	69
											3	Texas Southern	84
	2	Prairie View A&M	87
	7	Alcorn State	71
						2	Prairie View A&M	74
						3	Texas Southern	88
	3	Texas Southern	90
	6	Alabama State	76

First round games at campus sites of lower-numbered seeds