2018 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament

2018 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season2017–18
Teams8
SiteFord Center
Evansville, Indiana
ChampionsMurray State (16th title)
Winning coachMatt McMahon (1st title)
MVPJonathan Stark (Murray State)
TelevisionOVCDN/ESPN3, ESPNU, ESPN2
← 2017
2019 →
2017–18 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball standings
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
*ineligible for postseason due to APR violations
† 2018 OVC tournament winner

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]

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

References

  1. ^ "2018 OVC Men's & Women's Basketball Championships – Ohio Valley Conference". ovcsports.com. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  2. ^ "Belmont Picked As 2017–18 OVC Men's Basketball Favorites; Murray State's Stark Tabbed Preseason Player of the Year". October 24, 2017. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  3. ^ "Ohio Valley Conference" (PDF). ovcsports.com. Retrieved January 24, 2018.