| Year: | 2018 |
| Conference: | Southland Conference |
| Division: | I |
| Gender: | Men's |
| Teams: | 8 |
| Arena: | Merrell Center |
| City: | Katy, Texas |
| Champions: | Stephen F. Austin |
| Titlecount: | 5th |
| Coach: | Kyle Keller |
| Coachcount: | 1st |
| Mvp: | T. J. Holyfield |
| Mvpteam: | Stephen F. Austin |
| Television: | ESPN3, ESPN2 |
The 2018 Southland Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament that completes 2017–18 season in the Southland Conference. The tournament was held at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas from March 7–10, 2018.[1]
Stephen F. Austin won the tournament by defeating Southeastern Louisiana in the championship game. As a result, the Lumberjacks received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.[2] Only the top eight teams in the conference qualified for the tournament. The top two seeds received double byes into the semifinals in the merit-based format. The No. 3 and No. 4 seeds received single byes to the quarterfinals.
| Seed | School | Conference | Tiebreaker 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southeastern Louisiana | 15–3 | 2–0 vs. Nicholls State | |
| 2 | 15–3 | 0–2 vs. Southeastern Louisiana | ||
| 3 | Stephen F. Austin | 14–4 | ||
| 4 | Sam Houston State | 12–6 | ||
| 5 | New Orleans | 11–7 | 2–0 vs. McNeese | |
| 6 | 11–7 | 1–1 vs. McNeese | ||
| 7 | 10–8 | |||
| 8 | Texas A&M–Corpus Christi | 8–10 | 3–0 vs. ACU/McNeese | |
| – | Abilene Christian | 8–10 | 1–2 vs. TAMU–CC/McNeese | |
| – | McNeese State | 8–10 | 0–2 vs. ACU/TAMU–CC |
| Session | Game | Time* | Matchup# | Score | Television | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First round – Wednesday, March 7, 2018 | ||||||
| 1 | 1 | 5:00 pm | No. 5 New Orleans vs. No. 8 Texas A&M–Corpus Christi | 86–73 | ESPN3 | |
| 2 | 7:30 pm | No. 6 Lamar vs. No. 7 Central Arkansas | 57–67 | |||
| Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 8, 2018 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 5:00 pm | No. 4 Sam Houston State vs. No. 5 New Orleans | 85–63 | ESPN3 | |
| 4 | 7:30 pm | No. 3 Stephen F. Austin vs. No. 7 Central Arkansas | 86–64 | |||
| Semifinals – Friday, March 9, 2018 | ||||||
| 3 | 5 | 5:00 pm | No. 1 Southeastern Louisiana vs. No. 4 Sam Houston State | 89–79 | ESPN3 | |
| 6 | 7:30 pm | No. 2 Nicholls State vs. No. 3 Stephen F. Austin | 66–78 | |||
| Championship – Saturday, March 10, 2018 | ||||||
| 4 | 7 | 8:30 pm | No. 1 Southeastern Louisiana vs. No. 3 Stephen F. Austin | 55–59 | ESPN2 | |
| ||||||