2020 Horizon League men's basketball tournament explained

Year:2020
Conference:Horizon League
Division:I
Gender:Men's
Teams:9
Arena:Campus sites
(First Round and Quarterfinals)
Indiana Farmers Coliseum
City:Indianapolis, Indiana
(Semifinals and Finals)
Champions:Northern Kentucky
Titlecount:3rd
Coach:Darrin Horn
Coachcount:1st
Mvp:Jalen Tate
Mvpteam:Northern Kentucky
Television:ESPN+, ESPNU, ESPN2, ESPN

The 2020 Horizon League men's basketball tournament was the final event of the 2019–20 men's basketball season for the Horizon League, and the final event in the league's 2019-20 season. It began on March 3, 2020 and ended on March 10; first-round and quarterfinal games were played at the home courts of the higher seed, with all remaining games at Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis. The winner received the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA tournament, though that was cancelled two days later due to the coronavirus pandemic, along with all other winter tourneys and spring sports.[1]

Seeds

9 of 10 eligible teams participated in the tournament with the top 2 teams receiving byes to the semifinals. Detroit Mercy was ineligible for postseason play, including the conference tournament, due to low APR scores.[2] Teams were seeded by conference record, then seeded further with tiebreakers for teams with the same win–loss records.[3]

SeedSchoolConfTiebreaker
1Wright State15−3
2Northern Kentucky13–5
3Green Bay11–7
4UIC10–81–1 vs Northern Kentucky
5Youngstown State10–80–2 vs Northern Kentucky
6Oakland8–10
7Cleveland State7–112–0 vs Milwaukee
8Milwaukee7–110–2 vs Cleveland State
9IUPUI3–15

Schedule

GameTimeMatchupScoreTelevision
First Round – Tuesday, March 3
align=center 18:00 pmalign=center No. 9 IUPUI at No. 4 UICalign=center 59–93ESPN+
align=center 27:00 pmalign=center No. 8 Milwaukee at No. 5 Youngstown Statealign=center 57–63
align=center 37:00 pmalign=center No. 7 Cleveland State at No. 6 Oaklandalign=center 59–80
Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 5
align=center 48:00 pmalign=center No. 6 Oakland at No. 3 Green Bayalign=center 63–78ESPN+
align=center 58:00 pmalign=center No. 5 Youngstown State at No. 4 UICalign=center 61–67
Semifinals – Monday, March 9
align=center 67:00 pmalign=center No. 4 UIC vs. No. 1 Wright Statealign=center 73–56ESPNU
align=center 79:30 pmalign=center No. 3 Green Bay vs. No. 2 Northern Kentuckyalign=center 69–80ESPN2
Finals – Tuesday, March 10
align=center 87:00 pmalign=center No. 4 UIC vs. No. 2 Northern Kentuckyalign=center 71–62ESPN
All game times local. Rankings denote tournament seed

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2020 Horizon League Men's and Women's Basketball Championships . Horizon League . 2020-02-14.
  2. News: Detroit Mercy basketball not eligible for NCAA tournament after low APR score. Detroit Free Press. Kirkland. Crawford. Chris. Thomas. May 9, 2019. March 5, 2020.
  3. Web site: Horizon League Reveils Brackets for Basketball Championships . Horizon League . 2020-02-14.