| Year: | 2020 |
| Conference: | Southland Conference |
| Division: | I |
| Gender: | Men's |
| Teams: | 8 |
| Arena: | Merrell Center |
| City: | Katy, Texas |
| Champions: | Tournament cancelled |
| Television: | ESPN+, ESPN2 |
The 2020 Southland Conference men's basketball tournament is the postseason men's basketball tournament for the 2019–20 season in the Southland Conference. The tournament was scheduled from March 11–14, 2020. The first two games of the tournament were held at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas on March 11, 2020.[1] On March 12, the Southland Conference announced the remainder of the tournament would be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] The tournament winner would have received an automatic invitation to the 2020 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, which was later cancelled for the same reason.
Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tie–breaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.[3] [4] 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 | Stephen F. Austin | 19–1 | ||
| 2 | Abilene Christian | 15–5 | 1–0 vs Nicholls | |
| 3 | Nicholls | 15–5 | 0–1 vs Abilene Christian | |
| 4 | Sam Houston State | 11–9 | 1–0 vs Northwestern State | |
| 5 | Northwestern State | 11–9 | 0–1 vs Sam Houston State | |
| 6 | Lamar | 10–10 | ||
| 7 | McNeese State | 10–10 | ||
| 8 | Texas A&M–CC | 10–10 |
Tournament cancelled on March 12
| Session | Game | Time* | Matchup# | Score | Television | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First round – Wednesday, March 11, 2020 | ||||||
| 1 | 1 | 5:00 pm | No. 5 Northwestern State vs. No. 8 Texas A&M–Corpus Christi | 79–62 | ESPN+ | |
| 2 | 7:30 pm | No. 6 Lamar vs. No. 7 McNeese State | 80–59 | |||
| Second round – Thursday, March 12, 2020 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 5:00 pm | No. 4 Sam Houston State vs. No. 5 Northwestern State | – | ESPN+ | |
| 4 | 7:30 pm | No. 3 Nicholls vs. No. 6 Lamar | – | |||
| Semifinals – Friday, March 13, 2020 | ||||||
| 3 | 5 | 5:00 pm | No. 1 Stephen F. Austin vs. Game 3 winner | – | ESPN+ | |
| 6 | 7:30 pm | No. 2 Abilene Christian vs. Game 4 winner | – | |||
| Championship – Saturday, March 14, 2020 | ||||||
| 4 | 7 | 8:30 pm | Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 winner | – | ESPN2 | |
| ||||||
Tournament cancelled on March 12.
Tournament MVP:
All-Tournament Team:
Source: