| Year: | 2021 |
| Conference: | America East |
| Division: | I |
| Gender: | Men's |
| Teams: | 9 |
| Arena: | Campus sites |
| Champions: | Hartford |
| Titlecount: | 1st |
| Coach: | John Gallagher |
| Coachcount: | 1st |
| Mvp: | Austin Williams |
| Mvpteam: | Hartford |
| Television: | ESPN+ ESPN2 |
The 2021 America East Men's Basketball Conference tournament was the post-season men's basketball tournament for the America East Conference that began on February 27, 2021 and ended on March 13, 2021. Starting in the semifinals, all tournament games were played on the home arenas of the higher-seeded school. In Pod Play and the Quarterfinals, games were played at either New Hampshire or Hartford. The winner received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.[1] [2]
All of the teams, except for Maine, in the conference standings qualified for the tournament. Maine cancelled their season after going 2–7, so they did not compete in the conference tournament.[3] The teams were seeded by record in conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.
| Seed | School | AEC Record | Tiebreaker | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UMBC | 10–4 | 2–0 vs Albany | |
| 2 | Vermont | 10–4 | 1–1 vs Albany | |
| 3 | New Hampshire | 9–6 | ||
| 4 | Hartford | 8–6 | ||
| 5 | Albany | 6–6 | ||
| 6 | UMass Lowell | 7–8 | ||
| 7 | Stony Brook | 7–9 | ||
| 8 | NJIT | 6–10 | ||
| 9 | Binghamton | 4–10 |
| Game | Time | Matchup | Score | Television | Attendance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pod Play – Saturday, February 27 | ||||||
| 1 | 1:00 pm | No. 6 UMass Lowell vs No. 7 Stony Brook (at New Hampshire) | 64–62 | ESPN+ | 0 | |
| 2 | 2:00 pm | No. 9 Binghamton at No. 4 Hartford | 60–77 | 0 | ||
| 3 | 5:00 pm | No. 8 NJIT vs No. 5 Albany (at Hartford) | 66–76 | 0 | ||
| Quarterfinals – Sunday, February 28 | ||||||
| 4 | 1:00 pm | No. 6 UMass Lowell at No. 3 New Hampshire | 72–64 | ESPN+ | 0 | |
| 5 | 3:00 pm | No. 5 Albany at No. 4 Hartford | 77–83 | 0 | ||
| Semifinals – Saturday, March 6 | ||||||
| 6 | 2:00 pm | No. 6 UMass Lowell at No. 1 UMBC | 79–77 | ESPN+ | ||
| 7 | 4:00 pm | No. 4 Hartford at No. 2 Vermont | 71–65 | |||
| Championship – Saturday, March 13 | ||||||
| 8 | 11:00 am | No. 6 UMass Lowell at No. 4 Hartford | 50–64 | ESPN2 | ||
| Game times in ET. Rankings denote tournament seeding. All games hosted by higher-seeded team or at pod site.[4] | ||||||