| Year: | 2021 |
| Conference: | MAC |
| Division: | I |
| Gender: | Men's |
| Teams: | 8 |
| Arena: | Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse |
| City: | Cleveland, Ohio |
| Champions: | Ohio |
| Titlecount: | 7th |
| Coach: | Jeff Boals |
| Coachcount: | 1st |
| Mvp: | Jason Preston |
| Mvpteam: | Ohio |
| Television: | CBSSN, ESPN2, ESPN+ |
The 2021 Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Mid-American Conference (MAC). Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the entire tournament was held at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, in Cleveland, Ohio, from March 11–13, 2021.[1] For the 2021 tournament, only the top eight teams qualified. The winner of the tournament received the MAC's automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA tournament. Ohio defeated Buffalo in the final. Jason Preston of Ohio was named the tournament MVP.[2] In the NCAA tournament Ohio defeated No. 4-seeded Virginia in the First Round[3] before falling to No. 5-seeded Creighton in the Second Round.[4]
8 out of the 12 MAC teams qualified for the tournament. Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.
| Seed | School | Conference record | Tiebreaker | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toledo | 15–4 | ||
| 2 | Buffalo | 12–5 | ||
| 3 | Akron | 12–6 | 2–0 vs. KSU | |
| 4 | Kent State | 12–6 | 0–2 vs. Akron | |
| 5 | Ohio | 9–5 | ||
| 6 | Bowling Green | 10–8 | ||
| 7 | Miami (OH) | 9–8 | ||
| 8 | Ball State | 8–9 | ||
| DNQ | Western Michigan | 4–12 | ||
| DNQ | Eastern Michigan | 3–11 | ||
| DNQ | Central Michigan | 3–13 | ||
| DNQ | Northern Illinois | 2–12 |
| Game | Time | Matchup | Score | Television |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 11 – Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Cleveland, OH | ||||
| 1 | 11:00 am | No. 8 Ball State vs. No. 1 Toledo | 89–91OT | ESPN+ |
| 2 | 2:05 pm | No. 5 Ohio vs. No. 4 Kent State | 85–63 | |
| 3 | 4:30 pm | No. 7 Miami (OH) vs. No. 2 Buffalo | 63–74 | |
| 4 | 7:00 pm | No. 6 Bowling Green vs. No. 3 Akron | 67–74 | |
| Semifinals – Friday, March 12 – Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Cleveland, OH | ||||
| 5 | 5:00 pm | No. 5 Ohio vs. No. 1 Toledo | 87–80 | CBSSN |
| 6 | approx. 7:30 pm | No. 3 Akron vs. No. 2 Buffalo | 74–81OT | |
| Championship – Saturday, March 13 – Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Cleveland, OH | ||||
| 7 | 7:30 pm | No. 5 Ohio vs. No. 2 Buffalo | 84–69 | ESPN2 |
| Game times in ET. Rankings denote tournament seed | ||||
* denotes overtime period
Tournament MVP – Jason Preston, Ohio[5]
| Player | Team | |
|---|---|---|
| Marreon Jackson | Toledo | |
| Josh Mballa | Buffalo | |
| Jeenathan Williams | Buffalo | |
| Jason Preston | Ohio | |
| Ben Vander Plas | Ohio |