The 2019 Conference USA men's basketball tournament was the concluding event of the 2018–19 Conference USA (C-USA) men's basketball season. It was held from March 13–16, 2019 alongside the C-USA women's tournament in Frisco, Texas, at the Ford Center at The Star. In the first round and quarterfinals, two games were played simultaneously within the same arena, with the courts separated by a curtain. Old Dominion defeated Western Kentucky 62–56 in the championship game to win the tournament, and received the conference's automatic bid to the 2019 NCAA tournament. It was their first Conference USA title since joining the conference six years ago.
Seeds Only 12 conference teams play in the tournament. The top four teams receive a bye to the quarterfinals of the tournament. Teams are seeded within one of three groups. After each team had played 14 conference games, the teams were divided into groups based on conference record at that point in the season. The top five teams were placed in one group, the next five in a second group, and the bottom four in a final group. All teams were at that time locked into a seeding range that corresponded to their group—for example, the top five teams were assured the top five seeds. The remaining four conference games were played strictly within each group. The final seeding within each group is determined by overall conference record, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. Only the top two teams within the bottom group enter the tournament.
Seed School Record Tiebreaker1Old Dominion13–52Western Kentucky11–7 3–1 vs. Southern Miss/UTSA, 2–0 vs. Southern Miss3Southern Miss11–7 2–2 vs. Western Kentucky/UTSA, 0–2 vs. Western Kentucky4UTSA11–7 1–3 vs. Southern Miss/Western Kentucky5UAB10–8 Clinched over Marshall on Feb 16.6Marshall11–77FIU10–88Louisiana Tech9–99Florida Atlantic8–10 4–0 vs. North Texas/Rice/MTSU10North Texas8–10 3–2 vs. FAU/Rice/MTSU11Rice8–10 2–3 vs. FAU/North Texas/MTSU, 0–3 vs. FAU/North Texas12Middle Tennessee8–10 0–4 vs FAU/North Texas/Rice DNQCharlotte5–13 DNQUTEP3–15
Schedule
Rankings denote tournament seed. SessionGameMatchupScoreTelevisionFirst round – Wednesday, March 1311No. 8 Louisiana Tech vs. No. 9 Florida Atlantic57–56ESPN+2No. 5 UAB vs. No. 12 Middle Tennessee70–613No. 7 FIU vs. No. 10 North Texas57–714No. 6 Marshall vs. No. 11 Rice82–65Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 1425No. 1 Old Dominion vs. No. 8 Louisiana Tech57–56Stadium6No. 4 UTSA vs. No. 5 UAB76–85Facebook7No. 2 Western Kentucky vs. No. 10 North Texas67–51Stadium8No. 3 Southern Miss vs. No. 6 Marshall82–73FacebookSemifinals – Friday, March 1539No. 1 Old Dominion vs. No. 5 UAB61–59CBSSN10No. 2 Western Kentucky vs. No. 3 Southern Miss70–59Championship – Saturday, March 16411No. 1 Old Dominion vs. No. 2 Western Kentucky62–56CBSSN
Bracket
* denotes overtime period.
References
See also 2019 Conference USA women's basketball tournament