The 2026 Southland Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the 2025–26 season of the Southland Conference. The tournament was held March 8–11, 2026, at Townsley Law Arena in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The tournament winner, McNeese, received the conference's automatic invitation to the 2026 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.
Seeds Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tie–breaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. 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 receive dsingle byes to the quarterfinals. Tiebreakers used are 1) Head-to-head results, 2) comparison of records against individual teams in the conference starting with the top-ranked team(s) and working down and 3) NCAA NET rankings available on day following the conclusion of regular-season play.
SeedSchoolConferenceTiebreaker1 Stephen F. Austin 20–22 McNeese 19–3 3 UT Rio Grande Valley 14–8 4 Texas A&M–Corpus Christi 13–95 New Orleans 12–10 1–1 vs. Stephen F. Austin6 Nicholls 12–10 0–2 vs. Stephen F. Austin7 Northwestern State 8–141–1 vs. UT Rio Grande Valley8 Houston Christian 8–140–2 vs. UT Rio Grande ValleyDNQ Incarnate Word 7–151–1 vs. McNeeseDNQ Lamar 7–150–2 vs. McNeeseDNQ East Texas A&M 6–16 2–0 vs. Southeastern LouisianaDNQ Southeastern Louisiana 6–16 0–2 vs. East Texas A&M
Schedule SessionGameTime*Matchup#ScoreTelevisionAttendanceFirst round – Sunday, March 8115:00 p.m.No. 5 New Orleans vs. No. 8 Houston Christian73–60ESPN+2,83527:30 p.m.No. 6 Nicholls vs. No. 7 Northwestern State61–47Quarterfinals – Monday, March 9235:00 p.m.No. 4 Texas A&M–Corpus Christi vs. No. 5 New Orleans74–61ESPN+47:30 p.m.No. 3 UT Rio Grande Valley vs. No. 6 Nicholls 86–68Semifinals – Tuesday, March 10356:00 p.m.No. 1 Stephen F. Austin vs. No. 4 Texas A&M–Corpus Christi60–58ESPNU4,48168:30 p.m.No. 2 McNeese vs. No. 3 UT Rio Grande Valley84–803OTESPN+Championship – Wednesday, March 11474:00 p.m.No. 1 Stephen F. Austin vs. No. 2 McNeese59–76ESPN2 5,272*Game times in CDT. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.
Bracket
* denotes overtime period
Awards and honors 2026 Southland Conference Men's Basketball All-Tournament Team (MVP) Javohn Garcia (McNeese) Larry Johnson (McNeese) Tyshawn Archie (McNeese) Keon Thompson (Stephen F. Austin) Koree Cotton (UT Rio Grande Valley)
See also 2026 Southland Conference women's basketball tournament
References