2019 MAC men's basketball tournament

The 2019 Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Mid-American Conference (MAC). Tournament first-round games were held on campus sites at the higher seed on March 11. The remaining rounds were held at Quicken Loans Arena, now known as Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, in Cleveland, Ohio March 14–16, 2019.^[1] Buffalo defeated Bowling Green in the championship game to become the 2019 MAC tournament champions, and received the conference's automatic bid to the 2019 NCAA tournament.^[2]

2019 MAC men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2018–19
Teams	12
Site	Quicken Loans Arena Cleveland, Ohio
First round site	Campus sites
Champions	Buffalo (4th title)
Winning coach	Nate Oats (3rd title)
MVP	Jeremy Harris (Buffalo)
Television	CBSSN, ESPN2, ESPN+, FCS
MAC men's basketball tournaments ← 2018 2020 →

2018–19 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
East
No. 15 Buffalo †	16	–	2		.889			32	–	4		.889
Bowling Green	12	–	6		.667			22	–	12		.647
Kent State	11	–	7		.611			22	–	11		.667
Akron	8	–	10		.444			17	–	16		.515
Miami (OH)	7	–	11		.389			15	–	17		.469
Ohio	6	–	12		.333			14	–	17		.452
West
Toledo	13	–	5		.722			25	–	8		.758
Central Michigan	10	–	8		.556			23	–	12		.657
Eastern Michigan	9	–	9		.500			15	–	17		.469
Northern Illinois	8	–	10		.444			17	–	17		.500
Ball State	6	–	12		.333			16	–	17		.485
Western Michigan	2	–	16		.111			8	–	24		.250
† 2019 MAC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Seeds

All 12 MAC teams participated in the tournament. Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. The top four teams received a bye to the quarterfinals.

Seed	School	Conference record	Division	Tiebreaker
1	Buffalo	16–2	East
2	Toledo	13–5	West
3	Bowling Green	12–6	East
4	Kent State	11–7	East
5	Central Michigan	10–8	West
6	Eastern Michigan	9–9	West
7	Northern Illinois	8–10	West	No. 1: 1–1 vs. Akron No. 2: 1–0 (1.000) vs. No. 1 UB
8	Akron	8–10	East	No. 1: 1–1 vs. NIU No. 2: 0–2 (.000) vs. No. 1 UB
9	Miami (OH)	7–11	East
10	Ohio	6–12	East	2–0 vs. BSU
11	Ball State	6–12	West	0–2 vs. Ohio
12	Western Michigan	2–16	West

Schedule

Game	Time	Matchup	Score	Television
First round – Monday March 11 – Campus sites
1	8:00 pm	No. 9 Miami (OH) at No. 8 Akron	51–80	ESPN+
2	7:00 pm	No. 12 Western Michigan at No. 5 Central Michigan	67–81
3	9:00 pm	No. 10 Ohio at No. 7 Northern Illinois	61–80
4	7:00 pm	No. 11 Ball State at No. 6 Eastern Michigan	61–43
Quarterfinals – Thursday March 14 – Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH
5	12:00 pm	No. 8 Akron vs. No. 1 Buffalo	46–82	ESPN+
6	2:30 pm	No. 5 Central Michigan vs. No. 4 Kent State	89–81
7	6:30 pm	No. 7 Northern Illinois vs No. 2 Toledo	80–76
8	9:00 pm	No. 11 Ball State vs. No. 3 Bowling Green	86–99
Semifinals – Friday March 15 – Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH
9	6:30 pm	No. 5 Central Michigan vs. No. 1 Buffalo	81–85	CBSSN
10	9:00 pm	No. 7 Northern Illinois vs. No. 3 Bowling Green	67–71	Fox College Sports
Championship – Saturday March 16 – Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH
11	7:30 pm	No. 3 Bowling Green vs. No. 1 Buffalo	73–87	ESPN2/WatchESPN
Game times in ET. Rankings denote tournament seed

Bracket

	First round Monday, March 11					Quarterfinals Thursday, March 14					Semifinals Friday, March 15					Championship Saturday, March 16
						1	Buffalo	82
						8	Akron	46
	8	Akron	80
	9	Miami (OH)	51
											1	Buffalo	85
											5	Central Michigan	81
						4	Kent State	81
						5	Central Michigan	89
	5	Central Michigan	81
	12	Western Michigan	67
																1	Buffalo	87
																3	Bowling Green	73
						2	Toledo	76
						7	Northern Illinois	80
	7	Northern Illinois	80
	10	Ohio	61
											7	Northern Illinois	67
											3	Bowling Green	71
						3	Bowling Green	99
						11	Ball State	86
	6	Eastern Michigan	43
	11	Ball State	61

* denotes overtime period

All-Tournament Team

Tournament MVP – Jeremy Harris, Buffalo^[3]

Player	Team
CJ Massinburg	Buffalo
Jeremy Harris	Buffalo
Demajeo Wiggins	Bowling Green
Dylan Frye	Bowling Green
Eugene German	Northern Illinois

References

1. "2019 MAC Men's Basketball Championship". Mid-American Conference. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
2. Gaughan, Mark (March 17, 2019). "Go ahead, UB fans: Dream big, because the Bulls have a shot to make noise". The Buffalo News. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
3. "Late Run Sends Top-Seeded Buffalo Past BGSU in Championship Game". BGSU Athletics. Retrieved June 5, 2022.