2021 Big West Conference men's basketball tournament

The 2021 Big West Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Big West Conference of the 2020-21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. It was held from March 9–13, 2021 at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Paradise, Nevada. The winner received the conference's automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA tournament. ^[1]

2021 Big West Conference men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2020–21
Teams	10
Site	Michelob Ultra Arena Paradise, Nevada
Champions	UC Santa Barbara (4th title)
Winning coach	Joe Pasternack (1st title)
MVP	JaQuori McLaughlin (UC Santa Barbara)
Television	ESPN3 ESPNU ESPN2
Big West Conference men's basketball tournaments ← 2020 2022 →

2020–21 Big West men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
UC Santa Barbara †	13	–	3		.813			22	–	5		.815
UC Irvine	10	–	4		.714			18	–	9		.667
UC Riverside	8	–	4		.667			14	–	8		.636
UC Davis	6	–	4		.600			10	–	8		.556
Cal State Bakersfield	9	–	7		.563			15	–	11		.577
Hawai'i	9	–	9		.500			11	–	10		.524
Cal State Fullerton	5	–	7		.417			6	–	10		.375
Cal State Northridge	5	–	9		.357			9	–	13		.409
Long Beach State	4	–	8		.333			6	–	12		.333
Cal Poly	1	–	15		.063			4	–	20		.167
UC San Diego*	0	–	0		–			7	–	10		.412
* ineligible for the 2021 NCAA tournament and 2021 Big West tournament due to transition period; Big West games not counted in standings
† 2021 Big West tournament winner

Seeds

Of the 11 conference teams, 10 were eligible for the tournament. UC San Diego was ineligible for this year's tournament, as they were in the first year of the four-year transition required for teams transferring to Division I from Division II. Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. Unlike previous years, reseeding teams after the quarterfinals did not take place for this year's tournament.

Seed	School	Conference	Tiebreaker
1	UC Santa Barbara	13–3
2	UC Irvine	10–4
3	UC Riverside	8–4
4	UC Davis	6–4
5	Cal State Bakersfield	9–7
6	Hawaii	9–9
7	Cal State Fullerton	5–7
8	Cal State Northridge	5–9
9	Long Beach State	4–8
10	Cal Poly	1–15

Schedule and results

Game	Time ^[2]	Matchup	Score	Television
First round – Tuesday, March 9
1	2:30 pm	No. 8 CSUN vs. No. 9 Long Beach State	63–85	ESPN3
2	5:00 pm	No. 7 CSU Fullerton vs. No. 10 Cal Poly	82–87
Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 11
3	11:00 am	No. 1 UC Santa Barbara vs. No. 9 Long Beach State	95–87	ESPN3
4	2:00 pm	No. 4 UC Davis vs. No. 5 CSU Bakersfield	58–56
5	5:00 pm	No. 2 UC Irvine vs. No. 10 Cal Poly	58–51
6	8:00 pm	No. 3 UC Riverside vs. No. 6 Hawaii	62–52
Semifinals – Friday, March 12
7	6:00 pm	No. 1 UC Santa Barbara vs. No. 4 UC Davis	71–55	ESPN3
8	9:00 pm	No. 2 UC Irvine vs. No. 3 UC Riverside	78–61	ESPNU
Final – Saturday, March 13
9	8:30 pm	No. 1 UC Santa Barbara vs. No. 2 UC Irvine	79–63	ESPN2
*Game times in PST. Rankings denote tournament seed

Bracket

	First round March 9 ESPN3					Quarterfinals March 11 ESPN3					Semifinals March 12 ESPN3/ESPNU					Championship March 13 ESPN2
						1	UC Santa Barbara	95
						9	Long Beach State	87
	8	Cal State Northridge	63
	9	Long Beach State	85
											1	UC Santa Barbara	71
											4	UC Davis	55
						4	UC Davis	58
						5	Cal State Bakersfield	56
																1	UC Santa Barbara	79
																2	UC Irvine	63
						2	UC Irvine	58
						10	Cal Poly	51
	7	Cal State Fullerton	82
	10	Cal Poly	87
											2	UC Irvine	78
											3	UC Riverside	61
						3	UC Riverside	62
						6	Hawaii	52

References

1. "Big West Conference Announces Move of Men's and Women's Basketball Championships to Las Vegas" bigwest.org. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
2. "Basketball Championships- Big West Conference" bigwest.org. Retrieved 2020-02-22.