2021 MAC men's basketball tournament

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]

2021 MAC men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2020–21
Teams	8
Site	Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse Cleveland, Ohio
Champions	Ohio (7th title)
Winning coach	Jeff Boals (1st title)
MVP	Jason Preston (Ohio)
Television	CBSSN, ESPN2, ESPN+
MAC men's basketball tournaments ← 2020 2022 →

2020–21 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Toledo	15	–	4		.789			21	–	9		.700
Buffalo	12	–	5		.706			16	–	9		.640
Akron	12	–	6		.667			15	–	8		.652
Kent State	12	–	6		.667			15	–	8		.652
Ohio †	9	–	5		.643			17	–	8		.680
Bowling Green	10	–	8		.556			14	–	12		.538
Miami (OH)	9	–	8		.529			12	–	11		.522
Ball State	8	–	9		.471			10	–	13		.435
Western Michigan	4	–	12		.250			5	–	16		.238
Eastern Michigan	3	–	11		.214			6	–	12		.333
Central Michigan	3	–	13		.188			7	–	16		.304
Northern Illinois	2	–	12		.143			3	–	16		.158
† 2021 MAC tournament winner

Seeds

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

Schedule

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	89–91^OT	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	74–81^OT
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

Bracket

	Quarterfinals Thursday, March 11, 2021 ESPN+					Semifinals Friday, March 12, 2021 CBSSN					Championship Saturday, March 13, 2021 ESPN2
	1	Toledo	91*
	8	Ball State	89
						1	Toledo	80
						5	Ohio	87
	4	Kent State	63
	5	Ohio	85
											5	Ohio	84
											2	Buffalo	69
	2	Buffalo	74
	7	Miami (OH)	63
						2	Buffalo	81*
						3	Akron	74
	3	Akron	74
	6	Bowling Green	67

* denotes overtime period

All-Tournament Team

Tournament MVP – Jason Preston, Ohio^[5]

Player	Team
Marreon Jackson	Toledo
Josh Mballa	Buffalo
Jeenathan Williams	Buffalo
Jason Preston	Ohio
Ben Vander Plas	Ohio

References

1. "2021 MAC Men's Basketball Championship". Mid-American Conference. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
2. "Ohio 84, Buffalo 69". ESPN.com. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
3. "Ohio vs. Virginia - Game Recap - March 20, 2021 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
4. "Ohio vs. Creighton - Game Recap - March 22, 2021 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
5. "Bobcats Win First MAC Championship Since 2012". Mid-American Conference. Retrieved June 5, 2022.