# 2018 SWAC men's basketball tournament

The 2018 SWAC men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Southwestern Athletic Conference for the 2017–18 season. Tournament first round games were played at the campus of the higher seeded team on March 6. The remainder of the tournament was held on March 9 and 10, 2018 at the Delmar Fieldhouse in Houston.
Texas Southern won the tournament by defeating Arkansas–Pine Bluff in the championship game, the Tigers' second consecutive championship. As a result, Texas Southern received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

## Seeds

The top eight teams competed in the conference tournament. Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. Grambling State, the conference's regular season champion, was ineligible for postseason play due to APR violations.
| Seed | School | Conference | Tiebreaker |
| 1 | Arkansas–Pine Bluff | 12–6 | 3–1 vs Prairie View A&M/Texas Southern |
| 2 | Prairie View A&M | 12–6 | 2–2 vs Arkansas–Pine Bluff/Texas Southern |
| 3 | Texas Southern | 12–6 | 1–3 vs Arkansas–Pine Bluff/Prairie View A&M |
| 4 | Southern | 10–8 | |
| 5 | Jackson State | 9–9 | |
| 6 | Alabama State | 8–10 | |
| 7 | Alcorn State | 7–11 | |
| 8 | Mississippi Valley State | 4–14 | |

## Schedule and results

| Game | Time | Matchup | Score |
| Quarterfinals – Tuesday, March 6 – campus sites ||||
| 1 | 7:30 pm | No. 8 Mississippi Valley State at No. 1 Arkansas–Pine Bluff | 73–77 |
| 2 | 7:30 pm | No. 5 Jackson State at No. 4 Southern | 60–62 |
| 3 | 8:30 pm | No. 7 Alcorn State at No. 2 Prairie View A&M | 71–87 |
| 4 | 8:00 pm | No. 6 Alabama State at No. 3 Texas Southern | 76–90 |
| Semifinals – Friday, March 9 – Delmar Fieldhouse, Houston, TX ||||
| 5 | 2:30 pm | No. 1 Arkansas–Pine Bluff vs No. 4 Southern | 71–65 |
| 6 | 8:30 pm | No. 2 Prairie View A&M vs No. 3 Texas Southern | 74–88 |
| Final – Saturday, March 10 – Delmar Fieldhouse, Houston, TX ||||
| 7 | 3:00 pm | No. 1 Arkansas–Pine Bluff vs No. 3 Texas Southern | 69–84 |
| Game times in CST. Rankings denote tournament seed. ||||

## Bracket

| Quarterfinals March 6 ESPN3 | Quarterfinals March 6 ESPN3 | Quarterfinals March 6 ESPN3 | Semifinals March 9 ESPN3 | Semifinals March 9 ESPN3 | Semifinals March 9 ESPN3 | Finals March 10 TV coverage: ESPN2 | Finals March 10 TV coverage: ESPN2 | Finals March 10 TV coverage: ESPN2 |
| 1 | Arkansas–Pine Bluff | 77 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Mississippi Valley State | 73 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Mississippi Valley State | 73 | 1 | Arkansas–Pine Bluff | 71 | | | |
| | | | 4 | Southern | 65 | | | |
| 4 | Southern | 62 | 4 | Southern | 65 | | | |
| 5 | Jackson State | 60 | | | | | | |
| 5 | Jackson State | 60 | | | | 1 | Arkansas–Pine Bluff | 69 |
| | | | | | | 3 | Texas Southern | 84 |
| 2 | Prairie View A&M | 87 | | | | | | | 3 | Texas Southern | 84 |
| 7 | Alcorn State | 71 | | | | | | |
| 7 | Alcorn State | 71 | 2 | Prairie View A&M | 74 | | | |
| | | | 3 | Texas Southern | 88 | | | |
| 3 | Texas Southern | 90 | 3 | Texas Southern | 88 | | | |
| 6 | Alabama State | 76 | | | | | | |
First round games at campus sites of lower-numbered seeds