# 2023 WAC men's basketball tournament

The 2023 WAC men's basketball tournament is the postseason men's basketball tournament of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) for the 2022–23 season. The conference tournament is scheduled to be played from March 7–11, 2023, at Michelob ULTRA Arena and the Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada near Las Vegas. The first round will be played on March 7 at Michelob ULTRA Arena with the remaining rounds March 9–11 at the Orleans Arena. The winner of the conference tournament, Grand Canyon, received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

## Seeds

Twelve of the thirteen members were invited to the tournament. While Tarleton and Utah Tech were ineligible for the NCAA tournament, they were eligible for the WAC tournament. New Mexico State canceled the remainder of its season on February 11, 2023 due to an ongoing investigation of hazing incidents within the program. Teams were seeded using the WAC Resume Seeding rankings. The WAC Resume Seeding rankings are an advanced analytic developed by Ken Pomeroy that incorporates the performance of teams in both conference and non-conference games. Rankings were initially released on December 5. While seedings were determined using the WAC Resume Seeding System, the top 12 teams that qualified for the tournament were determined based on conference league records. Since New Mexico State suspended its season, the remaining 12 teams participated in the tournament (as reflected in the seedings released starting with the February 13 rankings shown in the table below). Regardless of which team received the top seed from the WAC Resume Seeding rankings, the regular season conference champion was determined based on conference win percentage.
If a team that was not eligible for the NCAA Tournament won the WAC Tournament, the conference's automatic bid would have gone to the highest seeded tournament-eligible team.
| Seed | School | Conference | WAC Points | KenPom Ranking (Mar. 4) |
| 1 | Sam Houston | 14–4 | 6.977 | 66 |
| 2 | Utah Valley | 15–3 | 6.964 | 79 |
| 3 | Southern Utah | 13–6 | 3.147 | 102 |
| 4 | Seattle U | 11–7 | 3.102 | 144 |
| 5 | Grand Canyon | 11–7 | 2.771 | 120 |
| 6 | Stephen F. Austin | 11–7 | 1.131 | 129 |
| 7 | Tarleton | 10–8 | –0.069 | 161 |
| 8 | California Baptist | 8–10 | –1.980 | 158 |
| 9 | Abilene Christian | 7–11 | –2.538 | 187 |
| 10 | UTRGV | 6–12 | –3.163 | 250 |
| 11 | Utah Tech | 5–13 | –3.519 | 157 |
| 12 | UT Arlington | 6–12 | –5.067 | 245 |
| Seed | Dec. 5 | Dec. 13 | Dec. 20 | Dec. 27 | Jan. 3 | Jan. 10 | Jan. 17 | Jan. 24 | Jan. 30 | Feb. 7 | Feb. 13 | Feb. 21 | Feb. 28 | Mar. 4 |
| 1 | SHSU | SHSU | SHSU | SHSU | SHSU | UVU | UVU | UVU | SHSU | UVU | UVU | UVU | UVU | SHSU |
| 2 | SU | SU | SU | UVU | UVU | SHSU | SU | SU | UVU | SHSU | SHSU | SHSU | SHSU | UVU |
| 3 | GCU | GCU | GCU | SU | (T) SU | SU | SHSU | SHSU | SU | SUU | SU | SUU | SUU | SUU |
| 4 | TAR | UVU | UVU | GCU | (T) GCU | GCU | SUU | GCU | SUU | SU | SUU | SU | SU | SU |
| 5 | UT | NMSU | NMSU | NMSU | SUU | SUU | GCU | SUU | GCU | GCU | GCU | GCU | SFA | GCU |
| 6 | NMSU | (T) CBU | UT | UT | UT | SFA | SFA | SFA | SFA | SFA | SFA | SFA | GCU | SFA |
| 7 | UTRGV | (T) UT | CBU | SUU | SFA | UT | TAR | CBU | TAR | TAR | TAR | TAR | TAR | TAR |
| 8 | UVU | SUU | SUU | TAR | NMSU | TAR | CBU | TAR | CBU | ACU | ACU | CBU | CBU | CBU |
| 9 | CBU | TAR | UTRGV | UTRGV | TAR | CBU | UT | UT | UT | CBU | CBU | ACU | ACU | ACU |
| 10 | SUU | UTRGV | TAR | CBU | UTRGV | NMSU | UTRGV | UTRGV | UTRGV | UT | UT | UTRGV | UTRGV | UTRGV |
| 11 | SFA | SFA | SFA | SFA | ACU | ACU | ACU | ACU | ACU | UTRGV | UTRGV | UT | UT | UT |
| 12 | UTA | ACU | ACU | ACU | CBU | UTRGV | NMSU | NMSU | NMSU | NMSU | UTA | UTA | UTA | UTA |
| 13 | ACU | UTA | UTA | UTA | UTA | UTA | UTA | UTA | UTA | UTA | --- | --- | --- | --- |

## Schedule

| Session | Game | Time* | Matchup$^#$ | Score | Television |
| First round – Tuesday, March 7, 2023 – Michelob ULTRA Arena |||||||
| 1 | 1 | 12:00pm | No. 8 California Baptist vs. No. 9 Abilene Christian | 69−62 | ESPN+ |
| 1 | 2 | 2:00pm | No. 5 Grand Canyon vs. No. 12 UT Arlington | 82−77 | ESPN+ |
| 1 | 3 | 6:00pm | No. 7 Tarleton vs. No. 10 UT Rio Grande Valley | 74−70 | ESPN+ |
| 1 | 4 | 8:00pm | No. 6 Stephen F. Austin vs. No. 11 Utah Tech | 76−80$^{OT}$ | ESPN+ |
| Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 9, 2023 – Orleans Arena |||||||
| 2 | 5 | 12:00pm | No. 1 Sam Houston vs. No. 8 California Baptist | 64–51 | ESPN+ |
| 2 | 6 | 2:00pm | No. 4 Seattle vs. No. 5 Grand Canyon | 79–84 | ESPN+ |
| 2 | 7 | 6:00pm | No. 2 Utah Valley vs. No. 7 Tarleton | 72–58 | ESPN+ |
| 2 | 8 | 8:00pm | No. 3 Southern Utah vs. No. 11 Utah Tech | 76–75 | ESPN+ |
| Semifinals – Friday, March 10, 2023 – Orleans Arena |||||||
| 3 | 9 | 6:00pm | No. 1 Sam Houston vs. No. 5 Grand Canyon | 75–78 | ESPN+ |
| 3 | 10 | 8:00pm | No. 2 Utah Valley vs. No. 3 Southern Utah | 88–89 | ESPN+ |
| Championship – Saturday, March 11, 2023 – Orleans Arena |||||||
| 4 | 11 | 8:30 p.m. | No. 5 Grand Canyon vs. No. 3 Southern Utah | 84–66 | ESPN2 |
| *Game times in PT. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding. |||||||

## Bracket

| First round Tuesday, March 7 | First round Tuesday, March 7 | First round Tuesday, March 7 | Quarterfinals Thursday, March 9 | Quarterfinals Thursday, March 9 | Quarterfinals Thursday, March 9 | Semifinals Friday, March 10 | Semifinals Friday, March 10 | Semifinals Friday, March 10 | Championship Saturday, March 11 | Championship Saturday, March 11 | Championship Saturday, March 11 |
| | | | 1 | Sam Houston | 64 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Cal Baptist | 69 | 8 | Cal Baptist | 51 | | | | | | |
| 9 | Abilene Christian | 62 | | | | 1 | Sam Houston | 75 | | | |
| | | | | | | 5 | Grand Canyon | 78 | | | |
| | | | 4 | Seattle | 79 | | | | | | |
| 5 | Grand Canyon | 82 | 5 | Grand Canyon | 82 | | | | | | |
| 12 | UT Arlington | 77 | | | | | | | 5 | Grand Canyon | 84 |
| | | | | | | | | | 3 | Southern Utah | 66 |
| | | | 2 | Utah Valley | 72 | | | | | | |
| 7 | Tarleton | 74 | 7 | Tarleton | 58 | | | | | | |
| 10 | UTRGV | 70 | | | | 2 | Utah Valley | 88 | | | |
| | | | | | | 3 | Southern Utah | 89 | | | |
| | | | 3 | Southern Utah | 76 | | | | | | |
| 6 | Stephen F. Austin | 76 | 11 | Utah Tech | 75 | | | | | | |
| 11 | Utah Tech | 80* | | | | | | | | | |
* denotes overtime period

## Awards

| Award | Player | Team |
| Most Outstanding Player | Ray Harrison | Grand Canyon |
| All-Tournament Team | Ray Harrison | Grand Canyon |
| All-tournament team | Gabe McGlothan | Grand Canyon |
| All-tournament team | Harrison Butler | Southern Utah |
| All-tournament team | Tevian Jones | Southern Utah |
| All-tournament team | Trey Woodbury | Utah Valley |