| Year: | 2021 |
| Conference: | Southland Conference |
| Division: | I |
| Gender: | Men's |
| Teams: | 10 |
| Arena: | Merrell Center |
| City: | Katy, Texas |
| Champions: | Abilene Christian |
| Titlecount: | 2nd |
| Coach: | Joe Golding |
| Coachcount: | 2nd |
| Mvp: | Damien Daniels |
| Mvpteam: | Abilene Christian |
| Television: | ESPN+, ESPN2 |
The 2021 Southland Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the 2020–21 season in the Southland Conference. The tournament took place from March 9–13, 2021.[1] The tournament winner received an automatic invitation to the 2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.
Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tie–breaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.[2] Only the top 10 teams in the conference qualified for the tournament. The top two seeds received triple byes into the semifinals in the merit-based format. The No. 3 and No. 4 seeds received double byes to the quarterfinals. Stephen F. Austin is serving a postseason ban and did not compete.[3]
| Seed | School | Conference | Tiebreaker 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nicholls | 14–2 | ||
| 2 | Abilene Christian | 13–2 | ||
| 3 | Sam Houston State | 13–3 | ||
| 4 | Northwestern State | 9–7 | ||
| 5 | New Orleans | 8–7 | ||
| 6 | Lamar | 6–10 | ||
| 7 | Incarnate Word | 5–9 | ||
| 8 | Southeastern Louisiana | 5–10 | ||
| 9 | McNeese State | 4–10 | ||
| 10 | Houston Baptist | 4–11 |
| Session | Game | Time* | Matchup# | Score | Television | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First round – Tuesday, March 9, 2021 | ||||||
| 1 | 1 | 5:00 p.m. | No. 8 Southeastern Louisiana vs. No. 9 McNeese State | 71–68 | ESPN+ | |
| 2 | 8:00 p.m. | No. 7 Incarnate Word vs. No. 10 Houston Baptist | 68–80 | |||
| Second round – Wednesday, March 10, 2021 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 5:00 p.m. | No. 8 Southeastern Louisiana vs. No. 5 New Orleans | 63–80 | ESPN+ | |
| 4 | 8:00 p.m. | No. 10 Houston Baptist vs. No. 6 Lamar | 52–62 | |||
| Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 11, 2021 | ||||||
| 3 | 5 | 5:00 p.m. | No. 5 New Orleans vs. No. 4 Northwestern State | 79–82 | ESPN+ | |
| 6 | 8:00 p.m. | No. 6 Lamar vs. No. 3 Sam Houston State | 70–69 | |||
| Semifinals – Friday, March 12, 2021 | ||||||
| 3 | 7 | 5:00 p.m. | No. 4 Northwestern State vs. No. 1 Nicholls | 76–88 | ESPN+ | |
| 8 | 8:00 p.m. | No. 6 Lamar vs. No. 2 Abilene Christian | 71–93 | |||
| Championship – Saturday, March 13, 2021 | ||||||
| 4 | 7 | 8:30 p.m. | No. 1 Nicholls vs. No. 2 Abilene Christian | 45–79 | ESPN2 | |
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