The 2016 Horizon League men's basketball tournament (also known as Motor City Madness) was the conference tournament for the 2015–16 season of the Horizon League. It was played from March 5 through March 8, 2016 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The winner of the tournament received the Horizon League's automatic berth into the 2016 NCAA men's basketball tournament. This was the first Horizon League Tournament since 2002 to be played at a predetermined neutral site.
Seeds All 10 teams in the conference participated in the tournament. The top two teams received double byes to the semifinals.
For the final time, Northern Kentucky was ineligible for NCAA-operated postseason play during its transition from Division II to Division I. If Northern Kentucky had won the tournament, the loser of the championship game would have received the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. Seed School Conference Tiebreaker1Valparaiso 16–2 2Oakland 13–52–0 vs. Wright State3Wright State13–50–2 vs. Oakland4Green Bay11–75Milwaukee10–86Detroit9–97Youngstown State6–128Northern Kentucky*5–139Cleveland State4–1410UIC3–15*ineligible for NCAA postseason during transition to Division I.
Schedule Game Time Matchup Final score Television First round – Saturday, March 5 1 Noon No. 4 Green Bay vs. No. 9 Cleveland State 65–53 ESPN3 2 2:30 pm No. 5 Milwaukee vs. No. 8 Northern Kentucky 86–69 ESPN3 3 5:00 pm No. 3 Wright State vs. No. 10 UIC 74–43 ESPN3 4 7:30 pm No. 6 Detroit vs. No. 7 Youngstown State 92–79 ESPN3 Second Round – Sunday, March 6 5 1:00 pm No. 4 Green Bay vs. No. 5 Milwaukee 70–61 ESPN3 6 3:30 pm No. 3 Wright State vs. No. 6 Detroit 82–72 ESPN3 Semifinals – Monday, March 7 7 7:00 pm No. 1 Valparaiso vs. No. 4 Green Bay 92–99OT ESPNU 8 9:30 pm No. 2 Oakland vs. No. 3 Wright State 55–59 ESPNU Championship – Tuesday, March 8 9 7:00 pm No. 3 Wright State vs. No. 4 Green Bay 69–78 ESPN All game times in Eastern Time Zone.
Bracket
* - denotes overtime period
References