The 2026 Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Mid-American Conference (MAC) held March 12–14, 2026. The tournament was played at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The tournament winner, Akron, received the conference's automatic invitation to the 2026 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament.
Top seeded Miami entered the tournament undefeated at 31–0 and they were also ranked #20 in the AP poll. They suffered their first loss of the season when eighth seeded UMass upset them in the first round. Second seeded Akron defeated Buffalo, Kent State, and Toledo to win their third straight MAC tournament title to advance to the 2026 NCAA tournament. Tavari Johnson of Akron was named tournament MVP.
Format As with all MAC tournaments that have done since 2021, only the top eight teams qualified. The winner of the tournament received the MAC's automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA tournament.
Venue The 2026 MAC tournament was held at Rocket Arena for the 27th consecutive season. The venue, located in downtown Cleveland at One Center Court, is the home of the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and has a seating capacity for basketball of 19,432.
Seeds The top eight out of the thirteen MAC teams qualified for the tournament. Teams will be seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.
Seed School ConferenceRecord Tiebreaker 1 Miami (OH)18–0 2 Akron17–1 3 Kent State14–4 4 Toledo11–7 5Bowling Green9–91–0 vs. Ohio 6Ohio9–90–1 vs. Bowling Green 7Buffalo7–113–1 vs. UMass & Ball State 8UMass7–112–2 vs. Buffalo & Ball StateDNQBall State7–111–3 vs. Buffalo & UMassDNQCentral Michigan6–12DNQWestern Michigan4–142–1 vs. Northern Illinois & Eastern MichiganDNQNorthern Illinois4–141–1 vs. Western Michigan & Eastern MichiganDNQEastern Michigan4–141–2 vs. Western Michigan & Northern Illinois
Schedule SessionGameTime * MatchupScoreAttendanceTelevision Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 121111:00 a.m.No. 1 Miami (OH) vs. No. 8 UMass83−879,123ESPN+21:30 p.m.No. 4 Toledo vs. No. 5 Bowling Green77−7634:00 p.m.No. 2 Akron vs. No. 7 Buffalo73−7046:30 p.m.No. 3 Kent State vs. No. 6 Ohio86–75 Semifinals – Friday, March 13255:00 p.m.No. 4 Toledo vs. No. 8 UMass77−6710,936CBSSN67:30 p.m.No. 2 Akron vs. No. 3 Kent State75−68 Final – Saturday, March 14378:00 p.m.No. 2 Akron vs. No. 4 Toledo79−7611,072ESPN2 * Game times are in EDT. ()-Rankings denote tournament seeding.
Source:
Bracket
Game summaries Quarterfinal round
Semifinal round
Final round
Awards and honors All-Tournament team Player Team Leonardo Bettiol UMass Leroy Blyden Jr. Toledo Sean Craig Toledo Tavares Johnson Akron Amani Lyles Akron MVP denotes Most Valuable Player
Source:
See also 2026 MAC women's basketball tournament
References
External links 2026 MAC Men's Basketball Championship