2026 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament

The 2026 Southern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Southern Conference for the 2025–26 season. All tournament games were played at the Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina, from March 6–9, 2026. The winner of the tournament, Furman, received the conference's automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament.

Seeds All ten teams in the Southern Conference were eligible to compete in the conference tournament. Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. The top six teams received first-round byes. SeedSchoolConferenceTiebreaker 1Tiebreaker 21East Tennessee State13–52Wofford11–72–0 vs. Western Carolina1–1 vs. Furman3Samford11–72–0 vs. Western Carolina0–2 vs. Furman4Mercer11–71–1 vs. Western Carolina5Western Carolina10–82–0 vs. Furman6Furman10–80–2 vs. Western Carolina7UNC Greensboro9–98Chattanooga7–111–1 vs. Samford9The Citadel7–110–2 vs. Samford10VMI 1–17

Schedule and results GameTimeMatchupScoreTelevisionFirst round – Friday, March 615:00 p.m.No. 8 Chattanooga vs. No. 9 The Citadel85−88ESPN+27:30 p.m.No. 7 UNC Greensboro vs. No. 10 VMI84−70Quarterfinals – Saturday, March 7312:00 p.m.No. 1 East Tennessee State vs. No. 9 The Citadel83−76ESPN+42:30 p.m.No. 2 Wofford vs. No. 7 UNC Greensboro72−7556:00 p.m.No. 3 Samford vs. No. 6 Furman81−8668:30 p.m.No. 4 Mercer vs. No. 5 Western Carolina73−77Semifinals – Sunday, March 874:00 p.m.No. 1 East Tennessee State vs. No. 5 Western Carolina69−67ESPNU86:30 p.m.No. 7 UNC Greensboro vs No. 6 Furman75−81Final – Monday, March 997:00 p.m.No. 1 East Tennessee State vs. No. 6 Furman61−76ESPNGame times in Eastern Time. Rankings denote tournament seed.

Bracket

Game times are in Eastern Time.Rankings denote tournament seed."OT" superscript denotes games that went into overtime.Source: Southern Conference

Awards and honors 2026 SoCon Men's Basketball All-Tournament Teams First Team Second TeamBlake Barkley – East Tennessee State Brian Taylor II – East Tennessee State Cooper Bowser – Furman Alex Wilkins – Furman Justin Neely – UNC GreensboroSola Adebisi – The Citadel Jaylen Smith – East Tennessee State Tom House – Furman KJ Younger – UNC Greensboro Jadin Booth – Samford

See also 2026 Southern Conference women's basketball tournament

References