MAC Men's Basketball Tournament Central
MAC Men's Basketball Tournament Bracket
GAME 1: No. 1 Buffalo (23-8, 15-3 MAC) vs. No. 8 Central Michigan (19-13, 7-11 MAC)
12:00 PM ET | Live Stats | Watch LIVE on ESPN3
Buffalo: The Bulls open the 2018 MAC Tournament on Thursday afternoon as the top seed for the first time in school history. UB will face #8 Central Michigan, who advanced to Cleveland following an overtime win on Monday night. UB and CMU last met in Cleveland in 2015 in the MAC Championship Game. Buffalo is looking to become the first #1 seed to win the conference tournament since Western Michigan in 2014. Buffalo finished the regular season with a 15-3 record in conference becoming the first MAC program to register 15 conference wins since Kent State in 2005-06. Going back to 1995-96, only four other MAC programs have had 15 or more wins in a conference season: 1998-99 Miami (15), 2001-02 Kent State (17), 2003-04 Western Michigan (15), and 2005-06 Kent State (15).
Central Michigan: The Chippewas are the eighth seed and reached Cleveland with an 81-77 overtime win over Bowling Green on Monday. It was CMU’s third consecutive win.The Chippewas’ win streak started with a 24-point home win over Ball State in perhaps CMU’s most convincing MAC win of the season. They followed with a 13-point victory over rival Western Michigan. CMU had lost on the road to both the Cardinals and the Broncos earlier this season. Buffalo topped the Chippewas, 88-82, in the teams’ lone meeting during the regular season. CMU trailed by 18 points, 72-54, with under seven minutes to play, and then cut its deficit to four, 86-82, with 10 seconds left.
GAME 2: No. 4 Ball State (19-12, 10-8 MAC) vs. No. 5 Kent State (16-16, 9-9 MAC)
30 min following Game 1 | Live Stats | Watch LIVE on ESPN3
Ball State: Ball State earned a first-round bye as the No. 4 seed in the MAC Tournament for the second consecutive year. The Cardinals will play a quarterfinal game Thursday against No. 5 seed and defending tournament champion Kent State, which advanced with a first-round victory over Northern Illinois. Ball State had two players named to the All-MAC teams released Monday, with junior point guard Tayler Persons on the second team for the second straight year and junior center Trey Moses on the third team. Persons leads the Cardinals in scoring (14.9 ppg), while Moses is the team's top rebounder (8.4 rpg).Ball State is one victory shy of reaching the 20-win mark in three consecutive seasons for the first time since the Cardinals had five straight 20-win campaigns from 1988-93.
Kent State: Kent State won its first round game on Monday night in dramatic fashion as senior Kevin Zabo drove down the floor and banked in a layup as time expired for the game winner. The play was selected as SportsCenter's number three play the following morning on Top Plays. Zabo scored a game-high 19 points and set a new career-high for points in a MAC Tournament game. aylin Walker leads the team in scoring (16.7 ppg) and scored has scored in double-digits 15 of the last 16 games. He has 1,191 career points which is 18th in program history. He also ranks sixth in threes (196) in school history. Walker was named to the All-MAC Third Team.
GAME 3: No. 2 Toledo (21-10, 13-15 MAC) vs. No. 7 Miami (16-16, 8-10 MAC)
6:30 PM ET | Live Stats | Watch LIVE on ESPN3
Toledo: Toledo has received a first-round bye and won 20 or more games in three of the last five years. UT possesses a 3-4 win-loss mark against Miami in the MAC Tournament but hasn't faced the RedHawks in postseason play since 2012. UT has won at least one game in each of its trips to Cleveland under Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk. Fletcher is the lone individual to appear in the MAC's Top 10 in points, rebounds and assists with 18.7 ppg (3rd), 8.2 rpg (4th) and 4.5 apg (3rd). As a team, Toledo ranks ninth nationally (as of March 5) with its 40.6 3PTFG% and also tops the MAC with its 9.8 treys per game and 1.4 assist/turnover ratio. The Rockets are also second with their 80.2 ppg, 16.0 apg, 47.4 FG% and 73.6 FT%.
Miami: The MAC Tournament has been held at Quicken Loans Arena since 2001. The RedHawks have reached the Cleveland portion of the tournament 15 of the 18 times it has been held there and hold a 10-13 record all-time at Quicken Loans Arena. The highlight of course came in 2007, when Miami defeated Ohio, Toledo and Akron in Cleveland to win the MAC Championship and a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Junior guard Darrian Ringo currently ranks fifth in the nation with 227 total assists while his 7.1 assists per game average ranks seventh. Ringo is fifth in the country with 88 total steals. His 2.75 steals per game average ranks seventh.
GAME 4: No. 3 Eastern Michigan (20-11, 11-7 MAC) vs. No. 11 Akron (14-17, 6-12 MAC)
30 min following Game 3 | Live Stats | Watch LIVE on ESPN3
Eastern Michigan: After its best Mid-American Conference season under Head Coach Rob Murphy, the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team was rewarded with three players named to the All-MAC teams, and a pair to the All-Defensive squad, the league office announced Monday, March 5. Junior James Thompson IV earned spots on both the All-MAC First Team, as well as All-MAC Defensive Team. Joining Thompson on the defensive team was senior Tim Bond, who was selected one of the best defenders in the league for the third straight season. Redshirt junior Elijah Minnie was named to the All-MAC Third Team, and fellow redshirt junior Paul Jackson was named All-MAC Honorable Mention.
Akron: The No. 11 seed Akron Zips men's basketball team outlasted the No. 6 seed Western Michigan Broncos, 79-78, in a rollercoaster of an opening round Mid-American Conference Tournament game on Monday night at University Arena. The Zips overcame an 18-0 start and 23-point first half deficit to advance to the quarterfinal round of the MAC Tournament in Cleveland, Ohio at Quicken Loans Arena. Utomi led Akron's scoring with 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting, including a 6-of-9 effort from downtown. Cotton followed for the Zips with 21 points. Wilder led the Broncos with 21 points.
