Southland Conference men's basketball tournament

American basketball tournament

The Southland Conference's men's basketball tournament began in 1981, with the winner of the tournament receiving the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. From 1981 to 2001, the first round of the tournament took place at the higher seed, with the remaining rounds at a set location. In 2002, the Southland changed the format to play games at the campus of sites of each higher seed, during every round of the tournament. This was changed again in 2007, the first year that the conference selected a neutral site for all rounds of the tournament. Starting with the 2023 edition, the event is held at The Legacy Center on the campus of McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, reportedly as part of a deal that kept McNeese in the Southland after it had been courted by Conference USA and nearly joined the Western Athletic Conference. This move followed a 15 season run (2008–2022) at Leonard E. Merrell Center in the Houston suburb of Katy, Texas.

Year Winner Score Opponent MVP Venue 1981 Lamar 83–69 Mike Olliver, Lamar first round at campus sites; rest at Beaumont Civic Center, Beaumont, Texas 1982 Southwestern Louisiana 81–75 Alford Turner, Southwestern Louisiana Blackham Coliseum, Lafayette, Louisiana 1983 Lamar 75–54 Kenneth Lyons, North Texas &Lamont Robinson, Lamar Beaumont Civic Center 1984 Louisiana Tech 68–65 Lamar Willie Simmons, Louisiana Tech first round at campus sites; rest at Beaumont Civic Center 1985 Louisiana Tech 70–69 Lamar Jerry Everett, Lamar first round at campus sites; rest at Thomas Assembly Center, Ruston, Louisiana 1986 Northeast Louisiana 59–57 Arthur Hayes, Northeast Louisiana first round at campus sites; rest at Fant–Ewing Coliseum, Monroe, Louisiana 1987 Louisiana Tech 58–51 Arkansas State Robert Godbolt, Louisiana Tech first round at campus sites; rest at Thomas Assembly Center 1988 North Texas 87–70 Northeast Louisiana Tony Worrell, North Texas first round at campus sites; rest at UNT Coliseum, Denton, Texas 1989 McNeese State 85–68 North Texas Michael Cutright, McNeese State first round at campus sites; rest at UNT Coliseum, Denton, Texas 1990 Northeast Louisiana 84–68 North Texas Anthony Jones, Northeast Louisiana Fant–Ewing Coliseum 1991 Northeast Louisiana 87–60 Texas–Arlington Anthony Jones, Northeast Louisiana 1992 Northeast Louisiana 81–77 Texas–San Antonio Ryan Stuart, Louisiana Monroe Convocation Center, San Antonio, Texas 1993 Northeast Louisiana 80–66 Texas–San Antonio Ryan Stuart, Northeast Louisiana Fant–Ewing Coliseum 1994 Southwest Texas State 69–60 North Texas Lynwood Wade, Southwest Texas State 1995 Nicholls State 98–87 Northeast Louisiana Reggie Jackson, Nicholls State first round at campus sites; rest at Hirsch Memorial Coliseum, Shreveport, Louisiana 1996 Northeast Louisiana 71–60 North Texas Paul Marshall, Northeast LouisianaHirsch Memorial Coliseum 1997 Southwest Texas State 74–64 Northeast Louisiana Dameon Sansom, Texas State 1998 Nicholls State 84–81 Texas–Arlington Donald Harris, Texas–Arlington 1999 Texas–San Antonio 71–63 Southwest Texas State Steve Meyer, Texas–San Antonio Gold Dome, Shreveport, Louisiana 2000 Lamar 62–55 Northwestern State Landon Rowe, Lamar first round at campus sites; rest at Hirsch Memorial Coliseum2001 Northwestern State 72–71 McNeese State Michael Byars Dawson, Northwestern State first round at campus sites; rest at CenturyTel Center, Bossier City, Louisiana2002 McNeese State 65–43 Louisiana Monroe Fred Gentry, McNeese State all at campus sites; finals at Burton Coliseum, Lake Charles, Louisiana2003 Sam Houston State 69–66 (OT) Stephen F. Austin Donald Cole, Sam Houston State all at campus sites; finals at Bernard Johnson Coliseum, Huntsville, Texas2004 Texas–San Antonio 74–70 Stephen F. Austin LeRoy Hurd, Texas–San Antonio all at campus sites; finals at Convocation Center2005 Southeastern Louisiana 49–42 Northwestern State Ricky Woods, Southeastern Louisiana all at campus sites; finals at Prather Coliseum, Natchitoches, Louisiana2006 Northwestern State 95–87 Sam Houston State Clifton Lee, Northwestern State 2007 Texas A&M–Corpus Christi 81–78 Northwestern State Chris Daniels, Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Campbell Center, Houston, Texas2008 Texas–Arlington 82–79 Northwestern State Anthony Vereen, Texas–Arlington Leonard E. Merrell Center, Katy, Texas2009 68–57 Matt Kingsley, Stephen F. Austin Leonard E. Merrell Center, Katy, Texas2010 Sam Houston State 64–48 Ashton Mitchell, Sam Houston State 2011 UTSA 75–72 McNeese State Devin Gibson, UTSA 2012 Lamar 70–49 McNeese State Mike James, Lamar 2013 Northwestern State 68–66 Stephen F. Austin Shamir Davis, Northwestern State 2014 Stephen F. Austin* 68–49 Sam Houston State Thomas Walkup, Stephen F. Austin2015 Stephen F. Austin* 83–70 Sam Houston State 2016 Stephen F. Austin* 82–60 Texas A&M–Corpus Christi 2017 New Orleans 68–65 (OT) Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Erik Thomas, New Orleans 2018 Stephen F. Austin* 59–55 Southeastern Louisiana T. J. Holyfield, Stephen F. Austin 2019 Abilene Christian 77–60 New Orleans Jaren Lewis, Abilene Christian 2020 Canceled due to COVID 19 2021 Abilene Christian 79–46 Nicholls Kolton Kohl, Abilene Christian Leonard E. Merrell Center, Katy, Texas2022 Texas A&M–Corpus Christi 73–65 Southeastern Louisiana Terrion Murdix, Texas A&M–Corpus Christi 2023 Texas A&M–Corpus Christi 75–71 Northwestern State Jalen Jackson, Texas A&M–Corpus Christi The Legacy Center, Lake Charles, Louisiana 2024 McNeese 92–76 Nicholls Shahada Wells, McNeese 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029

Note: Northeast Louisiana and Southwestern Louisiana became Louisiana–Monroe and Louisiana–Lafayette, respectively, in 1999; the latter has since changed its athletic branding to solely Louisiana. Southwest Texas State became Texas State in 2003. Note on asterisks: Stephen F. Austin kept academically ineligible players from 2013 2020.

Schools indicated in italics with a pink background are no longer in the SLC, as of the next NCAA basketball season in 2024–25. UTRGV will play its first SLC season in 2024–25. Member Winners Winning Years Louisiana–Monroe 6 1986, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996 Stephen F. Austin 5 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 Lamar 4 1981, 1983, 2000, 2012 Northwestern State 3 2001, 2006, 2013 Louisiana Tech 3 1984, 1985, 1987 UTSA 3 1999, 2004, 2011 Texas A&M Corpus Christi 3 2007, 2022, 2023 McNeese 3 1989, 2002, 2024 Abilene Christian 2 2019, 2021 Nicholls 2 1995, 1998 Sam Houston State 2 2003, 2010 Texas State 2 1994, 1997 New Orleans 1 2017 North Texas 1 1988 Southeastern Louisiana 1 2005 Southwestern Louisiana 1 1982 UT Arlington 1 2008 TOTAL 43