2022 WAC men's basketball tournament

The 2022 WAC men's basketball tournament is the postseason men's basketball tournament of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) for the 2021–22 season. Held during March 8–12, 2022, in Paradise, Nevada, first-round games were played at the Michelob Ultra Arena with all remaining games at the Orleans Arena. The tournament champion, the New Mexico State Aggies, received the conference's automatic bid to the 2022 NCAA tournament.

2022 WAC men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season2021–22
Teams10
SiteMichelob Ultra Arena (first round)
Orleans Arena (all other games)
Paradise, Nevada
ChampionsNew Mexico State (10th title)
Winning coachChris Jans (3th title)
MVPTeddy Allen (New Mexico State)
TelevisionESPN+, ESPNU
← 2021
2023 →
2021–22 WAC men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
New Mexico State 14 4   .778 27 7   .794
Seattle 14 4   .778 23 9   .719
Stephen F. Austin 14 4   .778 22 10   .688
Grand Canyon 13 5   .722 23 8   .742
Sam Houston State 13 5   .722 19 14   .576
Abilene Christian 11 7   .611 25 11   .694
Utah Valley 10 8   .556 20 12   .625
Tarleton State* 9 9   .500 14 17   .452
California Baptist* 7 11   .389 18 16   .529
Dixie State* 6 12   .333 13 17   .433
Texas–Rio Grande Valley 3 15   .167 8 23   .258
Chicago State 3 15   .167 7 25   .219
Lamar 0 18   .000 2 27   .069
* ineligible for the 2022 NCAA tournament due to transition from Division II
2022 WAC tournament winner

Seeds

edit

11 of the 13 teams in the WAC were eligible to compete in the conference tournament. Dixie State and Tarleton State were ineligible due to their transition from Division II to Division I. Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. Only the top 10 teams in the conference qualified for the tournament.[1]

Seed School Conference Tiebreaker 1 Tiebreaker 2
1 New Mexico State 14–4 3–1 vs Seattle/Stephen F. Austin
2 Seattle 14–4 1–2 vs New Mexico State/Stephen F. Austin 1–0 vs Stephen F. Austin
3 Stephen F. Austin 14–4 1–2 vs Seattle/New Mexico State 0–1 vs Seattle
4 Grand Canyon 13–5 1–1 vs Sam Houston State 1–0 vs Seattle
5 Sam Houston State 13–5 1–1 vs Grand Canyon 0–1 vs Seattle
6 Abilene Christian 11–7
7 Utah Valley 10–8
8 California Baptist 7–11
9 UTRGV 3–15 1–0 vs Chicago State
10 Chicago State 3–15 0–1 vs UTRGV

With Grand Canyon and Sam Houston State having split their regular-season head-to-head games, the tie for the fourth seed was broken by comparing the tied teams' records against teams that finished tied for the conference's best regular-season record but only including the team or teams Grand Canyon and Sam Houston State each played the same number of times. Grand Canyon played New Mexico State twice and Stephen F. Austin once. Sam Houston State played New Mexico State once and Stephen F. Austin twice. Therefore, the games Grand Canyon and Sam Houston State played against Seattle were used to break the tie, since each team played Seattle once.

Schedule

edit
Session Game Time* Matchup# Score Television Attendance
First round – Tuesday, March 8, 2022
1 1 6:00 pm No. 8 California Baptist vs. No. 9 UTRGV 81–80 ESPN+
2 8:00 pm No. 7 Utah Valley vs. No. 10 Chicago State 69–47
Second round – Wednesday, March 9, 2022
2 3 6:00 pm No. 5 Sam Houston State vs. No. 8 California Baptist 65–35 ESPN+
4 8:00 pm No. 6 Abilene Christian vs. No. 7 Utah Valley 82–74
Third round – Thursday, March 10, 2022
3 5 6:00 pm No. 4 Grand Canyon vs. No. 5 Sam Houston State 71–66 ESPN+
6 8:30 pm No. 3 Stephen F. Austin vs. No. 6 Abilene Christian 62–76 ESPN+
Semifinals – Friday, March 11, 2022
4 7 6:00 pm No. 1 New Mexico State vs. No. 4 Grand Canyon 75–70 ESPN+
8 8:30 pm No. 2 Seattle vs. No. 6 Abilene Christian 76–78 ESPN+
Championship – Saturday, March 12, 2022
5 9 7:00 pm No. 1 New Mexico State vs. No. 6 Abilene Christian 66–52 ESPNU
*Game times in PT. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Bracket

edit
First round
Tuesday, March 8
ESPN+
Second round
Wednesday, March 9
ESPN+
Third round
Thursday, March 10
ESPN+
Semifinals
Friday, March 11
ESPN+
Championship
Saturday, March 12
ESPNU
1New Mexico State75
4Grand Canyon714Grand Canyon70
5Sam Houston State655Sam Houston State661New Mexico State66
8Cal Baptist818Cal Baptist356Abilene Christian52
9UTRGV802Seattle76
3Stephen F. Austin626Abilene Christian78
6Abilene Christian826Abilene Christian76
7Utah Valley697Utah Valley74
10Chicago State47

* denotes overtime period

References

edit
  1. ^ "MEN'S TOURNAMENT BRACKET". wacsports.com. Retrieved February 20, 2022.