2025 MAC men's basketball tournament

2025 MAC men's basketball tournament
2025 MAC men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2024–25
Teams	8
Site	Rocket Arena; Cleveland, Ohio
Champions	Akron (6th title)
Winning coach	John Groce (5th title)
MVP	Nate Johnson (Akron)
Attendance	31,312 (Total) 7,099 (Championship)
Television	ESPN+, CBSSN, ESPN2
	MAC men's basketball tournaments ← 2024 2026 →

2024–25 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Akron †	17	–	1	.944	28	–	7	.800
Miami (OH)	14	–	4	.778	25	–	9	.735
Kent State	11	–	7	.611	24	–	12	.667
Toledo	10	–	8	.556	18	–	15	.545
Ohio	10	–	8	.556	16	–	16	.500
Western Michigan	9	–	9	.500	12	–	20	.375
Eastern Michigan	9	–	9	.500	16	–	16	.500
Bowling Green	8	–	10	.444	14	–	18	.438
Ball State	7	–	11	.389	14	–	17	.452
Central Michigan	7	–	11	.389	14	–	17	.452
Buffalo	4	–	14	.222	9	–	22	.290
Northern Illinois	2	–	16	.111	6	–	25	.194

† 2025 MAC tournament winner

The 2025 Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Mid-American Conference (MAC) held March 13–15, 2025.^[1] The entire tournament was played at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.^[2] Akron defeated Bowling Green and Toledo in the first two rounds and then Miami in the final^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6] Nate Johnson of Akron was the MVP.

Format

As with all MAC tournaments since 2021, only the top eight teams qualified. The winner of the tournament, Akron, received the MAC's automatic bid to the 2025 NCAA tournament.^[7]

Venue

The 2025 MAC tournament was held at Rocket Arena for the 26th 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.^[8]^[9]

Seeds

Eight out of the 12 MAC teams qualified for the tournament. Teams were be seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.^[10]

Seed	School	Conference record	Tiebreaker
1	Akron†	17–1
2	Miami (OH)	14–4
3	Kent State	11–7
4	Toledo	10–8	2–0 vs. Ohio
5	Ohio	10–8	0–2 vs. Toledo
6	Western Michigan	9–9	1–0 vs. Eastern Michigan
7	Eastern Michigan	9–9	0–1 vs. Western Michigan
8	Bowling Green	8–10
DNQ	Ball State	7–11	1–0 vs. Kent State
DNQ	Central Michigan	7–11	0–1 vs. Kent State
DNQ	Buffalo	4–14
DNQ	Northern Illinois	2–16

Schedule

Session	Game	Time*	Matchup	Score	Attendance	Television
Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 13 – Rocket Arena, Cleveland, OH
1	1	11:00 a.m.	No. 1 Akron vs. No. 8 Bowling Green	96–67	8,737	ESPN+
	2	1:30 p.m.	No. 4 Toledo vs. No. 5 Ohio	90–85^OT
	3	4:30 p.m.	No. 2 Miami (OH) vs. No. 7 Eastern Michigan	81–75
	4	6:30 p.m.	No. 3 Kent State vs. No. 6 Western Michigan	73–66
Semifinals – Friday, March 14 – Rocket Arena, Cleveland, OH
2	5	5:00 p.m.	No. 1 Akron vs. No. 4 Toledo	100–90	15,476	CBSSN
2	6	7:30 p.m.	No. 2 Miami (OH) vs. No. 3 Kent State	72-64	15,476	CBSSN
Championship – Saturday, March 15 – Rocket Arena, Cleveland, OH
3	7	7:30 p.m.	No. 1 Akron vs. No. 2 Miami (OH)	76-74	7,099	ESPN2
*Game times in EDT. ()-Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Source^[11]

Bracket

Quarterfinals Thursday, March 13, 2025			Semifinals Friday, March 14, 2025			Championship Saturday, March 15, 2025

1	Akron	96

8	Bowling Green	67
			1	Akron	100

			4	Toledo	90
4	Toledo	90^OT

5	Ohio	85
						1	Akron	76

						2	Miami (OH)	74
2	Miami (OH)	81

7	Eastern Michigan	75
			2	Miami (OH)	72

			3	Kent State	64
3	Kent State	73

6	Western Michigan	66