The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff men’s and women’s basketball teams received the No. 6 and No. 7 seeds, respectively, in next week’s SWAC Tournament.
The tournament, held at the Gateway Center Arena in Atlanta, will begin play on March 9 and run through March 14. All games prior to the championships will be streamed on ESPN+, with the title games airing on ESPNU.
The No. 7-seed UAPB women (13-15, 10-8 SWAC) will begin tournament play at 5:30 p.m. on March 10 against the winner of a game between No. 9-seed Mississippi Valley State (7-22, 6-12) and No. 12-seed Prairie View A&M (2-27, 0-18), which will be played the day prior. The winner will advance to the quarterfinals to face No. 2-seed Alcorn State (17-12, 14-4).
The No. 6-seed UAPB men (13-18, 10-8) will open play at 8:30 p.m. on March 12 against No. 3-seed Southern (15-16, 11-7) in a quarterfinal matchup.
The semifinals will be played March 13 with the championship games on March 14.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
This will be the men’s first appearance in the tournament since 2021 and their highest seed since being the No. 5 seed in 2019. The Lady Lions last made the tournament in 2024 as the No. 4 seed.
Both UAPB teams received their seeds through tiebreaking procedures. The Lady Lions finished tied with Jackson State and Grambling State for fifth. Jackson went 2-1 against the tied teams, with Grambling going 1-1 and UAPB 1-2, giving Jackson State the No. 5 seed. Grambling’s 65-54 win against UAPB on Jan. 22 broke the tie for the No. 6 seed, which went to Grambling.
The UAPB men finished in a four-way tie for fourth with Alabama A&M, Texas Southern and Jackson State. Texas Southern’s 3-2 head-to-head record gave the Tigers the No. 4 seed. UAPB and AAMU both went .500 in the head-to-head, so the SWAC had to move to the two-team tiebreaking procedures to break the Golden Lions’ tie with the Bulldogs.
UAPB and AAMU split their two meetings this season, and both won by 12 points. The SWAC had to then move to the third tiebreaker, which is record against highest seeded team. Both teams were winless against No. 1-seed Bethune-Cookman, but AAMU’s win against No. 2-seed Florida A&M compared to UAPB’s loss to the Rattlers put the Bulldogs as the No. 5 seed.
UAPB controlled the tiebreaker with Jackson by merit of point differential to claim the No. 6 seed and a double bye to the quarterfinals.