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The bracket has been set for the 2026 Credit Union 1 Big West Men’s Basketball Championship, held March 11-14 at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nev.  
 
In its third year of being an eight-team four-day format, The Big West Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships return to Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nev. for the fifth consecutive year.
 
UC Irvine and Hawai‘i receive double-byes into Friday’s semifinal round. UC Irvine owns the tiebreaker over Hawai'i should they tie in the final standings. The Anteaters take the No. 1 seed, while Hawai‘i will get the No. 2 seed.
 
Cal State Fullerton (17-15), CSUN (19-13) and UC San Diego (22-10) finished the season with the same league mark of 12-8. With tiebreaking procedures, the Titans and Matadors receive single-byes into Thursday’s second round as the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, respectively, and the Tritons earn the No. 5 seed.
 
UC San Diego will get things started in Wednesday’s first round game at 6 p.m. PT against the No. 8 seed Cal Poly (14-18, 10-10 BW). The two teams split their regular season matchups, with each winning on their respective home courts,
 
The other side first-round matchup is between No. 6 seed UC Davis (18-13, 11-9 BW) against No. 7 seed UC Santa Barbara (18-13, 11-9 BW). The Aggies won both games against the Gauchos in the regular season.
 
All games from Lee’s Family Forum will be seen on ESPN Networks, with the first and second round contests on ESPN+. Steve Quis (play-by-play) and Richie Schueler (analyst) are on the call for the first two days of action. Roxy Bernstein (play-by-play) and Corey Williams (analyst) then take over for Friday’s semifinals and Saturday night’s championship tilt. Audio call of the game will be available on Sirius XM channel 380 for the first three days. The championship will be on Sirius XM College Sports channel 84.

Both semifinal games will air live on national TV with the 6 p.m. game on ESPNU and the 8:30 p.m. game on ESPN2. Saturday’s championship game will be featured on ESPN2 with a 7 p.m. start.

Now that you know when your favorite team is set to compete, The Big West is encouraging fans to go to Henderson! A limited time flash sale offering 20 percent off single-session tickets starts now, with the offer expiring on Sunday, March 8 at Noon. Act fast and beat the buzzer for this exclusive discount at bigwest.org/26bkbtix by using the code FLASH20 at checkout. 

The winner of the 2026 Credit Union 1 Big West Men’s Basketball Championship earns the league’s automatic berth into the 2026 NCAA Division I Championship.
 
In 2025, No. 1 seed UC San Diego defeated No. 2 seed UC Irvine in the title game, 75-61, to win its a championship in its first year of postseason eligibility. 

2026 Credit Union 1 Big West Men’s Basketball Championship
First Round - Wednesday, March 11
6 p.m. | No. 5 seed UC San Diego vs. No. 8 seed Cal Poly
8:30 p.m. | No. 6 seed UC Davis vs. No. 7 seed UC Santa Barbara

Second Round - Thursday, March 12
6 p.m. | No. 4  seed CSUN vs. Game 1 winner
8:30 p.m. | No. 3 seed Cal State Fullerton vs. Game 2 winner

Semifinals - Friday, March 13
6 p.m. | No. 1 seed UC Irvine vs. Game 3 winner
8:30 p.m. | No. 2 seed Hawai‘i vs. Game 4 winner

Final - Saturday, March 14
7 p.m. | Championship Game