2020 MAAC men's basketball tournament

The 2020 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, played at the Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey for the first time in MAAC history. The tournament was cancelled on March 12, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Already underway at the time of the announcement, the tournament was stalled in the midst of the quarterfinals, with Siena and St. Peter's having already qualified for the semifinals. This would have given the Saints their first NCAA Tournament Bid since 2010, when they won three straight MAAC Tournaments. However, the NCAA cancelled the tournament later in the day.

2020 MAAC men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2019–20
Teams	11
Site	Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall Atlantic City, New Jersey
Television	ESPNews, ESPNU, ESPN3
MAAC men's basketball tournaments

2019–20 MAAC men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Siena	15	–	5		.750			20	–	10		.667
Saint Peter's	14	–	6		.700			18	–	12		.600
Rider	12	–	8		.600			18	–	12		.600
Monmouth	12	–	8		.600			18	–	13		.581
Quinnipiac	10	–	10		.500			15	–	15		.500
Niagara	9	–	11		.450			12	–	20		.375
Iona	9	–	11		.450			12	–	16		.429
Fairfield	8	–	12		.400			12	–	20		.375
Manhattan	8	–	12		.400			13	–	17		.433
Canisius	7	–	13		.350			12	–	20		.375
Marist	6	–	14		.300			7	–	23		.233
Note: The 2020 MAAC tournament was canceled during the quarterfinals due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The defending champions were the Iona Gaels.

Seeds

All 11 teams in the conference participate in the Tournament. The top five teams received byes to the quarterfinals. Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.

Seed	School	Conference	Tiebreaker 1	Tiebreaker 2
1	Siena	15–5
2	Saint Peter's	14–6
3	Rider	12–8	1–1 vs. Monmouth	1–1 vs. Siena
4	Monmouth	12–8	1–1 vs. Rider	0–2 vs. Siena
5	Quinnipiac	10–10
6	Niagara	9–11	2–0 vs. Iona
7	Iona	9–11	0–2 vs. Niagara
8	Fairfield	8–12	2–0 vs. Manhattan
9	Manhattan	8–12	0–2 vs. Fairfield
10	Canisius	7–13
11	Marist	6–14

Schedule

Session	Game	Time*	Matchup	Score	Attendance	Television
First Round – Tuesday, March 10
1	1	5:00 pm	No. 8 Fairfield vs. No. 9 Manhattan	43–61	878	ESPN3
	2	7:00 pm	No. 7 Iona vs. No. 10 Canisius	70–60
	3	9:00 pm	No. 6 Niagara vs. No. 11 Marist	56–54
Quarterfinals – Wednesday, March 11
2	4	7:00 pm	No. 1 Siena vs. No. 9 Manhattan	63–49		ESPN3
	5	9:30 pm	No. 2 Saint Peter's vs. No. 7 Iona	56–54
Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 12
3	6	7:00 pm	No. 3 Rider vs. No. 6 Niagara			ESPN3
	7	9:30 pm	No. 4 Monmouth vs. No. 5 Quinnipiac
Semifinals – Friday, March 13
4	8	6:00 pm	No. 1 Siena vs. Game 7 Winner			ESPNews
	9	8:30 pm	No. 2 Saint Peter's vs. Game 6 Winner
Championship – Saturday, March 14
5	10	4:00 pm	Game 8 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner			ESPNU
*Game times in ET. ()-Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Bracket

	First round Tuesday, March 10 ESPN3					Quarterfinals Wednesday/Thursday, March 11/12 ESPN3					Semifinals Friday, March 13 ESPNews					Championship Saturday, March 14 ESPNU
						1	Siena	63
						9	Manhattan	49
	8	Fairfield	43
	9	Manhattan	61
											1	Siena
						4	Monmouth
						5	Quinnipiac
						2	Saint Peter’s	56
						7	Iona	54
	7	Iona	70
	10	Canisius	60
											2	Saint Peter's
						3	Rider
						6	Niagara
	6	Niagara	56
	11	Marist	54

* denotes number of overtimes

Game summaries

First round

ESPN3

March 10, 2020 5:00 pm

Recap

No. 8 Fairfield 43, No. 9 Manhattan 61
Scoring by half: 19–19, 24–42
Pts: Benning – 10 Rebs: Methnani – 6 Asts: Maidoh & Benning – 2 Benning – 5 reb		Pts: Paulicap – 18 Rebs: Paulicap – 12 Asts: Stewart – 6 Stewart – 11 pts

Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall Atlantic City, NJ Attendance: 878 Referees: Ron Tyburski, Andy O'Brien, Matt Palumb

ESPN3

March 10, 2020 7:30 pm

Recap

No. 7 Iona 70, No. 10 Canisius 60
Scoring by half: 36–32, 34–28
Pts: Crawford – 25 Rebs: Crawford & Agee – 7 Asts: Washington – 3 Washington – 24 pts, 6 reb		Pts: Brown – 16 Rebs: Brown – 9 Asts: Johnson – 6 Johnson – 13 pts, 4 reb

Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall Atlantic City, NJ Attendance: 878 Referees: Mike Kitts, John Floyd, Adam Vandenburgh

ESPN3

March 10, 2020 10:15 pm

Recap

No. 6 Niagara 56, No. 11 Marist 54
Scoring by half: 31–30, 25–24
Pts: Hammond – 20 Rebs: Brown – 7 Asts: Brown – 4 Solomon – 14 pts, 3 stl		Pts: Jones & Saint-Furcy – 11 Rebs: Cubbage – 9 Asts: Cubbage – 6 Cubbaged – 10 pts

Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall Atlantic City, NJ Attendance: 878 Referees: Kevin O'Connell, Kevin Ferguson, King Whetstone

Quarterfinals

ESPN3

March 11, 2020 7:00 pm

Recap

No. 1 Siena 63, No. 9 Manhattan 49
Scoring by half: 34–25, 29–24
Pts: Camper – 15 Rebs: Camper – 9 Asts: Pickett – 7 Friday IV – 12 pts, 6 reb		Pts: Paulicap – 12 Rebs: Paulicap – 12 Asts: Buchanan – 3 Hinckson – 9 pts, 6 reb

Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall Atlantic City, NJ Attendance: 1,234 Referees: Andy O'Brien, Michael Palau, Mike Kitts, Jr.

ESPN3

March 11, 2020 9:30 pm

Recap

No. 2 Saint Peter's 56, No. 7 Iona 54
Scoring by half: 22–18, 34–36
Pts: Taylor – 13 Rebs: Taylor – 11 Asts: Ndefo – 2 Estrada – 11 pts, 2 stl		Pts: Agee – 20 Rebs: Washington – 10 Asts: Perez – 3 Washington – 16 pts, 3 stl

Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall Atlantic City, NJ Referees: Ron Tyburski, Edwin Young, Jason Mirabito

See also

• 2020 MAAC women's basketball tournament