Breaking down the Big South Conference basketball tournament schedule

The Big South Conference Championship stretches from February 27 to March 7. Round One will take place at Gardner-Webb, Hampton and High Point, while Round Two will take place at Winthrop, Radford, Campbell and UNC Asheville. The semifinals will be hosted by the highest seeds remaining among the winners of the quarterfinals. The tournament will include all 11 conference teams, and the tournament game will be hosted at the highest remaining seed’s home court.

The Big South Conference tournament will air across the ESPN network of channels. ESPN3 will air the first two rounds of the tournament. The semifinals will air on ESPN+, and then finally, ESPN and Westwood One Sports will air the championship game.

Winthrop won the Big South regular-season conference title after closing out the season with an overall record of 20-1 record, going 17-1 within the conference. Winthrop currently ranks No. 106 in Ken Pomeroy’s ratings and No. 71 in the NCAA’s NET rankings. Though Radford finished with the second-best conference record at 12-6, the Pomeroy and NET rankings each have Gardner-Webb as the next ranked Big South team.

February 27, 2021

Game 1: No. 7 Hampton defeated No. 10 Presbyterian 67-65
Game 2: No. 8 High-Point defeated No. 9 USC Upstate 65-60

March 1, 2021

Quarterfinal 1: No. 1 Winthrop defeated No. 8 High Point 83-54
Quarterfinal 2: No. 5 Longwood defeated No. 4 UNC Asheville 77-61
Quarterfinal 3: No. 2 Radford defeated No. 7 Hampton 67-52
Quarterfinal 4: No. 3 Campbell defeated No. 6 Gardner-Webb 63-57

March 4, 2021

Semifinal 1: No. 3 Campbell 78-60 over No. 2 Radford
Semifinal 2: No. 1 Winthrop 82-61 over No. 5 Longwood

March 7, 2021

Championship: No. 1 Winthrop 80-53 over No. 3 Campbell

Winthrop advances to the NCAA Tournament with an automatic bid.