1991 Big West Conference men's basketball tournament

The 1991 Big West Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 8–10 at the Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, California.

1991 Big West Conference men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1990–91
Teams	8
Site	Long Beach Arena Long Beach, CA
Champions	UNLV (7th title)
Winning coach	Jerry Tarkanian (7th title)
MVP	Larry Johnson (UNLV)
Big West Conference men's basketball tournaments

1990–91 Big West men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 1 UNLV	18	–	0		1.000			34	–	1		.971
No. 15 New Mexico State	15	–	3		.833			23	–	6		.793
Pacific	9	–	9		.500			14	–	15		.483
UC Santa Barbara	8	–	10		.444			14	–	15		.483
Utah State	8	–	10		.444			11	–	17		.393
Cal State Fullerton	7	–	11		.389			14	–	14		.500
Fresno State	7	–	11		.389			14	–	16		.467
Long Beach State	7	–	11		.389			11	–	17		.393
UC Irvine	6	–	12		.333			11	–	19		.367
San Jose State	5	–	13		.278			7	–	20		.259
† 1991 Big West tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Defending national and conference champions UNLV defeated seventh-seeded Fresno State in the final, 98–74, capturing their seventh PCAA/Big West championship. This was the Runnin' Rebels' seventh title in their nine seasons in the Big West.

UNLV subsequently received an automatic bid to the 1991 NCAA tournament, where they would advance to the Final Four. Fellow Big West member New Mexico State received an at-large bid.

Format

After three seasons as a ten-team tournament, the Big West reverted to the eight-team format that it used prior to the 1988 season. In turn, only the top eight teams, based on regular season conference records, qualified for the tournament field. The two teams with the worst records were excluded.

All eight teams were entered in the initial round, paired and seeded based on record.

Bracket

	First round Friday, March 8					Semifinals Saturday, March 9					Championship Sunday, March 10
	1	#1 UNLV	49
	8	Long Beach State	29
						1	#1 UNLV	95
						5	UC Santa Barbara	66
	5	UC Santa Barbara	80
	4	Utah State	76
											1	#1 UNLV	98
											7	Fresno State	74
	3	Pacific	74
	6	Cal State Fullerton	67
						3	Pacific	70
						7	Fresno State	87
	7	Fresno State	88
	2	#11 New Mexico State	82