1994 Big West Conference men's basketball tournament

The 1994 Big West Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 10–13 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Paradise, Nevada. This was the first Big West/PCAA tournament played outside the state of California.

1994 Big West Conference men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1993–94
Teams	10
Site	Thomas & Mack Center Paradise, NV
Champions	New Mexico State (2nd title)
Winning coach	Neil McCarthy (2nd title)
MVP	Chris Brown & James Dockery (UC Irvine & New Mexico State)
Big West Conference men's basketball tournaments

1993–94 Big West men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
New Mexico State †	12	–	6		.667			23	–	8		.742
Long Beach State	11	–	7		.611			17	–	10		.630
San Jose State	11	–	7		.611			15	–	12		.556
Utah State	11	–	7		.611			14	–	13		.519
Pacific	10	–	8		.556			17	–	14		.548
UNLV	10	–	8		.556			15	–	13		.536
UC Santa Barbara	9	–	9		.500			13	–	17		.433
Nevada	6	–	12		.333			11	–	17		.393
Cal State Fullerton	6	–	12		.333			8	–	19		.296
UC Irvine	4	–	14		.222			10	–	20		.333
† 1994 Big West tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Top-seeded New Mexico State defeated UC Irvine (the tournament's lowest-seeded team, with only 4 conference wins) in the final, 70–64, to capture their second PCAA/Big West title.

The Aggies subsequently received an automatic bid to the 1994 NCAA tournament.

Format

For the second straight year, there were changes to the tournament format.

The Big West returned to a ten-team tournament with all conference members in participation. With all teams seeded and paired based on conference regular-season records, the top six teams were given byes into the quarterfinal round while the four lowest-seeded teams were placed in a preliminary first round.

As a result of the field's expansion, this was the first tournament for second-year Big West member Nevada.

Bracket

	First round Thursday, March 10					Quarterfinals Friday, March 11					Semifinals Saturday, March 12					Championship Sunday, March 13
						1	New Mexico State	68
						8	Nevada	67
	9	Cal State Fullerton	64
	8	Nevada	68
											1	New Mexico State	82
											5	UNLV	64
						5	UNLV	80
						4	San Jose State	69
																1	New Mexico State	70
																10	UC Irvine	64
						3	Long Beach State	73
						6	Pacific	87
											6	Pacific	78
											10	UC Irvine	82
	7	UC Santa Barbara	48
	10	UC Irvine	53
						10	UC Irvine	78
						2	Utah State	68