C-USA Commissioner Judy MacLeod said that "With the goals to improve seeding and increase the number of teams that advance to the postseason, we viewed this as a great opportunity to enhance our top teams' resumes by providing them additional quality games within their conference schedule.

"[4] The C-USA tournament was held from March 13–16, 2019 at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.

Following a loss to Lamar on November 27, 2017 that saw UTEP drop to 1–5 on the season, head coach Tim Floyd announced that he was retiring effective immediately.

[5][6] The school had previously announced a new athletic director, Jim Senter, a week prior, but Floyd said that had nothing to do with his decision.

[7][8] Assistant Phil Johnson was named interim head coach of the Miners the next day.

[10] On December 14, 2017, head coach Mark Price was fired by Charlotte after a 3–6 start to the season and was replaced by Houston Fancher.