The 1982 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament of the Ohio Valley Conference during the 1981–82 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. It was held March 5–6, 1982. The semifinals and finals took place at E. A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Three seed Middle Tennessee State won the tournament, defeating top seed Western Kentucky in the championship game, and received the Ohio Valley's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Blue Raiders drew an 11 seed in the Mideast region, facing the 6 seed Kentucky. MTSU knocked off UK before falling to 3 seed and eventual Final Four participant Louisville.

The top four eligible men's basketball teams in the Ohio Valley Conference received a berth in the conference tournament. After the 16-game conference season, teams were seeded by conference record. The bottom four teams in the standings did not participate.

^[1]