# 2017–18 Belmont Bruins men's basketball team

The 2017–18 Belmont Bruins men's basketball team represented Belmont University during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bruins, led by 32nd-year head coach Rick Byrd, played their home games at the Curb Event Center in Nashville, Tennessee as members of the Ohio Valley Conference. They finished the season 24–9, 15–3 in OVC play to finish in second place. They defeated Austin Peay in the semifinals of the OVC tournament to advance to the championship game where they lost to Murray State. Despite having 24 wins, they did not participate in a postseason tournament.

## Previous season

The Bruins finished the 2016–17 season 23–7, 15–1 in OVC play to win the regular season championship. In the OVC tournament, they lost in the semifinals to Jacksonville State. As a regular season conference champion who failed to win their conference tournament title, they received an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament. There they defeated Georgia in the first round before losing to Georgia Tech.

## Preseason

In a vote of Ohio Valley Conference head men's basketball coaches and sports information directors, Belmont was picked to win the OVC for the third consecutive year. Senior forward Amanze Egekeze and senior guard Austin Luke were named to the preseason All-OVC team.
After five years of divisional play in the OVC, the conference eliminated divisions for the 2017–18 season. Additionally, for the first time, each conference team will play 18 conference games.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Nov 2, 2017* 9:00 pm | | at Trevecca Nazarene Hurricane Relief Fundraiser | W 91–64 | | Trojan Fieldhouse (623) Nashville, TN |
| Regular season ||||||
| Nov 10, 2017* 9:00 pm, P12N | | at Washington 2K Sports Classic | L 82–86 | 0–1 | Alaska Airlines Arena (5,883) Seattle, WA |
| Nov 13, 2017* 6:30 pm | | Vanderbilt | W 69–60 | 1–1 | Curb Event Center (5,266) Nashville, TN |
| Nov 16, 2017* 6:30 pm | | at Middle Tennessee | W 69–63 | 2–1 | Murphy Center (5,366) Murfreesboro, TN |
| Nov 18, 2017* 2:30 pm | | Houston Baptist 2K Sports Classic subregional semifinals | W 93–88 | 3–1 | Curb Event Center (1,502) Nashville, TN |
| Nov 19, 2017* 1:00 pm | | Seattle 2K Sports Classic subregional finals | W 90–77 | 4–1 | Curb Event Center (1,087) Nashville, TN |
| Nov 22, 2017* 6:00 pm, FS1 | | at Providence 2K Sports Classic | L 65–66 | 4–2 | Dunkin' Donuts Center (6,857) Providence, RI |
| Nov 27, 2017* 6:30 pm | | Lipscomb | L 66–74 | 4–3 | Curb Event Center (2,754) Nashville, TN |
| Nov 29, 2017* 8:00 pm, FSSW+ | | at No. 23 TCU | L 76–87 | 4–4 | Schollmaier Arena (6,237) Fort Worth, TX |
| Dec 2, 2017* 1:00 pm | | Green Bay | W 86–75 | 5–4 | Curb Event Center (1,086) Nashville, TN |
| Dec 4, 2017* 7:15 pm | | at Lipscomb | L 66–74 | 5–5 | Allen Arena (2,754) Nashville, TN |
| Dec 13, 2017* 6:30 pm | | Milwaukee | W 82–63 | 6–5 | Curb Event Center (1,612) Nashville, TN |
| Dec 16, 2017* 2:00 pm | | Pepperdine | W 79–62 | 7–5 | Curb Event Center (1,427) Nashville, TN |
| Dec 19, 2017* 7:00 pm, FCS | | at WKU | W 75–72 | 8–5 | E.A. Diddle Arena (5,156) Bowling Green, KY |
| Ohio Valley regular season ||||||
| Dec 28, 2017 7:30 pm | | at Southeast Missouri State | W 94–72 | 9–5 (1–0) | Show Me Center (1,310) Cape Girardeau, MO |
| Dec 30, 2017 6:00 pm | | at UT Martin | W 65–58 | 10–5 (2–0) | Skyhawk Arena (1,347) Martin, TN |
| Jan 4, 2018 7:00 pm | | Tennessee Tech | W 80–67 | 11–5 (3–0) | Curb Event Center (1,807) Nashville, TN |
| Jan 6, 2018 5:00 pm | | Jacksonville State | L 60–64 | 11–6 (3–1) | Curb Event Center (1,789) Nashville, TN |
| Jan 11, 2018 7:00 pm, FSMW | | at SIU Edwardsville | W 76–61 | 12–6 (4–1) | Vadalabene Center (1,165) Edwardsville, IL |
| Jan 13, 2018 3:15 pm | | at Eastern Illinois | W 75–66 | 13–6 (5–1) | Lantz Arena (1,493) Charleston, IL |
| Jan 18, 2018 6:00 pm, ESPNU | | Murray State | W 79–72 | 14–6 (6–1) | Curb Event Center (2,354) Nashville, TN |
| Jan 20, 2018 5:00 pm | | Austin Peay | W 83–59 | 15–6 (7–1) | Curb Event Center (2,731) Nashville, TN |
| Jan 25, 2018 7:00 pm | | Eastern Illinois | W 81–59 | 16–6 (8–1) | Curb Event Center (1,954) Nashville, TN |
| Jan 27, 2018 5:00 pm | | SIU Edwardsville | W 83–72 | 17–6 (9–1) | Curb Event Center (2,454) Nashville, TN |
| Feb 1, 2018 7:00 pm | | at Eastern Kentucky | W 98–63 | 18–6 (10–1) | McBrayer Arena (1,620) Richmond, KY |
| Feb 3, 2018 3:00 pm | | at Morehead State | W 83–73 | 19–6 (11–1) | Ellis Johnson Arena (3,292) Morehead, KY |
| Feb 8, 2018 7:30 pm | | at Tennessee State | L 56–64 | 19–7 (11–2) | Gentry Complex (5,411) Nashville, TN |
| Feb 10, 2018 7:30 pm, WCTE | | at Tennessee Tech | W 75–70 | 20–7 (12–2) | Eblen Center (4,058) Cookeville, TN |
| Feb 15, 2018 7:00 pm | | Eastern Kentucky | W 84–73 | 21–7 (13–2) | Curb Event Center (2,812) Nashville, TN |
| Feb 17, 2018 7:00 pm, CBSSN | | Morehead State | W 108–65 | 22–7 (14–2) | Curb Event Center (2,689) Nashville, TN |
| Feb 22, 2018 8:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Jacksonville State | L 67–78 | 22–8 (14–3) | Pete Mathews Coliseum (2,393) Jacksonville, AL |
| Feb 24, 2018 5:00 pm | | Tennessee State | W 84–59 | 23–8 (15–3) | Curb Event Center (5,074) Nashville, TN |
| Ohio Valley Conference tournament ||||||
| Mar 2, 2018 9:00 pm, ESPNU | (2) | vs. (3) Austin Peay Semifinals | W 94–79 | 24–8 | Ford Center (3,403) Evansville, IN |
| Mar 3, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | (2) | vs. (1) Murray State Championship game | L 51–68 | 24–9 | Ford Center (4,280) Evansville, IN |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||
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