# 2011–12 Cleveland State Vikings men's basketball team

The 2011–12 Cleveland State Vikings men's basketball team represented Cleveland State University in the 2011–12 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Their head coach was Gary Waters. The Vikings played their home games at the Wolstein Center and were members of the Horizon League. It was the 81st season of Cleveland State basketball.

## Previous season

Last year's team finished the season 27–9, 13–5 in Horizon League play to share the regular season conference title with Butler and Milwaukee. They played in the NIT, advancing to the second round.

## Preseason

The preseason Horizon League Coaches' Poll picked the Vikings to finish third with two first place votes behind Butler and Detroit, with 28 and 19 first place votes, respectively.

## Regular season

In the preseason rankings Cleveland State received no points or votes in the AP or ESPN/USA Today coaches poll. On November 7, 2011 Cleveland State received 43 points in the AP poll for 29th overall and 13 votes in the coaches poll for a ranking of 35th. On November 14, 2011 Cleveland State received 94 points in the AP poll for a ranking of 26th. In the coaches poll Cleveland State received 20 points for a ranking of 34th.

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Nov. 9* 7:00 pm | John Carroll | W 88–58 | – | Wolstein Center (1,583) Cleveland, OH |
| Regular season ||||||
| Nov. 13* 2:00 pm, ESPNU | at No. 7 Vanderbilt | W 71–58 | 1–0 | Memorial Gymnasium (13,503) Nashville, TN |
| Nov. 15* 7:00 pm | Rio Grande | W 86–57 | 2–0 | Wolstein Center (1,871) Cleveland, OH |
| Nov. 18* 7:00 pm, HLN | St. Bonaventure | W 67–64 | 3–0 | Wolstein Center (3,073) Cleveland, OH |
| Nov. 22* 7:30 pm | at Kent State | W 57–53 | 4–0 | M.A.C. Center (6,327) Kent, OH |
| Nov. 25* 2:30 pm | vs. Boston University | W 63–62 | 5–0 | Ryan Center (–) Kingston, RI |
| Nov. 26* 2:30 pm | vs. Hofstra | W 63–53 | 5–1 | Ryan Center (–) Kingston, RI |
| Nov. 27* 2:30 pm | at Rhode Island | W 67–45 | 6–1 | Ryan Center (2,737) Kingston, RI |
| Dec. 1 7:00 pm, HLN | at Wright State | W 45–43 | 7–1 (1–0) | Nutter Center (3,349) Dayton, OH |
| Dec. 3 2:00 pm, HLN | at Detroit | W 66–61 | 8–1 (2–0) | Calihan Hall (1,880) Detroit, MI |
| Dec. 8* 7:00 pm | at Robert Morris | W 62–58 | 9–1 | Sewall Center (1,378) Moon Township, PA |
| Dec. 10* 2:00 pm, HLN | Akron | W 69–66 | 10–1 | Wolstein Center (4,739) Cleveland, OH |
| Dec. 19* 7:00 pm | at South Florida | W 70–55 | 10–2 | St. Pete Times Forum (2,942) Tampa, FL |
| Dec. 22* 7:00 pm, HLN | Sam Houston State | W 63–45 | 11–2 | Wolstein Center (2,683) Cleveland, OH |
| Dec. 28* 7:00 pm | at Toledo | W 72–64 | 12–2 | Savage Arena (4,032) Toledo, OH |
| Dec. 31 2:00 pm, HLN | Youngstown State | L 67–73 | 12–3 (2–1) | Wolstein Center (3,513) Cleveland, OH |
| Jan. 5 7:00 pm, HLN | UIC | W 73–56 | 13–3 (3–1) | Wolstein Center (2,137) Cleveland, OH |
| Jan. 7 2:00 pm, HLN | Loyola (IL) | W 69–48 | 14–3 (4–1) | Wolstein Center (3,107) Cleveland, OH |
| Jan. 13 7:05 pm, ESPNU | at Butler | W 76–69 | 15–3 (5–1) | Hinkle Fieldhouse (7,994) Indianapolis, IN |
| Jan. 15 2:35 pm, HLN | at Valparaiso | L 66–72 | 15–4 (5–2) | Athletics–Recreation Center (4,124) Valparaiso, IN |
| Jan. 20 8:00 pm, ESPNU | Green Bay | W 78–68 | 16–4 (6–2) | Wolstein Center (2,941) Cleveland, OH |
| Jan. 22 2:00 pm, HLN | Milwaukee | W 83–57 | 17–4 (7–2) | Wolstein Center (3,235) Cleveland, OH |
| Jan. 28 7:05 pm, HLN | at Youngstown State | W 67–47 | 18–4 (8–2) | Beeghly Center (6,313) Youngstown, OH |
| Feb. 3 9:00 pm, ESPNU | at Loyola (IL) | W 65–47 | 19–4 (9–2) | Gentile Center (2,443) Chicago, IL |
| Feb. 5 2:00 pm, HLN | at UIC | W 70–42 | 20–4 (10–2) | UIC Pavilion (1,923) Chicago, IL |
| Feb. 9 7:00 pm, HLN | Valparaiso | L 41–59 | 20–5 (10–3) | Wolstein Center (4,521) Cleveland, OH |
| Feb. 11 11:00 am, ESPN2 | Butler | L 49–52 | 20–6 (10–4) | Wolstein Center (5,021) Cleveland, OH |
| Feb. 14 8:00 pm, HLN | at Milwaukee | L 84–86 | 20–7 (10–5) | US Cellular Arena (3,643) Milwaukee, WI |
| Feb. 18* 11:00 am, ESPNU | Drexel ESPN BracketBusters | L 49–69 | 20–8 | Wolstein Center (2,583) Cleveland, OH |
| Feb. 21 8:00 pm, HLN | at Green Bay | L 67–71 | 20–9 (10–6) | Resch Center (2,819) Green Bay, WI |
| Feb. 23 7:00 pm, HLN | Detroit | W 77–64 | 21–9 (11–6) | Wolstein Center (2,325) Cleveland, OH |
| Feb. 25 2:00 pm, HLN | Wright State | W 77–55 | 22–9 (12–6) | Wolstein Center (3,891) Cleveland, OH |
| Horizon League tournament ||||||
| Mar. 3 6:00 pm, ESPNU/ESPN3 | vs. Detroit Semifinal | L 58–63 | 22–10 | Athletics-Recreation Center (–) Valparaiso, IN |
| NIT ||||||
| Mar. 13 11:00 pm, ESPN2 | at Stanford First Round | L 65–76 | 22–11 | Maples Pavilion (–) Stanford, CA |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from Coaches' Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time.. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking Movement Legend: ██ Improvement in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. RV=Others receiving votes. :
| Poll | Pre | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 | Wk 13 | Wk 14 | Wk 15 | Wk 16 | Wk 17 | Wk 18 |
| AP | NR | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | RV | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Coaches | NR | RV | RV | RV | RV | NR | NR | RV | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | RV | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Mid-Major | 22 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 15 | RV | RV | RV | – |