# 2017–18 Kent State Golden Flashes men's basketball team

The 2017–18 Kent State Golden Flashes men's basketball team represented Kent State University during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Golden Flashes, led by seventh-year head coach Rob Senderoff, played their home games at the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center, also known as the MAC Center, as members of the East Division of the Mid-American Conference. They finished the season 17–17, 9–9 in MAC play to finish in second place in the MAC East division. They defeated Northern Illinois and Ball State in the MAC tournament before losing to Buffalo in the semifinals.

## Previous season

The Golden Flashes finished the 2016–17 season 22–14, 10–8 in MAC play to finish fourth in the MAC East division. As the No. 6 seed in the MAC tournament, the Flashes defeated Central Michigan, Buffalo, Ohio, and Akron to win the tournament for the first time since 2008. As a result, the Flashes received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 14 seed in the South region. In the First Round, they lost to UCLA.

## Offseason
### 2017 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| B.J. Dulling SF | Newark, OH | Newark High School | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Oct 29, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2017 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved October 5, 2016. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Nov 3, 2017* 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | | College of Wooster | W 86–65 | | MAC Center Kent, OH |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 11, 2017* 9:00 pm, ESPN3 | | vs. Youngstown State Northeast Ohio Coaches vs. Cancer | W 111–78 | 1–0 | James A. Rhodes Arena (2,434) Akron, OH |
| Nov 16, 2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Ohio Christian | W 90–45 | 2–0 | MAC Center (2,440) Kent, OH |
| Nov 19, 2017* 3:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Mississippi Valley State | W 80–67 | 3–0 | MAC Center (2,005) Kent, OH |
| Nov 21, 2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Southeastern Louisiana | L 66–70 | 3–1 | MAC Center (1,872) Kent, OH |
| Nov 24, 2017* 7:30 pm | | vs. Valparaiso Savannah Invitational | L 67–77 | 3–2 | Savannah Civic Center Savannah, GA |
| Nov 25, 2017* 5:00 pm | | vs. Loyola–Chicago Savannah Invitational | L 60–75 | 3–3 | Savannah Civic Center Savannah, GA |
| Nov 29, 2017* 8:15 pm | | at Norfolk State | W 79–70 | 4–3 | Joseph G. Echols Memorial Hall (1,825) Norfolk, VA |
| Dec 2, 2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Cleveland State | W 72–62 | 5–3 | MAC Center (2,511) Kent, OH |
| Dec 6, 2017* 7:00 pm, FS1 | | at No. 13 Xavier | L 70–96 | 5–4 | Cintas Center (10,292) Cincinnati, OH |
| Dec 9, 2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Wright State | L 54–63 | 5–5 | Nutter Center (3,448) Fairborn, OH |
| Dec 18, 2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Northeastern | L 69–81 | 5–6 | MAC Center (1,963) Kent, OH |
| Dec 21, 2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Oregon State | W 79–78 | 6–6 | MAC Center (3,279) Kent, OH |
| Dec 28, 2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Albany | L 68–78 | 6–7 | SEFCU Arena (2,579) Albany, NY |
| MAC regular season ||||||
| Jan 2, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Northern Illinois | L 61–75 | 6–8 (0–1) | Convocation Center (918) DeKalb, IL |
| Jan 6, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Central Michigan | W 85–69 | 7–8 (1–1) | MAC Center (2,217) Kent, OH |
| Jan 9, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Miami (OH) | L 69–80 | 7–9 (1–2) | Millett Hall (884) Oxford, OH |
| Jan 12, 2018 7:00 pm, CBSSN | | Ohio | W 70–69 | 8–9 (2–2) | MAC Center (2,114) Kent, OH |
| Jan 16, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Western Michigan | W 73–71 | 9–9 (3–2) | MAC Center (2,585) Kent, OH |
| Jan 20, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Toledo | L 65–72 | 9–10 (3–3) | Savage Arena (4,970) Toledo, OH |
| Jan 23, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Ball State | W 88–80 $^{OT}$ | 10–10 (4–3) | MAC Center (2,430) Kent, OH |
| Jan 27, 2018 4:30 pm, ESPN3 | | at Central Michigan | W 84–76 | 11–10 (5–3) | McGuirk Arena (2,967) Mount Pleasant, MI |
| Jan 30, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Buffalo | W 82–79 | 12–10 (6–3) | MAC Center (2,877) Kent, OH |
| Feb 3, 2018 3:30 pm, ESPN3 | | at Bowling Green | L 62–70 | 12–11 (6–4) | Stroh Center (3,540) Bowling Green, OH |
| Feb 6, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Eastern Michigan | L 67–71 | 12–12 (6–5) | MAC Center (2,373) Kent, OH |
| Feb 10, 2018 2:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Ball State | L 68–87 | 12–13 (6–6) | Worthen Arena (4,105) Muncie, IN |
| Feb 13, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Buffalo | L 72–84 | 12–14 (6–7) | Alumni Arena (3,707) Amherst, NY |
| Feb 17, 2018 2:00 pm, CBSSN | | Akron | W 78–68 | 13–14 (7–7) | MAC Center (6,055) Kent, OH |
| Feb 20, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Ohio | L 76–88 | 13–15 (7–8) | Convocation Center (6,339) Athens, OH |
| Feb 24, 2018 6:00 pm, CBSSN | | Bowling Green | W 64–63 | 14–15 (8–8) | MAC Center (5,022) Kent, OH |
| Feb 27, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Miami (OH) | W 90–83 $^{OT}$ | 15–15 (9–8) | MAC Center (3,074) Kent, OH |
| Mar 2, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Akron | L 65–67 | 15–16 (9–9) | James A. Rhodes Arena (4,349) Akron, OH |
| MAC tournament ||||||
| Mar 5, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | (5) | (12) Northern Illinois First round | W 61–59 | 16–16 | MAC Center (2,024) Kent, OH |
| Mar 8, 2018 2:30 pm, BCSN/ESPN3 | (5) | vs. (4) Ball State Quarterfinals | W 76–73 | 17–16 | Quicken Loans Arena (2,023) Cleveland, OH |
| Mar 9, 2018 6:30 pm, CBSSN | (5) | vs. (1) Buffalo Semifinals | L 61–78 | 17–17 | Quicken Loans Arena (4,625) Cleveland, OH |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. S=South Region. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||