# 2017–18 Southern Utah Thunderbirds men's basketball team

The 2017–18 Southern Utah Thunderbirds basketball team represented Southern Utah University during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Thunderbirds were led by second-year head coach Todd Simon and played their home games at the America First Events Center in Cedar City, Utah as members of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 13–19, 5–13 in Big Sky play to finish in tenth place. In the Big Sky tournament they defeated Idaho State and Idaho to advance to the semifinals where they lost to Eastern Washington.

## Previous season

The Thunderbirds finished the 2016–17 season 6–27, 3–15 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for 11th. As the No. 11 seed in the Big Sky tournament, they defeated Montana State in the first round before losing to Weber State in the quarterfinals.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Randy Onwausor | 2 | G | 6'3" | 210 | RS Junior | Inglewood, CA | Graduate transferred to LSU |
| Decardo Day | 3 | G | 6'4" | 170 | Freshman | Jackson, MS | Transferred |
| Neema Namdar | 4 | G | 6'1" | 170 | Freshman | Sandy, UT | Transferred to Utah State University Eastern |
| John Marshall | 5 | G | 6'1" | 180 | Senior | Phoenix, AZ | Graduated |
| Will Joyce | 11 | F | 6'5" | 205 | Senior | Newark, NJ | Graduated |
| Race Parsons | 13 | G | 6'4" | 185 | Senior | Monroe, UT | Graduated |
| Adonis Saltes | 24 | G | 6'2" | 180 | Sophomore | Pine Ridge, SD | Walk-on; left the team for personal reasons |
| Brayden Holker | 35 | F | 6'9" | 225 | RS Freshman | Saratoga Springs, UT | Walk-on; left the team for personal reasons |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Jamil Jackson | 1 | G | 6'6" | 190 | Sophomore | Minneapolis, MN | Junior college transferred from Williston State College |
| Brandon Better | 2 | G | 6'2" | 180 | Junior | Suitland, MD | Junior college transferred from Moberly Area CC |
| Jamal Aytes | 15 | F | 6'6" | 235 | RS Senior | San Diego, CA | Transferred from Southern Utah. Will be eligible to play immediately since Aytes graduated from BYU. |
| Cameron Oluyitan | 23 | G | 6'6" | 183 | Junior | Houston, TX | Transferred from Boise State. Under NCAA transfer rules, Oluyitan will have to sit out for the 2017–18 season. Will have two years of remaining eligibility. |
| Andre Adams | 32 | F | 6'9" | 225 | RS Sophomore | Avondale, AZ | Transferred from Arizona State. Under NCAA transfer rules, Adams will have to sit out for the 2017–18 season. Will have three years of remaining eligibility. |

### 2017 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Dre Marin PG | Glendale, AZ | Apollo High School | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | 165 lb (75 kg) | Oct 14, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Jordan Lyons SF | Brampton, ON | Athlete Institute Prep | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Jan 5, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 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 November 19, 2017. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Nov 3, 2017* 8:00 pm | | Concordia (OR) | W 101–84 | | America First Events Center (1,200) Cedar City, UT |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 10, 2017* 8:00 pm, P12N | | at Oregon State | L 82–99 | 0–1 | Gill Coliseum (4,588) Corvallis, OR |
| Nov 12, 2017* 3:00 pm | | at Boise State | L 69–90 | 0–2 | Taco Bell Arena (3,052) Boise, ID |
| Nov 16, 2017* 6:30 pm | | San Jose State | W 81–65 | 1–2 | America First Events Center (1,515) Cedar City, UT |
| Nov 21, 2017* 8:00 pm | | Benedictine (Mesa) | W 85–68 | 2–2 | America First Events Center (1,478) Cedar City, UT |
| Nov 25, 2017* 8:00 pm | | at UNLV | L 82–101 | 2–3 | Thomas & Mack Center (9,543) Paradise, NV |
| Nov 29, 2017* 8:00 pm | | at Pepperdine | W 88–82 | 3–3 | Firestone Fieldhouse (912) Malibu, CA |
| Dec 2, 2017* 6:00 pm | | San Diego Christian | W 87–68 | 4–3 | America First Events Center (1,195) Cedar City, UT |
| Dec 6, 2017* 6:00 pm | | Long Beach State | W 94–89 | 5–3 | America First Events Center (2,487) Cedar City, UT |
| Dec 9, 2017* 4:00 pm, BTN | | at No. 3 Michigan State | L 63–88 | 5–4 | Breslin Center (14,797) East Lansing, MI |
| Dec 16, 2017* 12:00 pm | | Central Michigan | W 86–80 | 6–4 | America First Events Center (1,406) Cedar City, UT |
| Dec 19, 2017* 7:00 pm, BTN | | at Iowa | L 64–92 | 6–5 | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (10,220) Iowa City, IA |
| Big Sky regular season ||||||
| Dec 28, 2017 6:30 pm | | Montana State | L 99–104 | 6–6 (0–1) | America First Events Center (1,472) Cedar City, UT |
| Dec 30, 2017 12:30 pm | | Montana | L 49–79 | 6–7 (0–2) | America First Events Center (1,263) Cedar City, UT |
| Jan 4, 2018 7:00 pm | | at Idaho State | L 78–93 | 6–8 (0–3) | Holt Arena (1,567) Pocatello, ID |
| Jan 6, 2018 7:00 pm | | at Weber State | L 76–92 | 6–9 (0–4) | Dee Events Center (6,831) Ogden, UT |
| Jan 13, 2018 7:00 pm, ELVN | | Northern Arizona | W 81–75 | 7–9 (1–4) | America First Events Center (2,784) Cedar City, UT |
| Jan 18, 2018 6:30 pm | | Idaho | L 76–80 | 7–10 (1–5) | America First Events Center (3,578) Cedar City, UT |
| Jan 20, 2018 12:30 pm | | Eastern Washington | W 66–62 | 8–10 (2–5) | America First Events Center (2,229) Cedar City, UT |
| Jan 25, 2018 7:00 pm | | at Montana | L 47–71 | 8–11 (2–6) | Dahlberg Arena (4,040) Missoula, MT |
| Jan 27, 2018 2:00 pm | | at Montana State | L 66–69 | 8–12 (2–7) | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (2,851) Bozeman, MT |
| Feb 1, 2018 6:30 pm | | Weber State | L 80–90 | 8–13 (2–8) | America First Events Center (3,817) Cedar City, UT |
| Feb 3, 2018 12:30 pm | | Idaho State | W 84–80 | 9–13 (3–8) | America First Events Center (2,259) Cedar City, UT |
| Feb 10, 2018 2:00 pm | | at Northern Arizona | W 63–54 | 10–13 (4–8) | Walkup Skydome (405) Flagstaff, AZ |
| Feb 15, 2018 6:00 pm | | at North Dakota | L 57–61 | 10–14 (4–9) | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,456) Grand Forks, ND |
| Feb 17, 2018 7:00 pm | | at Northern Colorado | L 80–97 | 10–15 (4–10) | Bank of Colorado Arena (1,683) Greeley, CO |
| Feb 22, 2018 6:30 pm | | Portland State | L 91–96 $^{OT}$ | 10–16 (4–11) | America First Events Center (3,245) Cedar City, UT |
| Feb 24, 2018 12:30 pm | | Sacramento State | W 77–74 | 11–16 (5–11) | America First Events Center (2,740) Cedar City, UT |
| Mar 1, 2018 7:05 pm | | at Eastern Washington | L 51–74 | 11–17 (5–12) | Reese Court (1,637) Cheney, WA |
| Mar 3, 2018 8:00 pm | | at Idaho | L 76–78 | 11–18 (5–13) | Cowan Spectrum (3,219) Moscow, ID |
| Big Sky tournament ||||||
| Mar 6, 2018 5:30 pm, Pluto TV | (10) | vs. (7) Idaho State First round | W 76–68 | 12–18 | Reno Events Center (977) Reno, NV |
| Mar 8, 2018 5:30 pm, ELVN | (10) | vs. (2) Idaho Quarterfinals | W 92–78 | 13–18 | Reno Events Center (1,078) Reno, NV |
| Mar 9, 2018 8:00 pm, ELVN | (10) | vs. (3) Eastern Washington Semifinals | L 70–82 | 13–19 | Reno Events Center (1,236) Reno, NV |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Mountain Time. ||||||