# 2016–17 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team

The 2016–17 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by seventh year head coach Russell Turner and played their home games at the Bren Events Center as members of the Big West Conference. They finished the season 21–15, 12–4 in Big West play to win the regular season conference championship. As the No. 1 seed in the Big West tournament, they defeated UC Riverside and Long Beach State before losing to UC Davis in the championship game. As a No. 1 seed in their conference tournament who failed to win their conference tournament title, UC Irvine received an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament. As a No. 8 seed, they were defeated by No. 1 seed Illinois State in the first round. The team won their third Big West Regular Season title in the past four years and their 5th straight season with at least 20 wins.

## Previous season

The Anteaters finished the 2015–16 season 28–10, 13–3 in Big West play to win a share of the regular season Big West championship. They defeated Cal Poly in the quarterfinals of the Big West tournament to advance to the semifinals where they lost to Long Beach State. They were invited to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament where they defeated North Dakota, Louisiana–Lafayette, and Coastal Carolina to advance to the championship game. In the championship game, they lost to Columbia.

## Off-Season
### 2016 Recruiting Class

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Eyassu Worku PG | Los Alamitos, CA | Los Alamitos High School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 165 lb (75 kg) | Nov 6, 2015 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 80 ||||||
| Evan Leonard PG | Cerritos, CA | Cerritos High School | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | Jun 5, 2015 |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 73 ||||||
| Tommy Rutherford C | San Diego, CA | Grossmont High School | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 220 lb (100 kg) | |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 72 ||||||
| Brad Greene C | Lone Pine, CA | Lone Pine High School | 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) | 285 lb (129 kg) | |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 59 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: n/a Rivals: n/a ESPN: n/a ||||||
| 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: "ESPN - UC Irvine Basketball Recruiting 2016". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 20, 2017. "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved October 20, 2017. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 11/05/2016* 2:00 pm, Big West TV | | Sonoma State | W 81–63 | | Bren Events Center (1,449) Irvine, CA |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/11/2016* 7:00 pm, Big West TV | | Utah State | L 56–72 | 0–1 | Bren Events Center (1,883) Irvine, CA |
| 11/14/2016* 7:00 pm, Big West TV | | South Dakota State Sanford Pentagon Showcase Opening Game | W 73–58 | 1–1 | Bren Events Center (1,172) Irvine, CA |
| 11/16/2016* 8:00 pm, P12N | | at No. 25 California | L 65–75 $^{OT}$ | 1–2 | Haas Pavilion (8,104) Berkeley, CA |
| 11/19/2016* 7:00 pm, Big West TV | | Pacific | W 72–65 | 2–2 | Bren Events Center (1,678) Irvine, CA |
| 11/25/2016* 6:00 pm | | vs. South Dakota State Sanford Pentagon Showcase | W 63–52 | 3–2 | Sanford Pentagon (1,826) Sioux Falls, CA |
| 11/26/2016* 12:00 pm | | vs. Milwaukee Sanford Pentagon Showcase | L 37–54 | 3–3 | Sanford Pentagon (379) Sioux Falls, SD |
| 11/27/2016* 10:00 am | | vs. East Tennessee State Sanford Pentagon Showcase | L 66–72 | 3–4 | Sanford Pentagon (291) Sioux Falls, SD |
| 11/30/2016* 7:00 pm, theW.TV | | at Santa Clara | W 58–55 | 4–4 | Leavey Center (1,082) Santa Clara, CA |
| 12/06/2016* 7:00 pm, P12N | | at No. 20 Arizona | L 57–79 | 4–5 | McKale Center (14,208) Tucson, AZ |
| 12/09/2016* 7:00 pm, Big West TV | | Pomona-Pitzer | W 80–53 | 5–5 | Bren Events Center (1,141) Irvine, CA |
| 12/11/2016* 5:00 pm, CHN/theW.tv | | at No. 12 Saint Mary's | L 53–84 | 5–6 | McKeon Pavilion (3,207) Moraga, CA |
| 12/14/2016* 7:00 pm, MWN | | at Nevada | L 69–76 | 5–7 | Lawlor Events Center (6,911) Reno, NV |
| 12/19/2016* 6:00 pm, WAC Digital Network | | at New Mexico State | L 79–85 $^{OT}$ | 5–8 | Pan American Center (3,794) Las Cruces, NM |
| 12/21/2016* 4:00 pm | | vs. Akron Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational semifinals | L 80–88 | 5–9 | Don Haskins Center (5,333) El Paso, TX |
| 12/22/2016* 4:00 pm | | at UTEP Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational 3rd place game | W 62–57 | 6–9 | Don Haskins Center (4,633) El Paso, TX |
| 12/30/2016* 7:00 pm, Big West TV | | Life Pacific | W 101–43 | 7–9 | Bren Events Center (1,107) Irvine, CA |
| Big West regular season ||||||
| 01/04/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Long Beach State Black & Blue Rivalry | W 82–67 | 8–9 (1–0) | Bren Events Center (1,944) Irvine, CA |
| 01/07/2017 7:30 pm, Prime Ticket | | Hawaii | W 84–56 | 9–9 (2–0) | Bren Events Center (2,359) Irvine, CA |
| 01/12/2017 7:00 pm, Big West TV | | at UC Santa Barbara | W 66–62 | 10–9 (3–0) | The Thunderdome (3,056) Santa Barbara, CA |
| 01/14/2017 5:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Cal State Fullerton | W 87–67 | 11–9 (4–0) | Bren Events Center (2,468) Irvine, CA |
| 01/18/2017 7:00 pm, Big West TV | | at Cal Poly | W 70–48 | 12–9 (5–0) | Mott Gym (1,250) San Luis Obispo, CA |
| 01/21/2017 7:00 pm, Big West TV | | at Cal State Northridge | W 105–73 | 13–9 (6–0) | Matadome (1,107) Northridge, CA |
| 01/26/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Cal Poly | L 66–79 | 13–10 (6–1) | Bren Events Center (2,107) Irvine, CA |
| 01/28/2017 5:00 pm, Big West TV | | at UC Davis | L 65–74 | 13–11 (6–2) | The Pavilion (3,574) Davis, CA |
| 02/04/2017 8:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Long Beach State Black & Blue Rivalry | L 63–72 | 13–12 (6–3) | Walter Pyramid (4,213) Long Beach, CA |
| 02/08/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | UC Santa Barbara | W 64–47 | 14–12 (7–3) | Bren Events Center (1,759) Irvine, CA |
| 02/11/2017 10:30 pm, OC Sports | | at Hawaii | W 72–58 | 15–12 (8–3) | Stan Sheriff Center (7,452) Honolulu, HI |
| 02/18/2017 9:00 pm, ESPNU | | UC Riverside | W 79–60 | 16–12 (9–3) | Bren Events Center (1,860) Irvine, CA |
| 02/22/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Cal State Fullerton | L 54–56 | 16–13 (9–4) | Titan Gym (1,526) Fullerton, CA |
| 02/25/2017 7:30 pm, ESPN3 | | Cal State Northridge Homecoming | W 83–80 | 17–13 (10–4) | Bren Events Center (4,234) Irvine, CA |
| 03/01/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at UC Riverside | W 68–56 | 18–13 (11–4) | The SRC (781) Riverside, CA |
| 03/04/2017 3:00 pm, Prime Ticket | | UC Davis | W 79–49 | 19–13 (12–4) | Bren Events Center (4,384) Irvine, CA |
| Big West tournament ||||||
| 03/09/2017 6:00 pm, Prime Ticket | (1) | vs. (8) UC Riverside Quarterfinals | W 76–67 | 20–13 | Honda Center (3,486) Anaheim, CA |
| 03/10/2017 6:30 pm, ESPN3 | (1) | vs. (4) Long Beach State Semifinals | W 62–57 | 21–13 | Honda Center (4,083) Anaheim, CA |
| 03/11/2017 8:30 pm, ESPN2 | (1) | vs. (2) UC Davis Championship game | L 47–50 | 21–14 | Honda Center (5,085) Anaheim, CA |
| NIT ||||||
| 3/15/2017* 6:30 pm, ESPNU | (8) | at (1) Illinois State First round – Illinois State Bracket | L 71–85 | 21–15 | Redbird Arena (5,124) Normal, IL |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific Time. ||||||