# 2016–17 UNC Wilmington Seahawks men's basketball team

The 2016–17 UNC Wilmington Seahawks men's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina at Wilmington during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Seahawks were led by third-year head coach Kevin Keatts and played their home games at the Trask Coliseum as members of the Colonial Athletic Association. They finished the season 29–6, 15–3 in CAA play to win the regular season championship, their third consecutive championship. They defeated Delaware, William & Mary, and the College of Charleston to win the CAA tournament. As a result, they earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year. As the No. 12 seed in the East region, they lost in the first round to Virginia.
On March 17, 2017, head coach Kevin Keatts left the school to accept the head coaching position at NC State. On Apiril 3, the school hired longtime North Carolina assistant C.B. McGrath as head coach.

## Previous season

The Seahawks finished the 2015–16 season 25–8, 14–4 in CAA play to finish in a tie for the CAA regular season championship with Hofstra. They won the CAA tournament to earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament where they lost in the first round to Duke.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Craig Ponder | 0 | G | 6'1" | 185 | RS Senior | Bluefield, West Virginia | Graduated |
| Mark Matthews | 2 | G | 6'6" | 210 | Freshman | Fort Myers, Florida | Transferred to USC Aiken |
| Trey Grundy | 3 | F | 6'6" | 210 | Freshman | Lexington, Kentucky | Dismissed |
| Dylan Sherwood | 20 | F | 6'9" | 215 | RS Senior | Pittsford, New York | Graduated |
| C. J. Getty | 23 | C | 7'0" | 275 | RS Junior | Findlay, Ohio | Graduated; Transferred to Rutgers |
| Kevin Hickson | 30 | F | 6'8" | 215 | Senior | Charlotte, North Carolina | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Ambrose Mosley | 00 | G | 6'2" | 185 | RS Senior | Jacksonville, Florida | Old Dominion |
| Tyrone Taylor | | G | 6'2" | 155 | Sophomore | Grandview, Missouri | Wichita State. |
* Under NCAA transfer rules, Tyrone Taylor will sit out for the 2016–17 season, and will have three years of remaining eligibility entering the 2017–18 season.

### Recruiting class of 2016

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Jaylen Fornes SG | Grantsboro, North Carolina | Word of God Christian Academy | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | Sep 24, 2015 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Matt Elmore PF | Jacksonville, North Carolina | Dixon High School | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | 235 lb (107 kg) | Oct 13, 2015 |
| 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: "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved August 12, 2016. ||||||

## Preseason

The Seahawks were picked to finish in first place in the conference's preseason poll. Chris Flemmings was named Preseason Player of the Year and Denzel Ingram was named to the CAA preseason second-team. C. J. Bryce was named an honorable mention.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition |||||||||
| Nov 6, 2016* 2:00 pm | | Mount Olive | W 117–65 | | 19 – Bryce | 11 – Cacok | 8 – Ingram | Trask Coliseum (3,413) Wilmington, NC |
| Non-conference regular season |||||||||
| Nov 11, 2016* 7:30 pm | | Claflin | W 110–64 | 1–0 | 28 – Flemmings | 16 – Cacok | 9 – Ingram | Trask Coliseum (4,246) Wilmington, NC |
| Nov 14, 2016* 7:00 pm | | at Eastern Kentucky | W 78–69 $^{OT}$ | 2–0 | 21 – Bryce | 13 – Cacok | 4 – Ingram | McBrayer Arena (1,850) Richmond, KY |
| Nov 20, 2016* 3:00 pm | | East Tennessee State | W 68–59 | 3–0 | 17 – Cacok | 11 – Flemmings | 6 – Ingram | Trask Coliseum (4,032) Wilmington, NC |
| Nov 25, 2016* 8:30 pm | | vs. Middle Tennessee Challenge in Music City | L 63–68 | 3–1 | 19 – Ingram | 10 – Cacok | 4 – Bryce | Nashville Municipal Auditorium (1,200) Nashville, TN |
| Nov 26, 2016* 6:00 pm | | vs. Evansville Challenge in Music City | W 65–62 | 4–1 | 18 – Flemmings | 7 – Bryce | 5 – Ingram | Nashville Municipal Auditorium (720) Nashville, TN |
| Nov 27, 2016* 4:00 pm | | vs. Toledo Challenge in Music City | W 102–77 | 5–1 | 18 – Cacok | 7 – Cacok | 9 – Ingram | Nashville Municipal Auditorium (500) Nashville, TN |
| Nov 30, 2016* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Western Michigan | W 97–92 | 6–1 | 18 – Bryce | 8 – Bryce | 6 – Ingram | University Arena (1,823) Kalamazoo, MI |
| Dec 3, 2016* 1:00 pm | | Pfeiffer | W 126–113 | 7–1 | 34 – Cacok | 19 – Cacok | 10 – Ingram | Trask Coliseum (3,731) Wilmington, NC |
| Dec 10, 2016* 6:00 pm, ASN | | at St. Bonaventure | W 81–80 | 8–1 | 19 – Ingram | 9 – Cacok | 5 – Ingram | Reilly Center (3,976) Olean, NY |
| Dec 14, 2016* 7:00 pm | | at Campbell | W 96–75 | 9–1 | 26 – Bryce | 10 – Cacok | 4 – Richmond | Gore Arena (1,827) Buies Creek, NC |
| Dec 17, 2016* 2:00 pm | | Radford | W 100–64 | 10–1 | 17 – Flemmings | 9 – Cacok | 7 – Ingram | Trask Coliseum (4,481) Wilmington, NC |
| Dec 20, 2016* 6:30 pm | | East Carolina | W 81–71 | 11–1 | 26 – Ingram | 9 – Flemmings | 3 – Ingram | Trask Coliseum (5,200) Wilmington, NC |
| Dec 28, 2016* 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | at Clemson | L 73–87 | 11–2 | 20 – Ingram | 6 – Cacok | 6 – Ingram | Littlejohn Coliseum (8,726) Clemson, SC |
| CAA regular season |||||||||
| Dec 31, 2016 Noon | | at Towson | W 76–67 | 12–2 (1–0) | 22 – Ingram | 8 – Cacok | 6 – Ingram | SECU Arena (1,795) Towson, MD |
| Jan 2, 2017 7:00 pm | | Elon | W 79–63 | 13–2 (2–0) | 19 – Bryce | 15 – Cacok | 6 – Ingram | Trask Coliseum (4,350) Wilmington, NC |
| Jan 5, 2017 7:00 pm | | at Drexel | W 90–72 | 14–2 (3–0) | 22 – Cacok | 14 – Cacok | 7 – Bryce | Daskalakis Athletic Center (508) Philadelphia, PA |
| Jan 7, 2017 7:00 pm | | at Delaware | W 91–81 | 15–2 (4–0) | 27 – Bryce | 10 – Cacok | 8 – Ingram | Bob Carpenter Center (1,571) Newark, DE |
| Jan 12, 2017 7:00 pm | | William & Mary | W 101–77 | 16–2 (5–0) | 18 – Bryce | 13 – Cacok | 6 – Bryce | Trask Coliseum (4,889) Wilmington, NC |
| Jan 14, 2017 2:00 pm | | Hofstra | W 84–76 | 17–2 (6–0) | 20 – Ingram | 10 – Bryce | 5 – Ingram | Trask Coliseum (4,808) Wilmington, NC |
| Jan 19, 2017 7:00 pm, ASN | | at College of Charleston | W 65–59 | 18–2 (7–0) | 17 – Talley | 13 – Cacok | 4 – Ingram | TD Arena (4,631) Charleston, SC |
| Jan 21, 2017 4:00 pm, ASN | | Drexel | W 87–74 | 19–2 (8–0) | 17 – Flemmings | 24 – Cacock | 7 – Ingram | Trask Coliseum (5,200) Wilmington, NC |
| Jan 26, 2017 7:00 pm | | at James Madison | W 87–76 | 20–2 (9–0) | 18 – Flemmings | 10 – Cacok | 7 – Talley | JMU Convocation Center (2,849) Harrisonburg, VA |
| Jan 28, 2017 4:00 pm, CSN | | at William & Mary | L 78–96 | 20–3 (9–1) | 21 – Cacok | 16 – Cacok | 7 – Ingram | Kaplan Arena (3,239) Williamsburg, VA |
| Feb 2, 2017 7:00 pm | | College of Charleston | L 66–67 | 20–4 (9–2) | 21 – Bryce | 9 – Cacok | 5 – Tied | Trask Coliseum (5,200) Wilmington, NC |
| Feb 4, 2017 7:00 pm | | Delaware | W 108–80 | 21–4 (10–2) | 22 – Flemmings | 6 – Tied | 9 – Talley | Trask Coliseum (5,200) Wilmington, NC |
| Feb 9, 2017 7:00 pm | | James Madison | W 88–73 | 22–4 (11–2) | 19 – Bryce | 7 – Bryce | 4 – Ingram | Trask Coliseum (4,439) Wilmington, NC |
| Feb 11, 2017 4:00 pm, ASN | | at Elon | L 76–77 | 22–5 (11–3) | 20 – Talley | 7 – Cacok | 6 – Flemmings | Alumni Gym (1,738) Elon, NC |
| Feb 16, 2017 7:00 pm | | at Northeastern | W 66–65 | 23–5 (12–3) | 21 – Flemmings | 9 – Bryce | 4 – Ingram | Matthews Arena (1,041) Boston, MA |
| Feb 18, 2017 4:00 pm, ASN | | at Hofstra | W 83–76 | 24–5 (13–3) | 27 – Flemmings | 7 – Bryce | 4 – Tied | Mack Sports Complex (2,611) Hempstead, NY |
| Feb 23, 2017 7:00 pm | | Towson | W 83–78 | 25–5 (14–3) | 28 – Bryce | 10 – Cacok | 5 – Ingram | Trask Coliseum (4,812) Wilmington, NC |
| Feb 25, 2017 2:00 pm | | Northeastern | W 74–65 | 26–5 (15–3) | 23 – Bryce | 9 – Cacok | 5 – Ingram | Trask Coliseum (5,200) Wilmington, NC |
| CAA tournament |||||||||
| Mar 4, 2017 Noon, CSN | (1) | vs. (9) Delaware Quarterfinals | W 91–82 | 27–5 | 17 – Bryce | 6 – Mosley | 8 – Ingram | North Charleston Coliseum (4,096) North Charleston, SC |
| Mar 5, 2017 2:00 pm, CSN | (1) | vs. (4) William & Mary Semifinals | W 105–94 | 28–5 | 26 – Flemmings | 6 – Cacok | 8 – Ingram | North Charleston Coliseum (4,708) North Charleston, SC |
| Mar 6, 2017 7:00 pm, CBSSN | (1) | vs. (2) College of Charleston Championship | W 78–69 | 29–5 | 24 – Bryce | 14 – Cacok | 5 – Bryce | North Charleston Coliseum (6,342) North Charleston, SC |
| NCAA tournament |||||||||
| Mar 16, 2017* 12:40 pm, truTV | (12 E) | vs. (5 E) No. 24 Virginia First Round | L 71–76 | 29–6 | 18 – Flemmings | 15 – Cacok | 5 – Talley | Amway Center (15,037) Orlando, FL |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East Region. All times are in Eastern Time. Source. |||||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Final |
| AP | — | — | — | — | RV | — | — | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | — | — | — | — | — | RV | — | Not released |
| Coaches | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | — | — | — | RV | RV | — |
*AP does not release post-NCAA Tournament rankings