# 2017–18 East Carolina Pirates men's basketball team

The 2017–18 East Carolina Pirates men's basketball team represented East Carolina University during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Pirates were led by interim head coach Michael Perry and played their home games at Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum as fourth-year members of the American Athletic Conference. They finished the season 10–20, 4–14 in AAC play to finish in 11th place. They lost in the first round of the AAC tournament to UCF.
Following a 2–4 start to the season, eighth-year head coach Jeff Lebo announced his resignation from ECU on November 29, 2017 and Perry was named interim head coach. On April 4, 2018 the school announced that Florida Gulf Coast head coach Joe Dooley, who coached the Pirates from 1995 to 1999, would return as head coach.

## Previous season

The Pirates finished the 2016–17 season 15–18, 6–12 in AAC play to finish in ninth place. They defeated Temple in the first round of the AAC tournament to advance to the quarterfinals where they lost to SMU.
On January 16, 2017, head coach Jeff Lebo underwent hip surgery and was unable to coach for the rest of the season. Assistant coach Michael Perry took over as acting head coach beginning with the January 22 game.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Deng Riak | 0 | C | 6'10" | 225 | Sophomore | Melbourne, Australia | Transferred to Akron |
| Caleb White | 2 | G | 6'7" | 205 | Senior | Buckingham, VA | Graduated |
| Elijah Hughes | 4 | G | 6'6" | 220 | Freshman | Somers, NY | Transferred to Syracuse |
| Michel Nzege | 13 | F | 6'8" | 220 | RS Senior | Geneva, Switzerland | Graduated |
| Clarence Williams | 23 | F | 6'8" | 195 | Senior | Tallahassee, FL | Graduated |
| Andre Washington | 31 | C | 7'1" | 235 | Senior | Roanoke, VA | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Seth LeDay | 3 | F | 6'7" | 200 | Junior | The Colony, TX | Transferred from Virginia Tech. Under NCAA transfer rules, LeDay will have to sit out for the 2017–18 season. Will have two years of remaining eligibility. |
| Aaron Jackson | 10 | G | 6'8" | 215 | RS Senior | Gahanna, OH | Transferred from Akron. Will be eligible to play immediately since Jackson graduated from Akron. |
| Usman Haruna | 35 | C | 7'0" | 220 | Junior | Kaduna, Nigeria | Junior college transferred from Bismarck State College |

### Recruiting class of 2017

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| K.J. Davis #87 SF | Portsmouth, VA | I. C. Norcom High School | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | N/A | Aug 3, 2016 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Justin Whatley SF | Chesapeake, VA | Oscar Smith High School | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Aug 2, 2017 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Dimitri Spasojevic SF | Vršac, Serbia | Gimnazija Čačak | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 230 lb (100 kg) | Oct 24, 2017 |
| 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 13, 2017. ||||||

### Recruiting class of 2018

College recruiting information (2017) :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| DeShaun Wade #72 SG | Virginia Beach, VA | The Miller School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Jun 19, 2017 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: ESPN grade: 66 |||||||
| Jayden Gardner PF | Wake Forest, NC | Heritage High School | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 225 lb (102 kg) | Sep 24, 2017 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: ESPN grade: NR |||||||
| Rico Quinton C | Newbern, TN | Dyer County | 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Nov 21, 2017 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: 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: "2018 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved November 13, 2017. |||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 12, 2017* 5:00 pm | | Coppin State Showcase on the Banks | W 76–50 | 1–0 | Williams Arena (3,228) Greenville, NC |
| Nov 15, 2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Radford | L 66–73 | 1–1 | Williams Arena (3,384) Greenville, NC |
| Nov 17, 2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Central Connecticut Showcase on the Banks | L 68–79 | 1–2 | Williams Arena (3,042) Greenville, NC |
| Nov 20, 2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Cleveland State Showcase on the Banks | W 72–69 | 2–2 | Williams Arena (2,907) Greenville, NC |
| Nov 24, 2017* 1:00 pm, BTN Plus | | at Rutgers Showcase on the Banks | L 47–61 | 2–3 | Louis Brown Athletic Center (4,336) Piscataway, NJ |
| Nov 26, 2017* 4:00 pm, ESPN3 | | North Carolina A&T | L 81–87 | 2–4 | Williams Arena (3,373) Greenville, NC |
| Nov 30, 2017* 8:00 pm, ESPN3 | | UNC Wilmington | W 93–88 $^{OT}$ | 3–4 | Williams Arena (3,373) Greenville, NC |
| Dec 2, 2017* 5:00 pm | | Delaware State | W 63–57 | 4–4 | Williams Arena (3,195) Greenville, NC |
| Dec 4, 2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Campbell | W 69–66 | 5–4 | Williams Arena (2,980) Greenville, NC |
| Dec 18, 2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Charlotte | L 50–69 | 5–5 | Williams Arena (3,162) Greenville, NC |
| Dec 21, 2017* 7:00 pm | | Grambling State | W 76–68 | 6–5 | Williams Arena (3,302) Greenville, NC |
| AAC regular season ||||||
| Dec 28, 2017 5:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Tulsa | L 53–79 | 6–6 (0–1) | Reynolds Center (8,355) Tulsa, OK |
| Dec 31, 2017 4:00 pm, ESPNews | | UCF | L 39–59 | 6–7 (0–2) | Williams Arena (2,946) Greenville, NC |
| Jan 3, 2018 4:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at South Florida | W 67–65 | 7–7 (1–2) | USF Sun Dome (2,148) Tampa, FL |
| Jan 6, 2018 12:00 pm, ESPNews | | at UConn | L 65–70 | 7–8 (1–3) | XL Center (6,717) Hartford, CT |
| Jan 11, 2018 9:00 pm, ESPN2 | | No. 5 Wichita State | L 60–95 | 7–9 (1–4) | Williams Arena (5,539) Greenville, NC |
| Jan 14, 2018 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Houston | L 49–65 | 7–10 (1–5) | Williams Arena (3,549) Greenville, NC |
| Jan 17, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | South Florida | W 90–52 | 8–10 (2–5) | Williams Arena (2,857) Greenville, NC |
| Jan 20, 2018 4:00 pm, ESPNews | | at No. 12 Cincinnati | L 60–86 | 8–11 (2–6) | BB&T Arena (8,879) Highland Heights, KY |
| Jan 28, 2018 2:00 pm, CBSSN | | at SMU | L 61–86 | 8–12 (2–7) | Moody Coliseum (6,544) Dallas, TX |
| Jan 31, 2018 6:30 pm, ESPNews | | Tulane | L 69–71 $^{OT}$ | 8–13 (2–8) | Williams Arena (3,072) Greenville, NC |
| Feb 3, 2018 2:00 pm, ESPNews | | Memphis | W 88–85 $^{OT}$ | 9–13 (3–8) | Williams Arena (3,338) Greenville, NC |
| Feb 7, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPNews | | at Temple | L 73–90 | 9–14 (3–9) | Liacouras Center (5,282) Philadelphia, PA |
| Feb 14, 2018 8:00 pm, ESPNews | | at Tulane | W 82–80 | 10–14 (4–9) | Devlin Fieldhouse (1,098) New Orleans, LA |
| Feb 18, 2018 3:00 pm, ESPNews | | UConn | L 80–84 | 10–15 (4–10) | Williams Arena (4,524) Greenville, NC |
| Feb 21, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPNews | | SMU | L 58–77 | 10–16 (4–11) | Williams Arena (2,923) Greenville, NC |
| Feb 25, 2018 3:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at No. 23 Houston | L 58–109 | 10–17 (4–12) | Toyota Center (3,602) Houston, TX |
| Mar 1, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPNU | | Tulsa | L 58–72 | 10–18 (4–13) | Williams Arena (3,205) Greenville, NC |
| Mar 4, 2018 3:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Memphis | L 70–90 | 10–19 (4–14) | FedEx Forum (6,474) Memphis, TN |
| AAC tournament ||||||
| Mar 8, 2018 8:30 p:m, ESPNU | (11) | vs. (6) UCF First Round | L 52–66 | 10–20 | Amway Center (7,918) Orlando, FL |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||