# 2017–18 Eastern Washington Eagles men's basketball team

The 2017–18 Eastern Washington Eagles men's basketball team represented Eastern Washington University during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Eagles were led by first-year head coach Shantay Legans and played their home games at Reese Court in Cheney, Washington as members of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 20–15, 13–5 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for third place. At the Big Sky tournament they defeated Portland State and Southern Utah to advance to the championship game where they lost to Montana. They were invited to the College Basketball Invitational where they lost in the first round to Utah Valley.

## Previous season

The Eagles finished the 2016–17 season 22–12, 13–5 in Big Sky play to finish in second place. As the No. 2 seed in the Big Sky tournament, they defeated Sacramento State in the quarterfinals before losing to Weber State in the semifinals. They were invited to the College Basketball Invitational where they lost in the first round to Wyoming.
On March 29, 2017, head coach Jim Hayford left Eastern Washington to take the head coaching job at in-state rival Seattle and was replaced by top assistant Shantay Legans.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Julian Harrell | 0 | G | 6'5" | 195 | RS Senior | Los Angeles, CA | Graduated |
| Michael Wearne | 5 | G | 6'2" | 175 | Freshman | Croydon, Australia | Transferred |
| Jacob Wiley | 24 | F | 6'7" | 220 | RS Senior | Newport, WA | Graduated/Went undrafted in 2017 NBA draft |
| Geremy McKay | 40 | F | 6'7" | 225 | RS Sophomore | Melbourne, Australia | Transferred |
| Mario Soto | 42 | G | 6'6" | 205 | RS Sophomore | Irvine, CA | Walk-on; didn't return |
| Felix Von Hofe | 44 | F | 6'5" | 200 | Senior | Melbourne, Australia | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Tyler Kidd | 0 | G | 5'11" | | Junior | Seattle, WA | Junior college transferred from Skagit Valley College. |
| Benas Griciūnas | 15 | C | 7'0" | 244 | RS Junior | Šilutė, Lithuania | Transferred from Charlotte. Was eligible to play immediately since Griciūnas graduated from Charlotte. |
| Steven Beo | 25 | G | 6'3" | 180 | Sophomore | Richland, WA | Transferred from BYU. Under NCAA transfer rules, Beo was required to sit out 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 |
| Brendan Howard SF | Great Falls, MT | Great Falls High School | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Sep 14, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 0 ||||||
| Tanner Groves PF | Spokane, WA | Shadle Park High School | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | N/A | Oct 26, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 0 ||||||
| Jack Perry SG | Melbourne, Australia | Camberwell Grammar School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | N/A | |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 0 ||||||
| Kim Aiken SF | Redlands, CA | East Valley High School | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | N/A | |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 0 ||||||
| Richard Polanco SF | San Diego, CA | Army and Navy Academy | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 215 lb (98 kg) | |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 0 ||||||
| 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 September 4, 2017. ||||||

## Preseason

In separate preseason polls of league coaches and media, the Eagles were picked to finish in seventh place (coaches) and sixth place (media) in the Big Sky. Senior forward Bogdan Bliznyuk was named to the preseason All-Big Sky team.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Oct 29, 2017* 5:00 pm | | at Portland Hurricane Maria relief charity game | W 76–70 | | Chiles Center (500) Portland, OR |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 10, 2017* 1:05 pm | | Walla Walla | W 82–61 | 1–0 | Reese Court Cheney, WA |
| Nov 12, 2017* 5:00 pm, P12N | | at Washington | L 69–79 | 1–1 | Alaska Airlines Arena (5,609) Seattle, WA |
| Nov 14, 2017* 8:00 pm, P12N | | at Stanford | W 67–61 | 2–1 | Maples Pavilion (2,799) Stanford, CA |
| Nov 17, 2017* 7:00 pm | | at UNLV MGM Resorts Main Event campus-site game | L 76–91 | 2–2 | Thomas & Mack Center (8,900) Paradise, NV |
| Nov 20, 2017* 1:30 pm | | vs. Georgia State MGM Resorts Main Event Middleweight semifinals | L 50–68 | 2–3 | T-Mobile Arena Paradise, NV |
| Nov 22, 2017* 11:00 am | | vs. Eastern Kentucky MGM Resorts Main Event Middleweight 3rd place game | W 83–62 | 3–3 | T-Mobile Arena Paradise, NV |
| Nov 24, 2017* 5:00 pm, P12N | | at Utah MGM Resorts Main Event campus-site game | L 69–85 | 3–4 | Jon M. Huntsman Center (13,264) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Dec 3, 2017* 1:00 pm | | at Seattle | L 65–84 | 3–5 | KeyArena (1,487) Seattle, WA |
| Dec 7, 2017* 7:00 pm | | at San Francisco | L 71–81 | 3–6 | War Memorial Gymnasium (1,137) San Francisco, CA |
| Dec 10, 2017* 11:00 am, ESPN3 | | at South Dakota | L 73–75 | 3–7 | Sanford Coyote Sports Center (1,998) Vermillion, SD |
| Dec 12, 2017* 6:00 pm | | at Wyoming | L 88–93 $^{OT}$ | 3–8 | Arena-Auditorium (4,363) Laramie, WY |
| Dec 17, 2017* 2:05 pm | | Cal State Northridge | W 86–58 | 4–8 | Reese Court (1,279) Cheney, WA |
| Dec 20, 2017* 6:05 pm | | Providence (MT) | W 94–66 | 5–8 | Reese Court (1,056) Cheney, WA |
| Big Sky regular season ||||||
| Dec 29, 2017 6:00 pm | | at Northern Colorado | L 75–88 | 5–9 (0–1) | Bank of Colorado Arena (1,047) Greeley, CO |
| Dec 31, 2017 2:00 pm | | at North Dakota | W 77–64 | 6–9 (1–1) | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,548) Grand Forks, ND |
| Jan 4, 2018 6:05 pm, SWX | | Portland State | W 81–74 | 7–9 (2–1) | Reese Court (1,375) Cheney, WA |
| Jan 6, 2018 2:05 pm | | Sacramento State | W 82–67 | 8–9 (3–1) | Reese Court (1,464) Cheney, WA |
| Jan 12, 2018 7:30 pm, SWX | | Idaho | L 51–58 | 8–10 (3–2) | Reese Court (2,334) Cheney, WA |
| Jan 18, 2018 5:30 pm | | at Northern Arizona | W 81–76 | 9–10 (4–2) | Walkup Skydome (1,017) Flagstaff, AZ |
| Jan 20, 2018 11:30 am | | at Southern Utah | L 62–66 $^{OT}$ | 9–11 (4–3) | America First Events Center (2,229) Cedar City, UT |
| Jan 25, 2018 6:05 pm | | North Dakota | W 95–71 | 10–11 (5–3) | Reese Court (1,679) Cheney, WA |
| Jan 27, 2018 2:05 pm, ELVN | | Northern Colorado | W 67–65 | 11–11 (6–3) | Reese Court (1,674) Cheney, WA |
| Feb 1, 2018 7:05 pm | | at Sacrmento State | W 74–54 | 12–11 (7–3) | Hornets Nest (568) Sacramento, CA |
| Feb 3, 2018 1:00 pm | | at Portland State | L 81–94 | 12–12 (7–4) | Pamplin Sports Center (527) Portland, OR |
| Feb 9, 2018 7:30 pm, SWX | | at Idaho | L 64–66 | 12–13 (7–5) | Cowan Spectrum (3,192) Moscow, ID |
| Feb 15, 2018 6:05 pm | | Montana | W 74–65 | 13–13 (8–5) | Reese Court (2,354) Cheney, WA |
| Feb 17, 2018 2:05 pm, ELVN | | Montana State | W 84–79 | 14–13 (9–5) | Reese Court (1,804) Cheney, WA |
| Feb 22, 2018 6:00 pm | | at Weber State | W 75–70 | 15–13 (10–5) | Dee Events Center (6,425) Ogden, UT |
| Feb 24, 2018 6:00 pm | | at Idaho State | W 74–69 | 16–13 (11–5) | Reed Gym (1,911) Pocatello, ID |
| Mar 1, 2018 6:05 pm | | Southern Utah | W 74–51 | 17–13 (12–5) | Reese Court (1,637) Cheney, WA |
| Mar 3, 2018 2:05 pm | | Northern Arizona | W 85–68 | 18–13 (13–5) | Reese Court (2,032) Cheney, WA |
| Big Sky tournament ||||||
| Mar 8, 2018 8:05 pm, ELVN | (3) | (6) Portland State Quarterfinals | W 78–72 | 19–13 | Reno Events Center (1,078) Reno, NV |
| Mar 9, 2018 8:05 pm, ELVN | (3) | (10) Southern Utah Semifinals | W 82–70 | 20–13 | Reno Events Center (1,236) Reno, NV |
| Mar 10, 2018 5:05 pm, ESPNU | (3) | (1) Montana Championship game | L 65–82 | 20–14 | Reno Events Center (1,378) Reno, NV |
| CBI ||||||
| Mar 13, 2018* 6:00 pm | | at Utah Valley First round | L 65–87 | 20–15 | UCCU Center (997) Orem, UT |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific Time. ||||||
Source