# 2017–18 Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team

The 2017–18 Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team represented the University of Evansville during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Purple Aces, led by 11th-year head coach Marty Simmons, played their home games at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana as members of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC). They finished the season 17–15, 7–11 in MVC play to finish in a three-way tie for seventh place. As the No. 8 seed in the MVC tournament, they lost to Northern Iowa in the first round.
On March 13, 2018, Evansville fired head coach Marty Simmons. He finished at Evansville with an 11-year record of 184–175. On March 22, the school hired Boston Celtics assistant coach, former Kentucky player and Evansville native Walter McCarty as head coach.

## Previous season

The Purple Aces finished the 2016–17 season 16–17, 6–12 to finish in eighth place in MVC play. They defeated Indiana State in the MVC tournament before losing to Illinois State in the quarterfinals.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Christian Benzon | 2 | G | 6' 4" | 195 | Senior | Copenhagen, Denmark | Graduated |
| Jaylon Brown | 3 | G | 6' 0" | 185 | Senior | Fishers, IN | Graduated |
| Jaiveon Eaves | 4 | G | 6' 2" | 200 | Freshman | Madisonville, KY | Transferred to John A. Logan College |
| Sergej Vucetic | 14 | C | 7' 1" | 238 | RS Senior | Vrbas, Serbia | Graduated |
| Willie Wiley | 23 | F | 6' 7" | 215 | Senior | Springfield, IL | Graduated |
| David Howard | 44 | F | 6' 8" | 225 | RS Senior | Nashville, TN | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Marty Hill | 1 | G | 6' 5" | 170 | Junior | Champlin, MN | Junior college transferred from Northeast CC |

### 2017 recruiting class

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Evan Kuhlman PF | Liberty Township, OH | Lakota East High School | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | N/A | Sep 12, 2016 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Noah Frederking SG | Okawville, IL | Okawville High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 195 lb (88 kg) | Oct 22, 2016 |
| 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. ||||||

## Preseason

In the conference's preseason poll, the Aces were picked to finish in ninth place in the MVC. Junior guard Ryan Taylor was named to the preseason All-MVC second team.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 10, 2017* 7:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Arkansas State | W 77–63 | 1–0 | Ford Center (3,622) Evansville, IN |
| November 13, 2017* 11:00 a.m., ESPN3 | | North Carolina Central | W 68–55 | 2–0 | Ford Center (6,048) Evansville, IN |
| November 16, 2017* 7:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Southeast Missouri State Cancún Challenge campus game | W 66–50 | 3–0 | Ford Center (3,151) Evansville, IN |
| November 18, 2017* 3:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Binghamton Cancún Challenge campus game | W 66–61 | 4–0 | Ford Center (3,167) Evansville, IN |
| November 21, 2017* 7:30 p.m., CBSSN | | vs. Fresno State Cancún Challenge semifinals | W 59–57 | 5–0 | Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya (982) Cancún, Mexico |
| November 22, 2017* 7:30 p.m., CBSSN | | vs. Louisiana Tech Cancún Challenge championship | L 61–63 | 5–1 | Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya (982) Cancún, Mexico |
| November 29, 2017* 8:00 p.m., ATTSNRM | | at New Mexico MW–MVC Challenge | L 59–78 | 5–2 | Dreamstyle Arena (8,943) Albuquerque, NM |
| December 2, 2017* 1:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Oakland City | W 98–56 | 6–2 | Ford Center (3,213) Evansville, IN |
| December 5, 2017* 6:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | at Bowling Green | W 91–76 | 7–2 | Stroh Center (1,489) Bowling Green, OH |
| December 9, 2017* 1:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Canisius | W 65–58 | 8–2 | Ford Center (3,363) Evansville, IN |
| December 16, 2017* 3:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Austin Peay | W 78–74 $^{OT}$ | 9–2 | Ford Center (3,403) Evansville, IN |
| December 17, 2017* 3:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Midway | W 79–52 | 10–2 | Ford Center (3,010) Evansville, IN |
| December 20, 2017* 6:00 p.m., ESPN2 | | at No. 4 Duke | L 40–104 | 10–3 | Cameron Indoor Stadium (9,314) Durham, NC |
| Missouri Valley regular season ||||||
| December 23, 2017 1:00 p.m., NBCSC | | Illinois State | L 66–72 | 10–4 (0–1) | Ford Center (4,039) Evansville, IN |
| December 30, 2017 3:00 p.m., FSMW/NBCSC | | at Loyola–Chicago | L 59–66 | 10–5 (0–2) | Joseph J. Gentile Arena (1,914) Chicago, IL |
| January 3, 2018 7:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | at Southern Illinois | L 63–65 | 10–6 (0–3) | SIU Arena (4,622) Carbondale, IL |
| January 6, 2018 3:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Bradley | W 68–44 | 11–6 (1–3) | Ford Center (4,171) Evansville, IN |
| January 10, 2018 7:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Missouri State | W 64–55 | 12–6 (2–3) | Ford Center (3,237) Evansville, IN |
| January 13, 2018 2:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | at Drake | L 65–81 | 12–7 (2–4) | Knapp Center (3,313) Des Moines, IA |
| January 17, 2018 7:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Indiana State | L 66–71 | 12–8 (2–5) | Ford Center (3,601) Evansville, IN |
| January 20, 2018 7:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | at Bradley | L 53–66 | 12–9 (2–6) | Carver Arena (6,205) Peoria, IL |
| January 24, 2018 7:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | at Valparaiso | W 75–65 | 13–9 (3–6) | Athletics–Recreation Center (2,219) Valparaiso, IN |
| January 27, 2018 1:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Drake | W 77–73 | 14–9 (4–6) | Ford Center (4,295) Evansville, IN |
| January 31, 2018 7:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | at Northern Iowa | W 57–49 | 15–9 (5–6) | Ford Center (3,352) Evansville, IN |
| February 3, 2018 3:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | at Illinois State | L 71–75 | 16–9 (5–7) | Redbird Arena (6,923) Normal, IL |
| February 7, 2018 7:00 p.m., ESPn3 | | Valparaiso | W 63–59 | 16–10 (6–7) | Ford Center (3,425) Evansville, IN |
| February 10, 2018 2:00 p.m. | | at Missouri State | L 55–72 | 16–11 (6–8) | JQH Arena (3,358) Springfield, MO |
| February 13, 2018 7:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | at Northern Iowa | L 41–47 | 16–12 (6–9) | McLeod Center (3,346) Cedar Falls, IA |
| February 18, 2018 3:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Loyola–Chicago | L 66–76 | 16–13 (6–10) | Ford Center (4,887) Evansville, IN |
| February 21, 2018 6:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | at Indiana State | L 53–58 | 16–14 (6–11) | Hulman Center (4,295) Terre Haute, IN |
| February 24, 2018 1:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Southern Illinois | W 75–44 | 17–14 (7–11) | Ford Center (4,312) Evansville, IN |
| Missouri Valley tournament ||||||
| March 1, 2018 6:00 p.m., ESPN3 | (8) | vs. (9) Northern Iowa First round | L 50–60 | 17–15 | Scottrade Center (4,852) St. Louis, MO |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central. ||||||
Sources: