# 2016–17 Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners men's basketball team

The 2016–17 Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners men's basketball team represented California State University, Bakersfield during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Roadrunners, led by sixth-year head coach Rod Barnes, played their home games at the Icardo Center as members of the Western Athletic Conference. They finished the season 25–10, 12–2 in WAC play to win the regular season WAC championship. They defeated Utah Valley to advance to the championship game of the WAC tournament where they lost to New Mexico State. As a regular season conference champion who failed to win their conference tournament, they received an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament. As a No. 8 seed, they defeated California, Colorado State, and Texas–Arlington to become the first No. 8 seed to advance to the semifinals since the NIT introduced seeding in 2006. In the semifinals at Madison Square Garden they lost to Georgia Tech.

## Previous season

The Roadrunners finished the 2015–16 season 24–9, 11–3 in WAC play to finish in a tie for second place. They defeated Chicago State, Seattle, and New Mexico State to win the WAC tournament. As a result, they earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, their first ever appearance, where they lost in the first round to Oklahoma.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Kyle Ferreira | 2 | G | 6'3" | 190 | Sophomore | Bakersfield, CA | Walk-on; left the team for personal reasons |
| Darryl Geyen | 3 | G | 5'10" | 165 | Freshman | Houston, TX | Walk-on; left the team for personal reasons |
| Kevin Mays | 10 | F | 6'4" | 220 | Senior | Queens, NY | Graduated |
| Ravonn Posey | 12 | F | 6'8" | 280 | Junior | Milwaukee, WI | Transferred to Cleveland State |
| Justin Hollins | 33 | F | 6'8" | 205 | Junior | Cypress, TX | Transferred |
| Aly Ahmed | 42 | C | 6'9" | 250 | Senior | Alexandria, Egypt | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| James Suber | 4 | F | 6'6" | 210 | Junior | Philadelphia, PA | Junior college transferred from Panola College |
| Fallou Ndoye | 15 | C | 6'11" | 220 | RS Junior | Dakar, Senegal | Transferred from Mississippi State. Under NCAA transfer rules, Ndoye will have to sit out for the 2016–17 season. Will have two years of remaining eligibility. |
| Moataz Aly | 22 | F | 6'9" | 200 | Junior | Alexandria, Egypt | Junior college transferred from Hutchinson CC |

### 2016 incoming recruits

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Justin Davis #86 SF | San Diego, CA | Morse High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Aug 8, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 64 ||||||
| Tazé Moore SF | Southaven, MS | Southaven High School | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 0 ||||||
| Greg Lee SG | Houston, TX | Westside High School | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 185 lb (84 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: "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved September 13, 2016. ||||||

### 2017 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for 2017 recruits :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Darrin Persons #78 PF | Clovis, CA | Immanuel High School | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 195 lb (88 kg) | Aug 8, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 64 |||||||
| Justin McCall SG | Bakersfield, CA | Ridgeview High School | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 195 lb (88 kg) | Aug 15, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: 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 September 13, 2016. |||||||

### 2018 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for 2018 recruits :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Ronnie Stapp SF | Bakersfield, CA | Bakersfield High School | 6 ft 65 in (3.48 m) | 195 lb (88 kg) | Apr 1, 2016 |
| Recruiting 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: "2018 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved September 13, 2016. |||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 11/09/2016* 7:00 pm | | The Master's College | W 82–63 | | Icardo Center (1,232) Bakersfield, CA |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/11/2016* 7:00 pm | | San Diego Christian | W 96–54 | 1–0 | Icardo Center (1,566) Bakersfield, CA |
| 11/15/2016* 7:00 pm, P12N | | at No. 10 Arizona | L 66–78 | 1–1 | McKale Center (14,214) Tucson, AZ |
| 11/19/2016* 7:00 pm | | UC Santa Barbara Homecoming | W 77–70 | 2–1 | Icardo Center (1,897) Bakersfield, CA |
| 11/22/2016* 7:00 pm | | Fresno State | W 71–63 | 3–1 | Icardo Center (3,497) Bakersfield, CA |
| 11/25/2016* 1:00 pm | | at Wright State Men vs. Cancer Classic | L 64–68 | 3–2 | Nutter Center (3,123) Dayton, OH |
| 11/26/2016* 1:30 pm | | vs. North Florida Men vs. Cancer Classic | W 77–54 | 4–2 | Nutter Center (3,024) Dayton, OH |
| 11/27/2016* 11:00 am | | vs. North Dakota Men vs. Cancer Classic | L 55–57 | 4–3 | Nutter Center (2,975) Dayton, OH |
| 11/30/2016* 7:00 pm | | Pacific Union | W 79–46 | 5–3 | Icardo Center (1,699) Bakersfield, CA |
| 12/02/2016* 5:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at SMU | L 43–49 | 5–4 | Moody Coliseum (6,852) Dallas, TX |
| 12/05/2016* 5:30 pm | | at Northern Arizona | W 81–47 | 6–4 | Walkup Skydome (678) Flagstaff, AZ |
| 12/10/2016* 7:00 pm | | Portland State | W 81–79 | 7–4 | Icardo Center (1,733) Bakersfield, CA |
| 12/15/2016* 12:00 pm | | Bethesda | W 105–78 | 8–4 | Icardo Center (3,497) Bakersfield, CA |
| 12/22/2016* 6:00 pm, BYUtv | | at BYU | L 71–81 | 8–5 | Marriott Center (15,073) Provo, UT |
| 12/27/2016* 7:00 pm | | at UC Santa Barbara | L 60–62 $^{OT}$ | 8–6 | UCSB Events Center (1,191) Santa Barbara, CA |
| 01/03/2017* 4:00 pm | | at Dartmouth | W 64–60 | 9–6 | Leede Arena (400) Hanover, NH |
| WAC regular season ||||||
| 01/07/2017 7:00 pm | | Seattle | W 78–71 | 10–6 (1–0) | Icardo Center (2,967) Bakersfield, CA |
| 01/12/2017 5:00 pm | | at Texas–Rio Grande Valley | W 88–81 | 11–6 (2–0) | UTRGV Fieldhouse (1,330) Edinburg, TX |
| 01/14/2017 6:00 pm | | at New Mexico State | L 58–63 | 11–7 (2–1) | Pan American Center (4,295) Las Cruces, NM |
| 01/21/2017 7:00 pm, ASN | | Utah Valley | W 68–65 | 12–7 (3–1) | Icardo Center (3,497) Bakersfield, CA |
| 01/26/2017 5:00 pm | | at Chicago State | W 75–59 | 13–7 (4–1) | Jones Convention Center (1,354) Chicago, IL |
| 01/28/2017 5:00 pm | | at UMKC | W 74–63 | 14–7 (5–1) | Municipal Auditorium (1,587) Kansas City, MO |
| 02/04/2017 6:00 pm | | at Grand Canyon | W 65–62 | 15–7 (6–1) | GCU Arena (7,237) Phoenix, AZ |
| 02/09/2017 7:00 pm | | New Mexico State | W 72–53 | 16–7 (7–1) | Icardo Center (3,497) Bakersfield, CA |
| 02/11/2017 7:00 pm | | Texas–Rio Grande Valley | W 75–53 | 17–7 (8–1) | Icardo Center (2,312) Bakersfield, CA |
| 02/16/2017 6:00 pm | | at Utah Valley | W 80–71 | 18–7 (9–1) | UCCU Center (1,255) Orem, UT |
| 02/18/2017 7:00 pm | | at Seattle | W 51–48 | 19–7 (10–1) | Connolly Center (912) Seattle, WA |
| 02/23/2017 7:00 pm | | UMKC | W 71–62 | 20–7 (11–1) | Icardo Center (2,233) Bakersfield, CA |
| 02/25/2017 7:00 pm | | Chicago State | W 69–49 | 21–7 (12–1) | Icardo Center (3,213) Bakersfield, CA |
| 03/04/2017 7:30 pm, ASN | | Grand Canyon | L 52–58 | 21–8 (12–2) | Icardo Center (3,298) Bakersfield, CA |
| WAC tournament ||||||
| 03/10/2017 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | (1) | vs. (4) Utah Valley Semifinals | W 81–80 $^{4OT}$ | 22–8 | Orleans Arena (2,190) Paradise, NV |
| 03/11/2017 8:00 pm, ESPNU | (1) | vs. (2) New Mexico State Championship | L 60–70 | 22–9 | Orleans Arena (2,444) Paradise, NV |
| NIT ||||||
| 03/14/2017* 8:15 pm, ESPN2 | (8) | at (1) California First Round – California Bracket | W 73–66 | 23–9 | Haas Pavilion (1,778) Berkeley, CA |
| 03/20/2017* 8:15 pm, ESPN2 | (8) | at (4) Colorado State Second Round – California Bracket | W 81–63 | 24–9 | Moby Arena (4,203) Fort Collins, CO |
| 03/22/2017* 6:00 pm, ESPNU | (8) | at (6) UT Arlington Quarterfinals – California Bracket | W 80–76 | 25–9 | College Park Center (6,336) Arlington, TX |
| 03/28/2017* 4:00 pm, ESPN | (8) | vs. (6) Georgia Tech Semifinals | L 61–76 | 25–10 | Madison Square Garden (5,210) New York City, NY |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific Time Source. ||||||