# 2017–18 Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles men's basketball team

The 2017–18 Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles men's basketball team represented Tennessee Technological University during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Golden Eagles, led by seventh-year head coach Steve Payne, played their home games at the Eblen Center in Cookeville, Tennessee as members of the Ohio Valley Conference. They finished the season 19–14, 10–8 in OVC play to finish in a tie for fifth place. They defeated SIU Edwardsville in the first round of the OVC tournament to advance to the quarterfinals where they lost to Jacksonville State.

## Previous season

The Eagles finished the season 12–20, 8–8 in OVC play to finish in a tie for fourth place in the East Division. As the No. 6 seed in the OVC tournament, they lost in the first round to Murray State.

## Preseason

In a vote of conference coaches and sports information directors, Tennessee Tech was picked to finish in 5th place in the OVC. Aleksa Jugovic was named to the 2017–18 Preseason All-OVC Men's Basketball Team.
After five years of divisional play in the OVC, the conference eliminated divisions for the 2017–18 season. Additionally, for the first time, each conference team will play 18 conference games.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 10, 2017* 7:30 pm | | Midway | W 94–56 | 1–0 | Eblen Center (2,071) Cookeville, TN |
| Nov 13, 2017* 8:00 pm, FSSW+ | | at TCU Emerald Coast Classic campus-site game | L 63–100 | 1–1 | Schollmaier Arena (6,019) Fort Worth, TX |
| Nov 16, 2017* 6:00 pm | | Boyce | W 106–46 | 2–1 | Eblen Center (756) Cookeville, TN |
| Nov 18, 2017* 6:00 pm | | Kennesaw State | W 82–68 | 3–1 | Eblen Center (1,116) Cookeville, TN |
| Nov 21, 2017* 8:00 pm | | at New Mexico Emerald Coast Classic campus-site game | W 104–96 | 4–1 | Dreamstyle Arena (9,703) Albuquerque, NM |
| Nov 24, 2017* 11:00 am | | vs. Omaha Emerald Coast Classic Pool B semifinals | W 86–85 | 5–1 | The Arena at NFSC (325) Niceville, FL |
| Nov 25, 2017* 12:30 pm | | vs. Maryland Eastern Shore Emerald Coast Classic Pool B finals | W 90–60 | 6–1 | The Arena at NFSC (125) Niceville, FL |
| Nov 29, 2017* 6:00 pm | | Lipscomb | W 86–80 | 7–1 | Eblen Center (1,327) Cookeville, TN |
| Dec 2, 2017* 4:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Furman | L 50–64 | 7–2 | Timmons Arena (1,002) Greenville, SC |
| Dec 6, 2017* 6:00 pm, SPEC | | at Dayton | L 66–79 | 7–3 | UD Arena (12,976) Dayton, OH |
| Dec 9, 2017* 12:00 pm | | at Central Michigan | L 69–74 | 7–4 | McGuirk Arena (1,956) Mount Pleasant, MI |
| Dec 17, 2017* 2:00 pm | | Chattanooga | W 82–76 | 8–4 | Eblen Center (1,039) Cookeville, TN |
| Dec 21, 2017* 7:00 pm, BTN | | at Indiana | L 59–87 | 8–5 | Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (12,122) Bloomington, IN |
| Ohio Valley Conference regular season ||||||
| Dec 28, 2017 7:30 pm | | Morehead State | W 69–67 | 9–5 (1–0) | Eblen Center (1,638) Cookeville, TN |
| Dec 30, 2017 7:00 pm, CBSSN | | Eastern Kentucky | W 77–69 | 10–5 (2–0) | Eblen Center (2,596) Cookeville, TN |
| Jan 4, 2018 7:00 pm | | at Belmont | L 67–80 | 10–6 (2–1) | Curb Event Center (1,807) Nashville, TN |
| Jan 6, 2018 4:00 pm | | at Tennessee State | W 87–81 | 11–6 (3–1) | Gentry Complex (1,127) Nashville, TN |
| Jan 11, 2018 7:30 pm | | Austin Peay | W 86–74 | 12–6 (4–1) | Eblen Center (1,334) Cookeville, TN |
| Jan 13, 2018 7:30 pm | | Murray State | L 45–71 | 12–7 (4–2) | Eblen Center (2,054) Cookeville, TN |
| Jan 18, 2018 7:00 pm | | at Eastern Kentucky | W 70–67 | 13–7 (5–2) | McBrayer Arena (1,590) Richmond, KY |
| Jan 20, 2018 3:15 pm | | at Morehead State | L 55–74 | 13–8 (5–3) | Ellis Johnson Arena (3,623) Morehead, KY |
| Jan 25, 2018 7:30 pm | | Southeast Missouri State | W 76–65 | 14–8 (6–3) | Eblen Center (1,936) Cookeville, TN |
| Jan 27, 2018 7:30 pm | | UT Martin | W 63–55 | 15–8 (7–3) | Eblen Center (2,283) Cookeville, TN |
| Feb 1, 2018 7:00 pm | | at SIU Edwardsville | W 68–67 | 16–8 (8–3) | Vadalabene Center (1,153) Edwardsville, IL |
| Feb 3, 2018 3:15 pm | | at Eastern Illinois | L 71–79 | 16–9 (8–4) | Lantz Arena (1,831) Charleston, IL |
| Feb 8, 2018 8:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Jacksonville State | L 65–82 | 16–10 (8–5) | Pete Mathews Coliseum (2,009) Jacksonville, AL |
| Feb 10, 2018 7:30 pm | | Belmont | L 70–75 | 16–11 (8–6) | Eblen Center (4,058) Cookeville, TN |
| Feb 15, 2018 7:30 pm | | at Austin Peay | W 86–80 | 17–11 (9–6) | Dunn Center (1,613) Clarksville, TN |
| Feb 17, 2018 7:30 pm | | at Murray State | L 65–75 | 17–12 (9–7) | CFSB Center (6,495) Murray, KY |
| Feb 22, 2018 7:30 pm | | Tennessee State | W 69–64 | 18–12 (10–7) | Eblen Center (2,659) Cookeville, TN |
| Feb 24, 2018 7:30 pm | | Jacksonville State | L 57–66 | 18–13 (10–8) | Eblen Center (2,757) Cookeville, TN |
| Ohio Valley Conference tournament ||||||
| Feb 28, 2018 6:30 pm | (5) | vs. (8) SIU Edwardsville First round | W 60–51 | 19–13 | Ford Center (654) Evansville, IN |
| Mar 1, 2018 6:30 pm | (5) | vs. (4) Jacksonville State Quarterfinals | L 70–73 | 19–14 | Ford Center (914) Evansville, IN |
| *Non-conference game. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||
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