# 2016–17 Eastern Washington Eagles men's basketball team

The 2016–17 Eastern Washington Eagles men's basketball team represented Eastern Washington University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Eagles were led by sixth-year head coach Jim Hayford and played their home games at Reese Court in Cheney, Washington as members of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the 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.

## Previous season

The Eagles finished the 2015–16 season 18–16, 10–6 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for fifth place. They defeated Northern Arizona in the first round of the Big Sky tournament before losing to Idaho in the quarterfinals. They received an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational where they defeated Pepperdine to advance to the quarterfinals before losing to Nevada.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Austin McBroom | 5 | G | 5'9" | 165 | RS Senior | Los Angeles, CA | Graduated |
| Bear Henderson | 11 | F | 6'6" | 215 | RS Freshman | Mission Hills, CA | Transferred to Iowa Western CC |
| Will Ferris | 15 | G | 6'1" | 175 | RS Freshman | Bellevue, WA | Transferred to Azusa Pacific |
| Enrico Nuno | 22 | F | 6'8" | 250 | Sophomore | Half Moon Bay, CA | Dismissed from the team |
| Kyle Reid | 23 | F | 6'8" | 215 | RS Senior | Cleveland, OH | Graduated |
| Venky Jois | 55 | F | 6'8" | 230 | Senior | Boronia, Australia | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Jacob Wiley | 24 | F | 6'7" | 220 | RS Senior | Newport, WA | Transferred from Lewis–Clark State College. Will be eligible to play immediately since Wiley graduated from Lewis–Clark. |

### 2016 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Jacob Davison #67 SG | Montebello, CA | Cantwell Sacred Heart Of Mary High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 175 lb (79 kg) | Sep 30, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 59 ||||||
| Mason Peatling PF | Melbourne, Australia | Beaconhills College | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 215 lb (98 kg) | Nov 11, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Luka Vulikic SG | Belgrade, Serbia | | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Apr 13, 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: "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved August 22, 2016. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 10/30/2016* 2:05 pm | | Saint Martin's | W 80–69 | | Reese Court Cheney, WA |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/11/2016* 12:05 pm | | Linfield | W 70–46 | 1–0 | Reese Court (1,410) Cheney, WA |
| 11/14/2016* 6:00 pm, BTN | | at Northwestern Legends Classic | L 72–86 | 1–1 | Welsh-Ryan Arena (5,604) Evanston, IL |
| 11/17/2016* 5:00 pm, LHN | | at No. 23 Texas Legends Classic | L 52–85 | 1–2 | Frank Erwin Center (9,072) Austin, TX |
| 11/21/2016* 6:05 pm | | Bryant Legends Classic | W 81–77 | 2–2 | Reese Court (1,221) Cheney, WA |
| 11/22/2016* 6:05 pm | | Seattle Legends Classic | W 80–76 $^{2OT}$ | 3–2 | Reese Court (922) Cheney, WA |
| 11/26/2016* 6:05 pm | | Denver EWU Men's Basketball Classic | W 85–80 $^{OT}$ | 4–2 | Reese Court (1,026) Cheney, WA |
| 11/27/2016* 6:05 pm | | San Francisco EWU Men's Basketball Classic | W 96–90 | 5–2 | Reese Court (1,088) Cheney, WA |
| 12/04/2016* 1:00 pm | | at Seattle | W 93–88 $^{2OT}$ | 6–2 | KeyArena (1,058) Seattle, WA |
| 12/08/2016* 6:05 pm | | Great Falls | W 103–76 | 7–2 | Reese Court (1,008) Cheney, WA |
| 12/13/2016* 6:05 pm | | Morehead State | W 88–86 $^{OT}$ | 8–2 | Reese Court (1,046) Cheney, WA |
| 12/18/2016* 10:00 am | | at Northern Kentucky | L 48–70 | 8–3 | BB&T Arena (2,062) Highland Heights, KY |
| 12/20/2016* 3:30 pm, FS1 | | at No. 17 Xavier | L 56–85 | 8–4 | Cintas Center (10,250) Cincinnati, OH |
| 12/22/2016* 5:30 pm, P12N | | at Colorado | L 68–76 | 8–5 | Coors Events Center (6,958) Boulder, CO |
| Big Sky regular season ||||||
| 12/30/2016 7:00 pm | | at Idaho | W 69–62 | 9–5 (1–0) | Coors Events Center (1,107) Boulder, CO |
| 01/05/2017 6:05 pm | | Montana State | W 82–64 | 10–5 (2–0) | Reese Court (1,380) Cheney, WA |
| 01/07/2017 1:05 pm | | Montana | L 59–65 | 10–6 (2–1) | Reese Court (2,107) Cheney, WA |
| 01/12/2017 6:05 pm | | at Idaho State | W 92–85 | 11–6 (3–1) | Reed Gym (1,404) Pocatello, ID |
| 01/14/2017 6:05 pm | | at Weber State | L 60–67 | 11–7 (3–2) | Dee Events Center (6,678) Ogden, UT |
| 01/19/2017 6:05 pm | | Northern Arizona | W 84–62 | 12–7 (4–2) | Reese Court (1,519) Cheney, WA |
| 01/21/2017 1:05 pm | | Southern Utah | W 83–68 | 13–7 (5–2) | Reese Court (1,621) Cheney, WA |
| 01/26/2017 6:00 pm | | at Montana | W 72–60 | 14–7 (6–2) | Dahlberg Arena (3,637) Missoula, MT |
| 01/28/2017 1:00 pm | | at Montana State | L 90–91 | 14–8 (6–3) | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (2,951) Bozeman, MT |
| 02/02/2017 6:05 pm | | Sacramento State | W 77–72 | 15–8 (7–3) | Reese Court (1,502) Cheney, WA |
| 02/04/2017 1:05 pm | | Portland State | W 130–124 $^{3OT}$ | 16–8 (8–3) | Reese Court (2,026) Cheney, WA |
| 02/09/2017 5:00 pm | | at North Dakota | L 86–95 | 16–9 (8–4) | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,891) Grand Forks, ND |
| 02/11/2017 1:00 pm | | at Northern Colorado | W 70–44 | 17–9 (9–4) | Bank of Colorado Arena (1,057) Greeley, CO |
| 02/17/2017 6:05 pm | | Idaho | W 77–67 | 18–9 (10–4) | Reese Court (2,821) Cheney, WA |
| 02/23/2017 6:05 pm | | Weber State | W 82–72 | 19–9 (11–4) | Reese Court (2,223) Cheney, WA |
| 02/25/2017 1:05 pm | | Idaho State | W 89–77 | 20–9 (12–4) | Reese Court (2,025) Cheney, WA |
| 03/02/2017 5:30 pm | | at Southern Utah | W 91–75 | 21–9 (13–4) | Centrum Arena (2,159) Cedar City, UT |
| 03/04/2017 3:30 pm | | at Northern Arizona | L 61–76 | 21–10 (13–5) | Walkup Skydome (940) Flagstaff, AZ |
| Big Sky tournament ||||||
| 03/09/2017 5:35 pm | (2) | vs. (7) Sacramento State Quarterfinals | W 89–70 | 22–10 | Reno Events Center (1,903) Reno, NV |
| 03/10/2017 5:05 pm | (2) | vs. (3) Weber State Semifinals | L 72–80 | 22–11 | Reno Events Center (2,265) Reno, NV |
| CBI ||||||
| 03/15/2017* 6:00 pm | | at Wyoming First Round | L 81–91 | 22–12 | Arena-Auditorium (1,803) Laramie, WY |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific Time Source. ||||||