# 2016–17 Cleveland State Vikings men's basketball team

The 2016–17 Cleveland State Vikings men's basketball team represented Cleveland State University in the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They were coached by Gary Waters who was in his eleventh season. The Vikings played their home games at the Wolstein Center with two games at Quicken Loans Arena and were members of the Horizon League. It was the 86th season of Cleveland State basketball. They finished the season 9–22, 5–13 in Horizon League play to finish in a tie for eighth place. In the Horizon League tournament, they lost to Youngstown State in the first round.
On March 7, 2017, head coach Gary Waters retired. He finished at Cleveland State with an 11-year record of 194–172. On March 24, the school hired former Georgia and Western Kentucky head coach Dennis Felton.

## Previous season

The Vikings finished the 2015–16 season 9–23, 4–14 in Horizon League play to finish in ninth place. They lost in the first round of the Horizon League tournament to Green Bay.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Andre Yates | 1 | G | 6'3" | 185 | Junior | Dayton, OH | Playing professional overseas |
| Myles Hamilton | 2 | G | 6'1" | 190 | RS Junior | Cleveland, OH | Walk-on; transferred |
| Jonathan Janssen | 13 | F | 6'9" | 215 | Freshman | Mountain Creek, Australia | Transferred to Hawaii Pacific |
| Khyler Fields | 23 | G | 6'2" | 175 | Senior | Massilon, OH | Graduated |
| Aaron Scales | 32 | C | 6'9" | 260 | RS Junior | High Point, NC | Graduate transferred to North Carolina A&T |
| Jeron Rogers | 34 | F | 6'7" | 220 | Freshman | North Farmington, MI | Transferred to Oakland CC |
| Vinny Zollo | 41 | F | 6'8" | 230 | Senior | Greenfield, OH | Graduated |

### Incoming Transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Gavin Peppers | 2 | G | 6'1" | 180 | Junior | Washington, D.C. | Junior college transferred from Laramie County CC |
| Ravonn Posey | 35 | F | 6'8" | 280 | Senior | Milwaukee, WI | Transferred from Cal State Bakersfield. Under NCAA transfer rules, Posey will have to sit out for the 2016–17 season. Will have one year of remaining eligibility. |

### 2016 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Evan Clayborne PF | Dayton, OH | Thurgood Marshall High School | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 220 lb (100 kg) | Oct 26, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Andy Lucien SF | North Olmsted, OH | North Olmsted High School | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 185 lb (84 kg) | Oct 20, 2015 |
| 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 October 17, 2016. ||||||

### 2017 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for 2017 recruits :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight |
| Shawn Christian PG | Garfield Heights, OH | Garfield Heights High School | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | 164 lb (74 kg) |
| 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: "2017 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved October 17, 2016. |||||||

## Preseason

In a poll of the League’s coaches, media, and sports information directors, Cleveland State was picked to finish eighth in conference play. Rob Edwards was selected to the Preseason All-Horizon League second team.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 11/08/2016* 7:00 pm | | Tiffin | W 89–67 | | Wolstein Center Cleveland, OH |
| Non-Conference regular season ||||||
| 11/12/2016* 5:00 pm | | vs. Kent State Northeast Ohio Coaches vs. Cancer Classic | L 74–79 $^{OT}$ | 0–1 | Beeghly Center Youngstown, OH |
| 11/15/2016* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Canisius Bluegrass Showcase | W 67–64 | 1–1 | Wolstein Center (1,149) Cleveland, OH |
| 11/18/2016* 8:00 pm | | at UT Martin Bluegrass Showcase | L 74–85 | 1–2 | Skyhawk Arena (1,520) Martin, TN |
| 11/23/2016* 1:00 pm, SECN | | at No. 1 Kentucky Bluegrass Showcase | L 70–101 | 1–3 | Rupp Arena (22,441) Lexington, KY |
| 11/27/2016* 2:00 pm | | at Duquesne Bluegrass Showcase | L 71–78 | 1–4 | Palumbo Center (887) Pittsburgh, PA |
| 11/30/2016* 7:00 pm | | at Arkansas State | L 51–78 | 1–5 | Convocation Center (1,631) Jonesboro, AR |
| 12/03/2016* 12:00 pm, ESPN3 | | vs. Bethune-Cookman | W 73–62 | 2–5 | Quicken Loans Arena (1,227) Cleveland, OH |
| 12/07/2016* 12:00 pm, ESPN3 | | vs. Western Michigan | W 85–62 | 3–5 | Quicken Loans Arena (1,313) Cleveland, OH |
| 12/10/2016* 12:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at No. 15 Purdue | L 53–77 | 3–6 | Mackey Arena (14,283) West Lafayette, IN |
| 12/17/2016* 12:00 pm | | at Ohio | L 53–71 | 3–7 | Convocation Center (4,463) Athens, OH |
| 12/19/2016* 12:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Lake Erie | W 79–62 | 4–7 | Wolstein Center Cleveland, OH |
| 12/22/2016* 12:00 pm | | at Belmont | L 61–88 | 4–8 | Curb Event Center (2,024) Nashville, TN |
| Horizon League regular season ||||||
| 12/29/2016 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Green Bay | L 75–76 $^{OT}$ | 4–9 (0–1) | Wolstein Center (1,441) Cleveland, OH |
| 12/31/2016 3:30 pm, ESPN3 | | Milwaukee | W 62–53 | 5–9 (1–1) | Wolstein Center (1,013) Cleveland, OH |
| 01/05/2017 7:30 pm, ESPN3 | | at Wright State | L 51–55 | 5–10 (1–2) | Nutter Center (3,488) Dayton, OH |
| 01/07/2017 1:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Northern Kentucky | L 75–83 | 5–11 (1–3) | BB&T Arena (2,723) Highland Heights, KY |
| 01/12/2017 7:45 pm, ESPN3 | | UIC | L 54–59 | 5–12 (1–4) | Wolstein Center (1,393) Cleveland, OH |
| 01/14/2017 3:30 pm, ESPN3 | | Valparaiso | L 67–78 | 5–13 (1–5) | Wolstein Center (1,831) Cleveland, OH |
| 01/16/2017 7:00 pm, ASN | | at Oakland | W 76–65 | 6–13 (2–5) | Athletics Center O'rena (2,135) Rochester, MI |
| 01/20/2017 3:30 pm | | at Milwaukee | L 62–63 | 6–14 (2–6) | UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena (1,194) Milwaukee, WI |
| 01/23/2017 7:00 pm, ASN | | at Green Bay | L 73–83 | 6–15 (2–7) | Resch Center (2,349) Green Bay, WI |
| 01/28/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Youngstown State | L 64–67 | 6–16 (2–8) | Beeghly Center (4,821) Youngstown, OH |
| 02/02/2017 7:00 pm | | Detroit | W 90–73 | 7–16 (3–8) | Wolstein Center (1,543) Cleveland, OH |
| 02/04/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Oakland | L 51–53 | 7–17 (3–9) | Wolstein Center (1,763) Cleveland, OH |
| 02/09/2017 8:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Valparaiso | L 57–78 | 7–18 (3–10) | Athletics–Recreation Center (2,455) Valparaiso, IN |
| 02/11/2017 4:00 pm | | at UIC | W 66–63 | 8–18 (4–10) | UIC Pavilion (4,711) Chicago, IL |
| 02/16/2017 7:45 pm, ESPN3 | | Northern Kentucky | L 60–62 | 8–19 (4–11) | Wolstein Center (1,247) Cleveland, OH |
| 02/18/2017 3:30 pm, ESPN3 | | Wright State | L 68–74 $^{2OT}$ | 8–20 (4–12) | Wolstein Center (1,297) Cleveland, OH |
| 02/21/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Detroit | L 83–91 | 8–21 (4–13) | Calihan Hall (1,550) Detroit, MI |
| 02/25/2017 3:30 pm, ESPN3 | | Youngstown State | W 69–55 | 9–21 (5–13) | Wolstein Center (1,717) Cleveland, OH |
| Horizon League tournament ||||||
| 03/03/2017 8:00 pm, ESPN3 | (8) | vs. (9) Youngstown State First Round | L 69–84 | 9–22 | Joe Louis Arena (5,468) Detroit, MI |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||
Source: