The 2017–18 Memphis Tigers men's basketball team represented the University of Memphis in the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, the 97th season of Tiger basketball, the second under head coach Tubby Smith, and the fifth as members of the American Athletic Conference. They played their home games at the FedEx Forum. They finished the season 21–13, 10–8 in AAC play to finish in fifth place. They defeated Tulsa in the AAC tournament before losing to Cincinnati in the semifinals.

On March 14, 2018, the school fired head coach Tubby Smith after two years. On March 20, the school hired former Memphis player and NBA star Penny Hardaway as coach.

Previous season The Tigers finished the 2016–17 season 19–13, 9–9 in AAC play to finish in a tie for fifth place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the AAC tournament to UCF. Despite having 19 wins, they did not participate in a postseason tournament.

Offseason Departures Following the 2016–17 season, Dedric Lawson, K.J. Lawson, and Markel Crawford, the Tigers' three leading scorers and rebounders, announced they would transfer from Memphis.

Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes 0 G/F 210 Memphis, TN Transferred to Kansas 1 G/F 236 Memphis, TN Transferred to Kansas 4 G 187 Winter Haven, FL Transferred to Massachusetts 5 G 208 Memphis, TN Transferred to Ole Miss 10 G 182 Las Vegas, NV Graduated 12 G 184 Youngstown, OH Transferred to Duquesne 15 F 236 Fort Worth, TX Transferred 42 G/F 218 Memphis, TN Graduated

Incoming transfers Name Num Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes Kyvon Davenport 0 PF 6'8" 185 Sophomore Gainesville, GA Junior college transfer from Georgia Highlands College. Raynere Thornton 4 SF 6'7" 215 Sophomore Marietta, GA Junior college transfer from Gordon College. Kareem Brewton 5 SG 6'3" 205 Sophomore Snellville, GA Junior college transfer from Eastern Florida State College. Mike Parks Jr. 10 C 6'9" 270 Sophomore Cleveland, OH Junior college transfer from SW Mississippi CC. Malik Rhodes 11 SG 6'2" 170 Sophomore Cincinnati, OH Junior college transfer from Barton CC.

2017 recruiting class

2018 recruiting class

Roster

Schedule and results

!colspan=6 style=| Exhibition

!colspan=6 style=| Non-conference regular season

!colspan=6 style=| AAC regular season

!colspan=12 style=| AAC tournament

References