The 2017–18 North Texas Mean Green men's basketball team represented the University of North Texas during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Mean Green, led by first-year head coach Grant McCasland, played their home games at UNT Coliseum, nicknamed The Super Pit, in Denton, Texas, as members of Conference USA. They finished the season 20–18, 8–10 in C-USA play to finish in a tie for seventh place. They lost in the first round of the C-USA tournament to Louisiana Tech. They were invited to participate in the College Basketball Invitational where they defeated South Dakota, Mercer, and Jacksonville State to advance to the best-of-three finals series against San Francisco. After losing in game 1, they won games 2 and 3 to become CBI champions. They also had the biggest crowd since 2010 at 6,291.
Previous season The Mean Green finished the 2016–17 season 8–22, 2–16 in C-USA play to finish in last place. They failed to qualify for the C-USA tournament.
On March 5, 2017, the school fired head coach Tony Benford after five years without a winning season. On March 13, the school hired Arkansas State head coach Grant McCasland as head coach.
Departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure Jeremy Combs 1 F 6'7" 215 Junior Dallas, TX Graduate transferred to LSU Greg White-Pittman 2 G 6'2" 205 Junior New Orleans, LA Transferred Ja'Michael Brown 3 G 6'1" 180 Sophomore Raceland, LA Transferred to Angelo State Keith Frazier 4 G 6'5" 190 Senior Dallas, TX Graduate transferred to UTEP Deckie Johnson 10 G 6'4" 180 Senior Memphis, TN Graduated Derail Green 11 F 6'7" 220 RS Senior Houston, TX Graduated Rickey Brice Jr. 23 C 7'1" 270 Sophomore Arlington, TX Graduate transferred to Texas A&M–Commerce Jacob Gross 24 G 6'4" 191 RS Junior Sachse, TX Walk-on; left the team for personal reasons J-Mychael Reese 52 G 6'2" 185 RS Junior Bryan, TX Graduate transferred
Incoming transfers Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous School Jorden Duffy 2 G 6'0" RS Sophomore Salisbury, MD Junior college transferred from San Jacinto College Roosevelt Smart 3 G 6'3" 170 Sophomore Palatine, IL Junior college transferred from New Mexico JC Jahmiah Simmons 10 F 6'4" 205 Sophomore Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands Transferred from Arkansas State. Under NCAA transfer rules, Simmons will have to sit out for the 2017–18 season. Will have three years of remaining eligibility. Tope Arikawe 20 F 6'8" 220 Junior Lagos, Nigeria Junior college transferred from Panola College Michael Miller 23 G 6'3" Junior Michigan City, IN Junior college transferred from Shawnee CC
Recruiting class of 2017
Roster
Schedule and results
!colspan=9 style=| Non-conference regular season
!colspan=12 style=| Conference USA regular season
!colspan=9 style=| Conference USA tournament
!colspan=9 style=| CBI
See also 2017–18 North Texas Mean Green women's basketball team
References