The 2016–17 Eastern Washington Eagles men's basketball team represented

Eastern Washington University Eastern Washington University (EWU) is a public university in Cheney, Washington, United States. It shares its satellite campus in Spokane, Washington with Washington State University. Founded in 1882, the university is academically divided in ...

during the

2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 11, 2016. The first early-season tournaments were the 2K Sports Classic, Charleston Classic, and Puerto Rico Tip-Off. The season ended with the 2017 NCAA Division I men' ...

. The Eagles were led by sixth-year head coach

Jim Hayford Jim Hayford (born May 5, 1967) is an American college basketball head coach who most recently coached at Seattle University. He previously coached at Eastern Washington University and Division III Whitworth University where he won about 80 percen ...

and played their home games at

Reese Court Reese Court is a 6,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Cheney, Washington, on the campus of Eastern Washington University. It is home to the Eastern Washington Eagles men's basketball, EWU Eagles basketball team and replaced Eastern Washington Fieldh ...

Cheney, Washington Cheney ( ) is a city in Spokane County, Washington, United States. The full-time resident population was 13,255 as of the 2020 census. Eastern Washington University is located in Cheney. When classes are in session at EWU, the city's populati ...

as members of the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference, affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I with college football, football competing in the Football Cha ...

. 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 The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's college basketball tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI sel ...

where they lost in the first round to

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

. On March 29, 2017, head coach Jim Hayford left Eastern Washington to take the head coaching job at in-state rival

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

and was replaced by top assistant

Shantay Legans Shantay Andrade Legans (born July 30, 1981) is an American college basketball coach who is currently men's basketball head coach at Portland. Legans grew up in Goleta, California and played college basketball at California and Fresno State. He b ...

Previous season

The

Eagles Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

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 Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially defined region of the U.S. state of Arizona. Generally consisting of Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Yavapai counties, the region is geographically dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the ...

in the first round of the Big Sky tournament before losing to

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

in the quarterfinals. They received an invitation to the

where they defeated Pepperdine to advance to the quarterfinals before losing to

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

Offseason

Departures

Incoming transfers

2016 recruiting class

Roster

Schedule and results

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2016-17 Eastern Washington Eagles men's basketball team Eastern Washington Eagles men's basketball seasons

Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the H ...