The 2017–18 Jacksonville State Gamecocks men's basketball team represented

Jacksonville State University Jacksonville State University (JSU or Jax State) is a public university in Jacksonville, Alabama, United States. Founded in 1883, Jacksonville State offers programs of study in six academic schools leading to bachelor's degree, bachelor's, mas ...

during the

2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 10, 2017. The first tournament was the 2K Sports Classic and the season ended with the Final Four at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, on April 2, 2018. Practices offici ...

. The Gamecocks, led by second-year head coach Ray Harper, played their home games at the

Pete Mathews Coliseum Pete Mathews Coliseum (also known as "The Pete") is a 3,500-seat multi-purpose arena in Jacksonville, Alabama. It is home to the Jacksonville State University Gamecocks men's and women's basketball teams as well as the women's volleyball team. It ...

Jacksonville, Alabama Jacksonville is a city in Calhoun County, Alabama, Calhoun County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 14,385, which is a 14.6% increase since 2010 and a 71.2% increase since 2000. It is included in the Anniston-Oxfo ...

as members of the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in partnership with ...

(OVC). They finished the season 23–13, 11–7 in OVC play, to finish in fourth place. They defeated

Tennessee Tech Tennessee Technological University (commonly referred to as Tennessee Tech) is a public research university in Cookeville, Tennessee. It was formerly known as Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, and before that as University of Dixie, the name unde ...

in the quarterfinals of the OVC tournament before losing in the semifinals to

Murray State Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky, in the Southern United States. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper-level an ...

. 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 defeated

Canisius Canisius may refer to: People * Saint Peter Canisius (1521–1597), Dutch Jesuit Catholic priest * Theodorich Canisius (1532–1606), Jesuit academic, half-brother of St. Peter Canisius * Henricus Canisius (1562–1610), Dutch canonist and histor ...

and

Central Arkansas Central Arkansas, also known as the Little Rock metro, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metro area in the U.S. state ...

to advance to the semifinals where they lost to

North Texas North Texas is a term used primarily by residents of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to refer to a geographic area of Texas, generally considered to include the area south of Oklahoma, east of Abilene, Texas, Abilene, west of Paris, Texas, Par ...

Previous season

The Gamecocks finished the 2016–17 season 20–15, 9–7 in OVC play, to finish in third place in the East Division. As the No. 4 seed in the OVC tournament, they defeated Southeast Missouri State, top-seeded Belmont and UT Martin to win the tournament title. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, its first-ever appearance, where it lost in the first round to

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

Preseason

In a vote of conference coaches and sports information directors, Jacksonville State was picked to finish in 2nd place in the OVC. Malcolm Drumwright and

Norbertas Giga Norbertas Giga (born June 6, 1995) is a Lithuanian professional basketball player for the Prawira Bandung of the Indonesian Basketball League (IBL). He played college basketball for Jacksonville State Gamecocks men's basketball, Jacksonville Stat ...

were named to the 2017–18 preseason all-OVC men's basketball team. After five years of divisional play in the OVC, the conference eliminated divisions for the 2017–18 season. Additionally, for the first time, each conference team played 18 conference games.

Roster

Schedule and results

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2017-18 Jacksonville State Gamecocks men's basketball team Jacksonville State Gamecocks men's basketball seasons Jacksonville State Jacksonville State Jacksonville State Jacksonville State