The 2017–18 North Texas Mean Green men's basketball team represented the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...

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 Mean Green, led by first-year head coach

Grant McCasland Grant McCasland (born October 14, 1976) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head men's basketball coach at Texas Tech University. McCasland previously coached at North Texas from 2017 to 2023, where he guided the Mean Gre ...

, played their home games at

UNT Coliseum The UNT Coliseum is a 9,797-seat multi-purpose arena located in Denton, Texas, United States, built in 1973. While the arena's formal name is the UNT Coliseum, the building is more commonly referred to as the Super Pit, a nickname derived fro ...

, nicknamed ''The Super Pit'', in

Denton, Texas Denton is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, Denton County. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the List of cities in Texas by population, 20th-most populous city in Texas, the List of Un ...

, as members of

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

. 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 Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – Hig ...

. They were invited to participate in 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

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

Mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (automobile), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City, US * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or tra ...

, and Jacksonville State to advance to the best-of-three finals series against

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. 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 Tony L. Benford (born March 22, 1964) is an American basketball coach who is an assistant coach of the TCU Horned Frogs men's basketball team. Biography A native of Hobbs, New Mexico — and 1982 graduate of Hobbs High School — Benford playe ...

after five years without a winning season. On March 13, the school hired

Arkansas State Arkansas State University (A-State or ASU) is a public research university in Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States. It is the flagship campus of the Arkansas State University System and the second-largest university in the state. The university ...

head coach Grant McCasland as head coach.

Departures

Incoming Transfers

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2017-18 North Texas Mean Green men's basketball team North Texas Mean Green men's basketball seasons

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 ...

College Basketball Invitational championship seasons North Texas Mean Green men's b North Texas Mean Green men's b