The 2016–17 Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team represented the University of Evansville during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Purple Aces, led by 10th-year head coach Marty Simmons, played their home games at the Ford Center as members of the Missouri Valley Conference. They finished the season 16–17, 6–12 to finish in eighth place in MVC play. They defeated Indiana State in the MVC tournament before losing to Illinois State in the quarterfinals.
Previous season The Purple Aces finished the 2015–16 season with a record of 25–9, 12–6 in Missouri Valley play to finish in a tie for second place. They defeated Missouri State and Indiana State in the Missouri Valley tournament to advance to the championship game where they lost to Northern Iowa. Despite having 25 wins, they did not participate in a postseason tournament.
Preseason Evansville was picked to finish ninth in the conference's preseason poll.
Offseason Departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes Mislav Brzoja 5 G 6'4" 215 RS Junior Zagreb, Croatia Playing professional overseas in Europe Adam Wing 12 G 6'4" 205 Senior Morehead, KY Graduated Harris Brown 13 G 5'11" 175 Freshman Indianapolis, IN Transferred to Dodge City CC D. J. Balentine 31 G 6'2" 210 Senior Kokomo, IN Graduated Egidijus Mockevičius 55 C 6'10" 225 Senior Kuršėnai, Lithuania Graduated
Incoming transfers Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes Dalen Traore 15 C 6'9" 250 Junior Ivory Coast Junior college transferred from Miami Dade College.
2016 recruiting class
Roster
Schedule and results
!colspan=9 style=| Non-conference regular season
!colspan=9 style=| Missouri Valley regular season
!colspan=12 style=| Missouri Valley tournament
Source
References