The 2017–18 East Carolina Pirates men's basketball team represented East Carolina University during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Pirates were led by interim head coach Michael Perry and played their home games at Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum as fourth-year members of the American Athletic Conference. They finished the season 10–20, 4–14 in AAC play to finish in 11th place. They lost in the first round of the AAC tournament to UCF.
Following a 2–4 start to the season, eighth-year head coach Jeff Lebo announced his resignation from ECU on November 29, 2017 and Perry was named interim head coach. On April 4, 2018 the school announced that Florida Gulf Coast head coach Joe Dooley, who coached the Pirates from 1995 to 1999, would return as head coach.
Previous season The Pirates finished the 2016–17 season 15–18, 6–12 in AAC play to finish in ninth place. They defeated Temple in the first round of the AAC tournament to advance to the quarterfinals where they lost to SMU.
On January 16, 2017, head coach Jeff Lebo underwent hip surgery and was unable to coach for the rest of the season. Assistant coach Michael Perry took over as acting head coach beginning with the January 22 game.
Offseason Departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure Deng Riak 0 C 6'10" 225 Sophomore Melbourne, Australia Transferred to Akron Caleb White 2 G 6'7" 205 Senior Buckingham, VA Graduated Elijah Hughes 4 G 6'6" 220 Freshman Somers, NY Transferred to Syracuse Michel Nzege 13 F 6'8" 220 RS Senior Geneva, Switzerland Graduated Clarence Williams 23 F 6'8" 195 Senior Tallahassee, FL Graduated Andre Washington 31 C 7'1" 235 Senior Roanoke, VA Graduated
Incoming transfers Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous School Seth LeDay 3 F 6'7" 200 Junior The Colony, TX Transferred from Virginia Tech. Under NCAA transfer rules, LeDay will have to sit out for the 2017–18 season. Will have two years of remaining eligibility. Aaron Jackson 10 G 6'8" 215 RS Senior Gahanna, OH Transferred from Akron. Will be eligible to play immediately since Jackson graduated from Akron. Usman Haruna 35 C 7'0" 220 Junior Kaduna, Nigeria Junior college transferred from Bismarck State College
Recruiting class of 2017
Recruiting class of 2018
Roster
Schedule and results
!colspan=9 style=| Non-conference regular season
!colspan=9 style=| AAC regular season
!colspan=9 style=|AAC tournament
References