AAC men's basketball conference schedule released

GREENVILLE, N.C. - The American Athletic Conference announced each school's conference opponents for the 2017-18 campaign Thursday. With the addition of Wichita State as the league's 12th member, each team will play seven of its 11 opponents twice, and its four remaining opponents once each – two at home and two away.

East Carolina's conference schedule features a home-and-home series against UConn, Houston, Memphis, USF, SMU, Tulane and Tulsa. The Pirates will host Wichita State and UCF in their lone meetings of the season and travel to Cincinnati and Temple for road only matchups.

ECU returns three starters for the upcoming season: senior B.J. Tyson, junior Kentrell Barkley and sophomore Jeremy Sheppard. Barkley led the Pirates in scoring (13.2 ppg) and rebounding (7.6 rpg) as a sophomore, while Sheppard was named to The American All-Rookie Team. Tyson returns as the 18th leading scorer in program history with more than 1,100 points despite missing seven games last season due to injury.

Times, dates and television information on the 2017-18 American Athletic Conference slate will be released at a later date in addition to ECU's entire schedule.

2017-18 ECU American Athletic Conference Opponents

Home and Away: UConn, Houston, Memphis, USF, SMU, Tulane and Tulsa

Home Only: UCF, Wichita State

Away Only: Cincinnati, Temple