The 2016–17 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by seventh year head coach Russell Turner and played their home games at the Bren Events Center as members of the Big West Conference. They finished the season 21–15, 12–4 in Big West play to win the regular season conference championship. As the No. 1 seed in the Big West tournament, they defeated UC Riverside and Long Beach State before losing to UC Davis in the championship game. As a No. 1 seed in their conference tournament who failed to win their conference tournament title, UC Irvine received an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament. As a No. 8 seed, they were defeated by No. 1 seed Ill