2015–16 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team


The 2015–16 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team represented the University of Arizona during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was led by seventh-year head coach Sean Miller, and played their home games at McKale Center in Tucson, Arizona as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. They finished the season 25–9, 12–6 in Pac-12 play to tie with California for third place. They defeated Colorado in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament to advance to the semifinals where they lost to Oregon. Arizona received an at-large bid to the fourth-straight NCAA Tournament, the program's 31st appearance, as a 6-seed in the South Region. They lost in the first round to Wichita State.

Previous season

The 2014–15 Arizona Wildcats finished the season with an overall record of 34–4 and a 16–2 conference record to win their second straight Pac-12 regular season championship. Arizona claimed the longest active home winning streak in D-I men's college basketball after BYU defeated Gonzaga in the regular season finale, snapping the nation's longest active home winning streak of 41 games, as well as Gonzaga's school record 22-game winning streak. In the Pac-12 Tournament as a #1 seed, Arizona defeated #8 seed California Golden Bears; 73–51, and #4 seed UCLA Bruins; 70–64. The Wildcats then went on to beat Oregon Ducks; 80–52 in the Pac-12 Tournament championship game, and claimed their 5th Pac-12 tournament title for the first time since 2002, along with punching their 32nd ticket to the NCAA Tournament. Arizona entered the NCAA Tournament as a #2 seed in the West region, and defeated #15 seed Texas Southern Tigers 93–72, then #10 seed Ohio State Buckeyes; 73–58, and #6 seed Xavier Musketeers, to gain its third trip to the Elite Eight, as well as Sean Miller's first as head coach. The Wildcats then fell to #1 seed Wisconsin Badgers; 85–78 for the second time.

Off-season

Departures

Incoming transfers

2015 Recruiting class

Personnel

On April 13, assistant coach Damon Stoudamire left the team to rejoin the Memphis staff under head coach and former UA player Josh Pastner. On May 22 Mark Phelps, joined the Arizona staff.

Roster

After the Feb. 17 game against Arizona State, Sean Miller announced Pitts would not return for the remainder of the season.

Depth chart

Coaching staff

Schedule

!colspan=12 style=| Exhibition
!colspan=12 style=| Non-conference regular season
!colspan=12 style=";"| 2015–16 Pac-12 Conference men's basketball season|
!colspan=12 style=";"| 2016 Pac-12 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament|
!colspan=12 style=";"| NCAA Tournament

Ranking movement

PollPreWk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5Wk 6Wk 7Wk 8Wk 9Wk 10Wk 11Wk 12Wk 13Wk 14Wk 15Wk 16Wk 17Wk 18PostFinal
AP1212111913138871812182317129181517N/A*
Coaches1010101412128761611152014121016141622

*AP does not release post-NCAA tournament rankings

Player statistics

PlayerGPGSMPGFGM-FGA3PM-3PAFTM-FTARPGAPGSPGBPGPPG
Kadeem Allen342824.9100–21518–5067–953.13.51.00.88.4
Ryan Anderson333329.2174–3192–7155–20810.10.80.70.615.3
Chance Comanche2306.016–330–011–161.60.20.00.31.9
Paulo Cruz602.70–20–20–000000
Jacob Hazzard703.76–104–62–20.10.3002.6
Parker Jackson-Cartwright34621.257–14227–7237–571.63.40.60.25.2
Elliott Pitts7221.37–262–160–22.31.81.102.3
Dušan Ristić34916.594–1713–852–823.80.80.10.77.1
Justin Simon2407.523–461–39–211.20.30.30.22.3
Kaleb Tarczewski262427.480–1500–084–1189.30.60.31.49.4
Mark Tollefsen341321.990–17526–7331–393.01.30.60.77.0
Allonzo Trier272128.0122–26240–110115–1453.31.10.50.214.8
Gabe York343433.3177–41998–23359–783.22.20.90.315.0

Honors

Award Watchlists

Season Awards