2015–16 SMU Mustangs men's basketball team

The 2015–16 SMU Mustangs men's basketball team represented Southern Methodist University (SMU) during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Mustangs were led by fourth year head coach Larry Brown and played their home games on their campus in University Park, Texas at Moody Coliseum. They were members of the American Athletic Conference. The Mustangs finished the season with a record of 25–5, 13–5 in AAC play to finish in second place in conference.

2015–16 SMU Mustangs men's basketball
Las Vegas Classic Champions
Conference	American Athletic Conference
Ranking
AP	No. 24
2015–16 record	25–5 (13–5 AAC)
Head coach	Larry Brown (4th season)
Assistant coaches	Tim Jankovich K. T. Turner Jerry Hobbie
Home arena	Moody Coliseum

2015–16 American Athletic Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Temple	14	–	4		.778			21	–	12		.636
No. 24 SMU*	13	–	5		.722			25	–	5		.833
Houston	12	–	6		.667			22	–	10		.688
Cincinnati	12	–	6		.667			22	–	11		.667
Tulsa	12	–	6		.667			20	–	12		.625
UConn †	11	–	7		.611			25	–	11		.694
Memphis	8	–	10		.444			19	–	15		.559
UCF	6	–	12		.333			12	–	18		.400
East Carolina	4	–	14		.222			12	–	20		.375
South Florida	4	–	14		.222			8	–	25		.242
Tulane	3	–	15		.167			12	–	22		.353
*Ineligible for postseason due to postseason ban † American Athletic Conference Tournament Champions
Rankings from AP Poll

Due to multiple violations, including academic fraud and unethical conduct, SMU was ineligible for all postseason play including the AAC Tournament and NCAA Tournament.[1] Additionally, head coach Larry Brown was suspended for nine games.[2]

Previous season

The Mustangs finished the 2014–15 season with a record of 27–7, 15–3 in AAC play to win the AAC regular season championship. They defeated East Carolina, Temple, and UConn to win the AAC Tournament. They received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament as a #6 seed where they lost on a controversial goaltending call in the Second Round to UCLA.[3]

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
Ryan Manuel	1	G	6'4"	185	Senior	Houston, TX	Graduated
Yanick Moreira	2	C	6'11"	220	Senior	Luanda, Angola	Graduated
Kevin Dunleavy	10	G	6'3"	180	Senior	New Providence, NJ	Graduated
Crandall Head	13	G	6'4"	180	RS Senior	Matteson, IL	Graduated
Cannen Cunningham	15	C	6'10"	225	Senior	Arlington, TX	Graduated

Incoming Transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
Semi Ojeleye	33	F	6'8"	230	Junior	Ottawa, KS	Transferred from Duke in January during the 2014–15 season. Under NCAA transfer rules, Semi Ojeleye has to sit out until January and will be eligible to start in January during the 2015–16 season. Semi Ojeleye has one and a half years of remaining eligibility.

2015 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Shake Milton PG	Owasso, OK	Owasso High School	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Oct 15, 2014
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 84
Sedrick Barefield PG	Corona, CA	Centennial High School	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Feb 17, 2014
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 79
Jarrey Foster SF	Houston, TX	North Shore High School	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Oct 8, 2014
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 78
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2015 SMU Recruiting List". Rivals.com. "2015 SMU Recruiting List". Scout.com. "2015 SMU Recruiting List". ESPN.com. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. "2015 Team Ranking". Rivals.com.

Roster

2015–16 SMU Mustangs men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown F 0 Ben Moore 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Jr Bolingbrook HS Bolingbrook, Illinois G 1 Malik Milton 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Fr Owasso HS Owasso, Oklahoma G 2 Sedrick Barefield 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Fr Centennial HS Corona, California G 3 Sterling Brown 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Jr Proviso East HS Maywood, Illinois G 4 Keith Frazier 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Jr Kimball HS Dallas, Texas F 5 Markus Kennedy 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 245 lb (111 kg) RS Sr Brewster Academy Villanova Philadelphia, Pennsylvania G 10 Jarrey Foster 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Fr North Shore HS Houston, Texas G 11 Nic Moore 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) 170 lb (77 kg) RS Sr Warsaw Community HS Winona Lake, Indiana F 14 Courtland Sutton 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 215 lb (98 kg) RS Fr Brenham High School Brenham, Texas G 21 Ben Emelogu II 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Jr South Grand Prairie HS Virginia Tech Grand Prairie, Texas G 22 Jonathan Wilfong 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Jr Memphis University School Memphis, Tennessee F 23 Jordan Tolbert 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 240 lb (109 kg) RS Sr All Saints Episcopal School Texas Tech Fort Worth, Texas F 33 Semi Ojeleye 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Jr Ottawa Sr. HS Duke Ottawa, Kansas	Head coach Larry Brown (North Carolina) Assistant coach(es) Tim Jankovich (Kansas State) K.T. Turner (Oklahoma City) Jerry Hobbie (Fordham) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule

SMU has been invited to play in the Las Vegas Classic, where they will play against two the following three teams: Colorado, Penn State, Kent State. Two on-campus games will precede the Las Vegas-hosted games.[4] The Mustangs will host Gonzaga,[5] Michigan,[6] Brown,[7] and Yale.[8] SMU will also play true road games at Stanford[9] and TCU.[10]

SMU's American Athletic Conference schedule will include home-and-home matchups with Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF, Tulane, and Tulsa. The Mustangs will also host UCF and play a true road game at Temple during its conference schedule.[11]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
11/14/2015* 7:00 PM, ESPN3		Sam Houston State	W 85–50	1–0	Moody Coliseum (6,852) Dallas, TX
11/19/2015* 10:30 PM, ESPN2		at Stanford	W 85–70	2–0	Maples Pavilion (3,687) Stanford, CA
11/22/2015* 3:30 PM, ESPNews		Yale	W 71–69	3–0	Moody Coliseum (6,852) Dallas, TX
11/29/2015* 2:00 PM, TWCS	No. 25	Brown	W 77–69	4–0	Moody Coliseum (6,852) Dallas, TX
12/02/2015* 7:00 PM, FSSW	No. 22	at TCU	W 75–70	5–0	Schollmaier Arena (4,672) Fort Worth, TX
12/05/2015* 12:30 PM, TWCS	No. 22	New Hampshire	W 98–44	6–0	Moody Coliseum (6,754) Dallas, TX
12/08/2015* 8:00 PM, ESPN2	No. 19	Michigan	W 82–58	7–0	Moody Coliseum (7,245) Dallas, TX
12/16/2015* 7:00 PM, TWCS	No. 18	Nicholls State Las Vegas Classic Regional Round	W 86–42	8–0	Moody Coliseum (6,460) Dallas, TX
12/17/2015* 6:00 PM, TWCS	No. 18	Hampton Las Vegas Classic Regional Round	W 105–72	9–0	Moody Coliseum (6,329) Dallas, TX
12/22/2015* 7:00 PM	No. 18	vs. Kent State Las Vegas Classic Semifinals	W 90–74	10–0	Orleans Arena (2,120) Paradise, NV
12/23/2015* 9:30 PM, FS1	No. 18	vs. Colorado Las Vegas Classic Championship	W 70–66	11–0	Orleans Arena (2,154) Paradise, NV
12/29/2015 4:00 PM, ESPN2	No. 17	at Tulsa	W 81–69	12–0 (1–0)	Reynolds Center (5,364) Tulsa, OK
01/02/2016 6:30 PM, ESPNews	No. 17	South Florida	W 72–58	13–0 (2–0)	Moody Coliseum (6,852) Dallas, TX
01/07/2016 6:00 PM, ESPN	No. 15	Cincinnati	W 59–57	14–0 (3–0)	Moody Coliseum (6,971) Dallas, TX
01/10/2016 3:00 PM, ESPNU	No. 15	UCF	W 88-73	15-0 (4-0)	Moody Coliseum (6,952) Dallas, TX
01/13/2016 5:15 PM, ESPNews	No. 10	at East Carolina	W 79–55	16–0 (5–0)	Williams Arena (6,022) Greenville, NC
01/17/2016 2:00 PM, ESPN3	No. 10	at Tulane	W 60–45	17–0 (6–0)	Devlin Fieldhouse  New Orleans, LA
01/19/2016 8:00 PM, ESPNU	No. 8	Houston	W 77–73	18–0 (7–0)	Moody Coliseum (7,059) Dallas, TX
01/24/2016 11:00 AM, ESPN2	No. 8	at Temple	L 80–89	18–1 (7–1)	Liacouras Center (6,096) Philadelphia, PA
01/30/2016 7:00 PM, ESPNU	No. 13	Memphis	W 80–68	19–1 (8–1)	Moody Coliseum (7,205) Dallas, TX
02/01/2016 7:00 PM, CBSSN	No. 12	at Houston	L 68–71	19–2 (8–2)	Hofheinz Pavilion (6,195) Houston, TX
02/07/2016 1:00 PM, CBSSN	No. 12	at South Florida	W 92–58	20–2 (9–2)	USF Sun Dome (2,857) Tampa, FL
02/10/2016 8:00 PM, CBSSN	No. 16	Tulsa	L 77–82	20–3 (9–3)	Moody Coliseum (6,852) Dallas, TX
02/13/2016* 9:00 PM, ESPN2	No. 16	Gonzaga	W 69–60	21–3	Moody Coliseum (7,249) Dallas, TX
02/18/2016 6:00 PM, ESPN2	No. 21	at UConn	L 62–68	21–4 (9–4)	XL Center (15,564) Hartford, CT
02/21/2016 1:00 PM, ESPNews	No. 21	East Carolina	W 74–63	22–4 (10–4)	Moody Coliseum (6,852) Dallas, TX
02/25/2016 6:00 PM, ESPN2	No. 24	at Memphis	W 69–62	23–4 (11–4)	FedEx Forum (13,546) Memphis, TN
02/28/2016 2:00 PM, CBSSN	No. 24	Tulane	W 74–53	24–4 (12–4)	Moody Coliseum (6,781) Dallas, TX
03/03/2016 8:00 PM, ESPN2	No. 24	UConn	W 80–54	25–4 (13–4)	Moody Coliseum (7,303) Dallas, TX
03/06/2015 11:00 AM, CBS	No. 24	at Cincinnati	L 54–61	25–5 (13–5)	Fifth Third Arena (13,176) Cincinnati, OH
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Rankings

Main article: 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Final
AP	RV	RV	25	22	22	19	18	18	17	15	10	8	13	12	16	21	24	24	25	24

SMU is ineligible to be ranked in the Coaches poll due to sanctions stemming from academic fraud and unethical conduct.

Midseason recognition

On February 1, 2016, Nic Moore was named one of 10 finalists for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award.[12] He was named to the 35-man midseason watchlist for the Naismith Trophy on February 11.[13]

References

1. "NCAA bans SMU from 2016 postseason, Larry Brown for nine games". ESPN.com. ESPN. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
2. "SMU, Brown disciplined by NCAA for violations". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
3. "Late goaltending call helps UCLA topple SMU". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
4. "Fox takes over Vegas hoops tourneys" (PDF). March 16, 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-04-19. Retrieved 2015-05-13.
5. "SMU Basketball: "SMU at Gonzaga on Monday, Nov. 17, as part of @ESPNCBB College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon. Gonzaga returns to @NewMoody in 2015-16. #PonyUp"". May 5, 2014.
6. "Jon Rothstein: "SMU will host Michigan on Tuesday 12/8/15 at Moody Coliseum, source told @CBSSports. Return game of home-and-home series."". May 13, 2015.
7. "Jon Rothstein: "SMU will host Brown on Sunday 11/29/15 as part of its non-conference schedule, source told @CBSSports."". April 26, 2015.
8. "Sunday Gravy: Yale men's basketball gearing up for Duke, SMU, USC". April 11, 2015.
9. "Jon Rothstein: "SMU + Stanford will start a H + H series starting next year in Palo Alto, source told @CBSSports. Return game in Dallas in 16-17. Dates TBD. "". May 13, 2015.
10. "Jon Rothstein: "TCU will host SMU on Wednesday 12/2/15, source told @CBSSports. Start of home-and-home series."". April 15, 2015.
11. "2015-16 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Schedule Pairings, Tournament Dates Announced". May 20, 2015.
12. Nortlander, Matt (February 1, 2016). "Cat Barber, Fred VanVleet missing from list of Cousy Award finalists". CBS Sports. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
13. Payne, Terrence (February 11, 2016). "Naismith Trophy midseason list announced". Fox Sports. Retrieved February 19, 2016.