2015–16 Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team

American college basketball season

The 2015–16 Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Gonzaga University in the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was led by head coach Mark Few, who was in his 17th season as head coach. The team played its home games at McCarthey Athletic Center, which had a capacity of 6,000. The Bulldogs (also informally referred to as the Zags) played in their 36th season as a member of the West Coast Conference. They finished the season 28–8, 15–3 in WCC play to finish in a share for the WCC regular season championship. They defeated Portland, BYU, and Saint Mary's to be champions of the WCC tournament and earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. As a #11 seed, they defeated Seton Hall and Utah to advance to the Sweet Sixteen where they lost to Syracuse. The final AP Poll is the most recent poll in which Gonzaga was unranked until 2023–24, when they were unranked for 6 weeks.

Previous season

The 2014–15 Gonzaga Bulldogs team were predicted to finish atop of the conference by the West Coast Conference Preseason Poll.^[1] The Zags finished in first place in the West Coast Conference Standings for the 18th time with a 17–1 conference record after BYU defeated the Zags 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.^[2] The Bulldogs then went on to beat BYU in the West Coast Conference tournament, and claimed their 14th WCC tournament title, along with punching their 18th ticket to the NCAA tournament.^[3] Gonzaga entered the 2015 NCAA tournament as a #2 seed in the South region, and dismantled #15 seed North Dakota State,^[4] #7 seed Iowa,^[5] and #11 seed UCLA,^[6] to gain its second trip to the Elite Eight, as well as Mark Few's first as head coach. The Zags then fell to #1 seed (and eventual national champion) Duke, and finished the season with a 35–3 record, which were the most wins in school history.^[7]

Offseason

Coaching changes

Additions to staff

Player departures

Incoming transfers

2015 recruiting class

2016 recruiting class

Roster

• Roster is subject to change as/if players transfer or leave the program for other reasons.
• Josh Perkins suffered a broken jaw in a November 2014 game and wasn't cleared to play with full contact until late April 2015.^[20] He was granted a medical hardship waiver and will have 4 years of eligibility remaining effective at the start of the 2015–16 season.^[21]
• Jesse Wade graduated high school in 2015, but before enrolling in college at Gonzaga, he left for a 2-year LDS mission in Lyon, France, and will arrive on campus as a freshman in Fall 2017.^[22]
• Przemek Karnowski did not play after the Bulldogs' fifth game of the season, a November 27, 2015 win over UConn, due to back problems. On December 31, it was announced that he would undergo surgery and miss the rest of the season. At the time his surgery was announced, it had not been decided whether Karnowski would apply for a medical hardship waiver and play at Gonzaga in 2016–17, or turn professional after this season.^[23] He ultimately chose to remain at Gonzaga and play in the 2016–17 season.^[24]

Coaching staff

Rankings

Schedule

Gonzaga's non-conference schedule^[45] included home games against Arizona, UCLA, Montana, Northern Arizona, Mount St. Mary's, and Saint Martin's. Gonzaga played true road games at SMU and Washington State, and also faced off with Pittsburgh in the Armed Forces Classic in Okinawa, Japan. The Zags were invited to play in the Battle 4 Atlantis, where they played against three of the following in the Bahamas: Syracuse, UConn, Texas, Michigan, Texas A&M, Washington, and Charlotte.^[46] Gonzaga also played Tennessee in the 13th annual Battle in Seattle at KeyArena. Gonzaga played 18 conference games (home-and-home) during the season.^[47] Gonzaga will be featured on the ESPN networks at least 14 times in 2015–16. The WCC Tournament will feature 5 games televised on the ESPN networks.^[48][49]

See also

• 2015–16 Gonzaga Bulldogs women's basketball team
• 2015–16 West Coast Conference men's basketball season

Footnotes

1. The referees cancelled the game at halftime due to dangerous court conditions. The game did not count toward either team's win–loss record, and player statistics from the game were not counted as official. Pittsburgh was leading 37–35.^[50]

References

1. "West Coast Conference Announces 2014–15 Men's Basketball Preseason Poll, All-WCC Team". October 27, 2014. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
2. "BYU beats No. 3 Gonzaga, ending nation's longest home win streak". February 28, 2015.
3. "No. 7 Gonzaga cruises past BYU to 14th WCC title". March 10, 2015.
4. "Gonzaga moves on with 86–76 win over ND State". March 20, 2015.
5. "Gonzaga catches fire in second half, routs Iowa to reach Sweet 16". March 22, 2015.
6. "Gonzaga handles UCLA, reaches Elite Eight for 1st time since '99". March 27, 2015.
7. "Freshmen-led Duke pounds Gonzaga to earn Coach K's 12 Final Four". March 29, 2015.
8. "Angel Nunez transferred to South Florida". April 20, 2015.
9. "Gonzaga Reserve Guard Connor Griffin Transferring To Washington To Play Football". June 16, 2015.
10. "Nigel Williams-Goss will transfer to Gonzaga". May 3, 2015.
11. "Missouri transfer Johnathan Williams picks Gonzaga". May 30, 2015.
12. "Interesting addition to Gonzaga's roster: walk-on 6–5 wing Jeremy Jones. Redshirt QB at Rice last season, then joined basketball team". September 2, 2015.
13. "Guard Jesse Wade from Utah commits to Zags". October 4, 2013.
14. "2015 Torrey Pines/ Gamepoint SG Jack Beach accepted a preferred walk-on position at Gonzaga". August 14, 2015.
15. "Zach Collins commits to Zags". March 16, 2015.
16. "French forward Killian Tillie commits to Gonzaga". August 29, 2015.
17. "Gonzaga men add Zach Norvell, another top 100 recruit". November 2, 2015.
18. "Gonzaga adds Jacob Larsen, another big man from Europe". November 12, 2015.
19. "Zags sign Japanese forward Rui Hachimura". November 20, 2015.
20. "Josh Perkins is cleared for full contact". Retrieved April 28, 2015.
21. "Josh Perkins getting his freshman year back! Med redshirt approved by NCAA this week. He will be a redshirt freshman when they tipoff in Nov". August 3, 2015.
22. "Priorities of a point guard – Gonzaga recruit Jesse Wade puts basketball on hold for LDS mission". January 24, 2015.
23. "Gonzaga's Przemek Karnowski needs back surgery, out for season". December 31, 2015.
24. "Karnowski Decides to Return for 2016-17 season" (Press release). May 24, 2016. Archived from the original on May 29, 2016. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
25. "2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Preseason (Nov. 2)". November 2, 2015.
26. "2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Week 2 (Nov. 16)". November 16, 2015.
27. "2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Week 3 (Nov. 23)". November 23, 2015.
28. "2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Week 4 (Nov. 30)". November 30, 2015.
29. "2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Week 5 (Dec. 7)". December 7, 2015.
30. "2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Week 6 (Dec. 14)". December 14, 2015.
31. "2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Week 7 (Dec. 21)". December 21, 2015.
32. "2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Week 8 (Dec. 28)". December 28, 2015.
33. "2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Week 9 (Jan. 4)". January 4, 2016.
34. "2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Week 10 (Jan. 11)". January 11, 2016.
35. "2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Week 11 (Jan. 18)". January 18, 2016.
36. "2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Week 12 (Jan. 25)". January 25, 2016.
37. "2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Week 13 (Feb. 1)". February 1, 2016.
38. "2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Week 14 (Feb. 8)". February 8, 2016.
39. "2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Week 15 (Feb. 15)". February 15, 2016.
40. "2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Week 16 (Feb. 22)". February 22, 2016.
41. "2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Week 17 (Feb. 29)". February 29, 2016.
42. "2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Week 18 (Mar. 7)". March 7, 2016.
43. "2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Postseason Week 1 (Mar. 14)". March 14, 2016.
44. "2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Postseason Final (Apr. 4)". April 4, 2016.
45. "MBB Announces Loaded Non-Conference Schedule". September 3, 2015.
46. "Gonzaga MBB Faces UW To Open Battle 4 Atlantis". August 6, 2015.
47. "WCC Releases 2015–16 League Schedule". August 18, 2015.
48. "WCC Announces 2015–16 ESPN Networks Men's Basketball Telecast Schedule". September 3, 2015. Archived from the original on September 11, 2015. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
49. "2015-2016 Gonzaga Men's Basketball Schedule". Retrieved October 1, 2015.
50. "No. 9 Gonzaga MBB vs. Pittsburgh Cancelled at Half". November 13, 2015.