2015–16 SMU Mustangs men's basketball team American college basketball season
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.
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
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
College recruiting information
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
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
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
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:
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 High School
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
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
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on
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
November 14, 2015 *7:00 pm, ESPN3
Sam Houston State
W 85–50
1–0
Moody Coliseum (6,852)Dallas, TX
November 19, 2015 *10:30 pm, ESPN2
at Stanford
W 85–70
2–0
Maples Pavilion (3,687)Stanford, CA
November 22, 2015 *3:30 pm, ESPNews
Yale
W 71–69
3–0
Moody Coliseum (6,852)Dallas, TX
November 29, 2015 *2:00 pm, TWCS
No. 25
Brown
W 77–69
4–0
Moody Coliseum (6,852)Dallas, TX
December 2, 2015 *7:00 pm, FSSW
No. 22
at TCU
W 75–70
5–0
Schollmaier Arena (4,672)Fort Worth, TX
December 5, 2015 *12:30 pm, TWCS
No. 22
New Hampshire
W 98–44
6–0
Moody Coliseum (6,754)Dallas, TX
December 8, 2015 *8:00 pm, ESPN2
No. 19
Michigan
W 82–58
7–0
Moody Coliseum (7,245)Dallas, TX
December 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
December 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
December 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
December 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
December 29, 2015 4:00 pm, ESPN2
No. 17
at Tulsa
W 81–69
12–0 (1–0)
Reynolds Center (5,364)Tulsa, OK
January 2, 2016 6:30 pm, ESPNews
No. 17
South Florida
W 72–58
13–0 (2–0)
Moody Coliseum (6,852)Dallas, TX
January 7, 2016 6:00 pm, ESPN
No. 15
Cincinnati
W 59–57
14–0 (3–0)
Moody Coliseum (6,971)Dallas, TX
January 10, 2016 3:00 pm, ESPNU
No. 15
UCF
W 88–73
15–0 (4–0)
Moody Coliseum (6,952)Dallas, TX
January 13, 2016 5:15 pm, ESPNews
No. 10
at East Carolina
W 79–55
16–0 (5–0)
Williams Arena (6,022)Greenville, NC
January 17, 2016 2:00 pm, ESPN3
No. 10
at Tulane
W 60–45
17–0 (6–0)
Devlin Fieldhouse New Orleans, LA
January 19, 2016 8:00 pm, ESPNU
No. 8
Houston
W 77–73
18–0 (7–0)
Moody Coliseum (7,059)Dallas, TX
January 24, 2016 11:00 am, ESPN2
No. 8
at Temple
L 80–89
18–1 (7–1)
Liacouras Center (6,096)Philadelphia, PA
January 30, 2016 7:00 pm, ESPNU
No. 13
Memphis
W 80–68
19–1 (8–1)
Moody Coliseum (7,205)Dallas, TX
February 1, 2016 7:00 pm, CBSSN
No. 12
at Houston
L 68–71
19–2 (8–2)
Hofheinz Pavilion (6,195)Houston, TX
February 7, 2016 1:00 pm, CBSSN
No. 12
at South Florida
W 92–58
20–2 (9–2)
USF Sun Dome (2,857)Tampa, FL
February 10, 2016 8:00 pm, CBSSN
No. 16
Tulsa
L 77–82
20–3 (9–3)
Moody Coliseum (6,852)Dallas, TX
February 13, 2016 *9:00 pm, ESPN2
No. 16
Gonzaga
W 69–60
21–3
Moody Coliseum (7,249)Dallas, TX
February 18, 2016 6:00 pm, ESPN2
No. 21
at UConn
L 62–68
21–4 (9–4)
XL Center (15,564)Hartford, CT
February 21, 2016 1:00 pm, ESPNews
No. 21
East Carolina
W 74–63
22–4 (10–4)
Moody Coliseum (6,852)Dallas, TX
February 25, 2016 6:00 pm, ESPN2
No. 24
at Memphis
W 69–62
23–4 (11–4)
FedEx Forum (13,546)Memphis, TN
February 28, 2016 2:00 pm, CBSSN
No. 24
Tulane
W 74–53
24–4 (12–4)
Moody Coliseum (6,781)Dallas, TX
March 3, 2016 8:00 pm, ESPN2
No. 24
UConn
W 80–54
25–4 (13–4)
Moody Coliseum (7,303)Dallas, TX
March 6, 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
Ranking movementsLegend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking RV = Received 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
^ "NCAA bans SMU from 2016 postseason, Larry Brown for nine games" . ESPN.com . ESPN. Retrieved October 29, 2015 .
^ "SMU, Brown disciplined by NCAA for violations" . ESPN.com . Retrieved December 30, 2015 .
^ "Late goaltending call helps UCLA topple SMU" . ESPN.com . Retrieved December 30, 2015 .
^ "Fox takes over Vegas hoops tourneys" (PDF) . March 16, 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 19, 2015. Retrieved May 13, 2015 .
^ "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.
^ "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.
^ "Jon Rothstein: "SMU will host Brown on Sunday 11/29/15 as part of its non-conference schedule, source told @CBSSports." " . April 26, 2015.
^ "Sunday Gravy: Yale men's basketball gearing up for Duke, SMU, USC" . April 11, 2015.
^ "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.
^ "Jon Rothstein: "TCU will host SMU on Wednesday 12/2/15, source told @CBSSports. Start of home-and-home series." " . April 15, 2015.
^ "2015-16 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Schedule Pairings, Tournament Dates Announced" . May 20, 2015.
^ Nortlander, Matt (February 1, 2016). "Cat Barber, Fred VanVleet missing from list of Cousy Award finalists" . CBS Sports . Archived from the original on February 1, 2016. Retrieved February 2, 2016 .
^ Payne, Terrence (February 11, 2016). "Naismith Trophy midseason list announced" . Fox Sports . Retrieved February 19, 2016 .
Venues Rivalries Culture & lore People Seasons NCAA Final Four appearances in italics