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 (14th overall). Arizona claimed the longest active home winning streak in D-I men's college basketball (38th home win at 2nd all-time, 82nd home win at 5th all-time) 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 (2nd straight) 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 (from the Elite Eight's by 1 point overtime loss in last year).
Off-season
Departures Name Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes Matt Korcheck PF 6'10" 235 RS Senior Tucson, Arizona Graduated T. J. McConnell PG 6'1" 195 RS Senior Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Graduated Drew Mellon SF 6’6" 205 Senior Santa Ana, California Graduated Brandon Ashley PF 6'9" 230 Junior San Francisco, California Declared for 2015 NBA draft Rondae Hollis-Jefferson SF 6'7" 220 Sophomore Chester, Pennsylvania Declared for 2015 NBA draft. Selected 23rd overall by the Portland Trail Blazers; later traded to the Brooklyn Nets. Stanley Johnson SF 6'7" 245 Freshman Fullerton, California Declared for 2015 NBA draft. Selected 8th overall by the Detroit Pistons. Craig Victor II PF 6'9" 230 Freshman New Orleans, Louisiana Left team in January. Elected to transfer to LSU
Incoming transfers Name Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes Mark Tollefsen F 6'9" 200 RS Senior Danville, California Graduate transfer from San Francisco. Is eligible to play immediately for the 2015–16 season per NCAA graduate transfer rules.
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
Oct 24, 2015 – Freshman Ray Smith to miss entire 2015–16 season due to a torn ACL in his right knee. Dec 1, 2015 – Senior Kaleb Tarczewski missed 8 games due to left foot injury. Returned for Pac-12 season play against Arizona State. Jan 10, 2015 – Freshman Allonzo Trier missed 7 games due to a right hand injury. Returned Feb. 6 game at Washington. Junior Elliott Pitts out since Dec. 9 game against Fresno State, due to an undisclosed personal issue. 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 Name Position Year at Arizona Alma Mater (year) Sean MillerHead coach 7th Pittsburgh (1992)Joe Pasternack Associate head coach 5th Indiana (1999)Emanuel Richardson Assistant coach 7th Pittsburgh-Johnstown (1998)Mark Phelps Assistant coach 1st Old Dominion (1996)Ryan Reynolds Director of Basketball Operations 7th Xavier (2007)Ben Tucker Assistant director of Basketball Operations 2nd Arizona (2010)
Schedule
!colspan=12 style=| Exhibition
!colspan=12 style=| Non-conference regular season
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!colspan=12 style=";"| NCAA tournament
Ranking movement
+ Ranking movementLegend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. RV=Received votes. Poll Pre Wk 2 Wk 3 Wk 4 Wk 5 Wk 6 Wk 7 Wk 8 Wk 9 Wk 10 Wk 11 Wk 12 Wk 13 Wk 14 Wk 15 Wk 16 Wk 17 Wk 18 Post Final AP 12 12 11 19 13 13 8 8 7 18 12 18 23 17 12 9 18 15 17 N/A* Coaches 10 10 10 14 12 12 8 7 6 16 11 15 20 14 12 10 16 14 16 22 *AP does not release post-NCAA tournament rankings
Player statistics As of Mar. 21, 2016 Player GP GS MPG FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA RPG APG SPG BPG PPG Kadeem Allen 34 28 24.9 100–215 18–50 67–95 3.1 3.5 1.0 0.8 8.4 Ryan Anderson 33 33 29.2 174–319 2–7 155–208 10.1 0.8 0.7 0.6 15.3 Chance Comanche 23 0 6.0 16–33 0–0 11–16 1.6 0.2 0.0 0.3 1.9 Paulo Cruz 6 0 2.7 0–2 0–2 0–0 0 0 0 0 0 Jacob Hazzard 7 0 3.7 6–10 4–6 2–2 0.1 0.3 0 0 2.6 Parker Jackson-Cartwright 34 6 21.2 57–142 27–72 37–57 1.6 3.4 0.6 0.2 5.2 Elliott Pitts 7 2 21.3 7–26 2–16 0–2 2.3 1.8 1.1 0 2.3 Dušan Ristić 34 9 16.5 94–171 3–8 52–82 3.8 0.8 0.1 0.7 7.1 Justin Simon 24 0 7.5 23–46 1–3 9–21 1.2 0.3 0.3 0.2 2.3 Kaleb Tarczewski 26 24 27.4 80–150 0–0 84–118 9.3 0.6 0.3 1.4 9.4 Mark Tollefsen 34 13 21.9 90–175 26–73 31–39 3.0 1.3 0.6 0.7 7.0 Allonzo Trier 27 21 28.0 122–262 40–110 115–145 3.3 1.1 0.5 0.2 14.8 Gabe York 34 34 33.3 177–419 98–233 59–78 3.2 2.2 0.9 0.3 15.0
Honors
Award Watchlists Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award – Kaleb Tarczewski Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 – Kaleb Tarczewski Jerry West Award – Allonzo Trier Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 – Ryan Anderson Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame - 2016 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Finalist – Ryan Anderson Lute Olson National Player of the Year Award Finalist – Ryan Anderson
Weekly awards Name awardsAllonzo Trier Pac-12 Player of the Week – Dec.14Ryan Anderson Pac-12 Player of the Week – Feb. 8Naismith Trophy Player of the Week – Feb. 7 Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week – Feb. 7Gabe York Pac-12 Player of the Week – Mar. 7
Season awards Name awardsRyan Anderson All-Pac-12 First TeamKaleb Tarczewski All-Pac-12 Second TeamKaleb Tarczewski All-Pac-12 Defensive TeamGabe York All-Pac-12 Second TeamAllonzo Trier Pac-12 All Freshman Team
See also 2015–16 Arizona Wildcats women's basketball team
References