# 2015–16 William & Mary Tribe men's basketball team

The 2015–16 William & Mary Tribe men's basketball team represented the College of William & Mary during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Tribe were led by thirteenth year head coach Tony Shaver. The team played its home games at Kaplan Arena and remained members of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). This was the 111th season of the collegiate basketball program at William & Mary. They finished the season 20–11, 11–7 in CAA play to finish in a three way tie for third place. They advanced to the semifinals of the CAA tournament where they lost Hofstra. Despite again securing twenty wins for the season, the Tribe failed to secure back-to-back postseason tournament bids for the first time in program history. Along with the 2013–14 and 2014–15 seasons, this was only the second time in program history that William & Mary won twenty games during three consecutive seasons.

## Previous season

The team tried to improve upon their 20–13 (12–6 CAA) record from the 2014–15 season that saw the team fall short, for the second straight year, of a conference championship with a 61–72 loss to Northeastern in the championship game of the 2015 CAA men's basketball tournament. The Tribe ultimately received an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament, where they lost in the first round to Tulsa. The Tribe also saw the graduation of the program's all-time leading scorer, Marcus Thornton. Thornton, who was drafted by the Boston Celtics in the second round of the 2015 NBA draft, is currently playing for the Sydney Kings in the Australian National Basketball League.

## Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Tom Schalk | 43 | F | 6'8" | 200 | Senior | Burnsville, Minnesota | Graduated |
| Marcus Thornton | 3 | G | 6'4" | 185 | Senior | Upper Marlboro, Maryland | Graduated/2015 NBA draft |

## Recruiting Class of 2015

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Hunter Seacat SF | Mooresville, North Carolina | Lake Norman High School | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | 220 lb (100 kg) | Sep 8, 2014 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| 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 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved September 2, 2014. ||||||

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 13, 2015* 8:00 pm, ESPN3 | at NC State | W 86–68 | 1–0 | PNC Arena (16,377) Raleigh, North Carolina |
| November 17, 2015* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | at Liberty | W 70–59 | 2–0 | Vines Center (2,102) Lynchburg, Virginia |
| November 19, 2015* 7:00 pm | Washington Adventist | W 85–60 | 3–0 | Kaplan Arena (1,822) Williamsburg, Virginia |
| November 21, 2015* 2:00 pm | at Dayton | L 66–69 | 3–1 | UD Arena (12,796) Dayton, Ohio |
| November 25, 2015* 7:00 pm | Hampton | W 86–67 | 4–1 | Kaplan Arena (2,330) Williamsburg, Virginia |
| November 28, 2015* 4:00 pm | at Howard | L 77–79 | 4–2 | Burr Gymnasium (954) Washington, D.C. |
| December 1, 2015* 7:00 pm | Old Dominion Rivalry | W 55–48 | 5–2 | Kaplan Arena (3,256) Williamsburg, Virginia |
| December 5, 2015* 2:00 pm, RSN/ESPN3 | at No. 10 Virginia | L 52–67 | 5–3 | John Paul Jones Arena (14,105) Charlottesville, Virginia |
| December 18, 2015* 7:00 pm | Mary Washington | W 94–64 | 6–3 | Kaplan Arena (1,462) Williamsburg, Virginia |
| December 21, 2015* 7:00 pm | High Point | W 78–75 $^{OT}$ | 7–3 | Kaplan Arena (1,388) Williamsburg, Virginia |
| December 29, 2015* 7:30 pm | Central Michigan | W 88–84 | 8–3 | Kaplan Arena (3,313) Williamsburg, Virginia |
| CAA regular season ||||||
| December 31, 2015 4:00 pm | Towson | L 69–76 | 8–4 (0–1) | Kaplan Arena (2,531) Williamsburg, Virginia |
| January 2, 2016 4:00 pm | College of Charleston | W 78–70 | 9–4 (1–1) | Kaplan Arena (2,873) Williamsburg, Virginia |
| January 7, 2016 7:00 pm | at Drexel | W 72–63 | 10–4 (2–1) | Daskalakis Athletic Center (1,107) Philadelphia |
| January 9, 2016 4:00 pm | Northeastern | W 78-60 | 11-4 (3-1) | Kaplan Arena (3,626) Williamsburg, Virginia |
| January 14, 2016 7:00 pm | at College of Charleston | W 63–61 | 12–4 (4–1) | TD Arena (3,069) Charleston, South Carolina |
| January 16, 2016 2:00 pm, ASN | at UNC Wilmington | L 94–97 $^{OT}$ | 12–5 (4–2) | Trask Coliseum (4,211) Wilmington, North Carolina |
| January 21, 2016 7:00 pm | Elon | W 89–67 | 13–5 (5–2) | Kaplan Arena (3,278) Williamsburg, Virginia |
| January 23, 2016 4:00 pm, CSN | at Hofstra | L 63–91 | 13–6 (5–3) | Mack Sports Complex (894) Hempstead, New York |
| January 28, 2016 7:00 pm | at Delaware | W 94–79 | 14–6 (6–3) | Bob Carpenter Center (2,311) Newark, Delaware |
| January 30, 2016 4:00 pm, CSN | James Madison | W 68–62 | 15–6 (7–3) | Kaplan Arena (3,681) Williamsburg, Virginia |
| February 4, 2016 7:00 pm, CSN | at Northeastern | W 86–77 | 16–6 (8–3) | Matthews Arena (1,416) Boston |
| February 6, 2016 2:30 pm, NBCSN | Delaware Gold Rush/Charter Day | W 90–64 | 17–6 (9–3) | Kaplan Arena (6,028) Williamsburg, Virginia |
| February 11, 2016 7:00 pm | Hofstra | L 80-86 | 17–7 (9–4) | Kaplan Arena (3,259) Williamsburg, Virginia |
| February 13, 2016 4:00 pm, CSN | at Towson | L 82–99 | 17–8 (9–5) | SECU Arena (2,334) Towson, Maryland |
| February 18, 2016 7:00 pm | UNC Wilmington | W 87–69 | 18–8 (10–5) | Kaplan Arena (3,148) Williamsburg, Virginia |
| February 20, 2016 4:00 pm, CSN | Drexel | L 69–74 | 18–9 (10–6) | Kaplan Arena (3,948) Williamsburg, Virginia |
| February 25, 2016 7:00 pm | at Elon | W 75–65 | 19–9 (11–6) | Alumni Gym (1,632) Elon, North Carolina |
| February 27, 2016 2:30 pm, NBCSN | at James Madison | L 65–71 | 19–10 (11–7) | JMU Convocation Center (3,646) Harrisonburg, Virginia |
| CAA Tournament ||||||
| March 5, 2016 2:30 pm, CSN | vs. James Madison Quarterfinals | W 79–64 | 20–10 | Royal Farms Arena (3,904) Baltimore |
| March 6, 2016 1:00 pm, NBCSN | vs. Hofstra Semifinals | L 67–70 | 20–11 | Royal Farms Arena (3,643) Baltimore |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||