# 2015–16 Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball team

The 2015–16 Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball team represented the University of Colorado in the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was Tad Boyle's sixth season as head coach at Colorado. The Buffaloes played their home games at Coors Events Center in Boulder, Colorado and were members of the Pac-12 Conference. They finished the season 22–12, 10–8 in Pac-12 play to finish in fifth place. The defeated Washington State in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament to advance to the quarterfinals where they lost to Arizona. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where they lost in the first round to UConn.

## Previous season

The Buffaloes finished the season with an overall record of 16–18, and 7–11 in conference play. In the Pac-12 Tournament the Buffaloes defeated Oregon State in the First round before losing to Oregon in the quarterfinals. The team accepted an invitation to play in the CBI where they defeated Gardner–Webb in the First round, and lost to Seattle in the Second round.

## Off-season
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Askia Booker | 0 | G | 6'2" | 175 | Senior | Los Angeles, CA | Graduated |
| Kevin Nelson | 12 | G | 6'2" | 190 | Senior | Albuquerque, NM | Graduated |
| Dustin Thomas | 13 | G/F | 6'7" | 225 | Sophomore | Texarkana, TX | Transferred to Arkansas |
| Jaron Hopkins | 23 | G | 6'6" | 200 | Sophomore | Mesa, AZ | Transferred to Fresno State |
| Geoffrey Bates | 35 | G | 6'3" | 200 | RS Senior | Plano, TX | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Kenan Guzonjic | 13 | F | 6'8" | 215 | Junior | Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina | Junior college transfer from Midland College |
| Derrick White | 21 | G | 6'5" | 185 | Senior | Parker, Colorado | Transfer from University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Will have to sit out for the 2015–16 season under NCAA transfer rules. |

### 2015 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Thomas Akyazali G | Antwerp, Belgium | Koninklijk Atheneum Deurne HS | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Mar 14, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ||||||
| 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: ||||||

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 13, 2015* 3:00 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. No. 7 Iowa State Sanford Pentagon Opener | L 62–68 | 0–1 | Sanford Pentagon (3,200) Sioux Falls, SD |
| Nov 17, 2015* 1:00 pm, ESPN | | at Auburn College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon | W 91–84 | 1–1 | Auburn Arena (7,241) Auburn, AL |
| Nov 20, 2015* 7:00 pm, P12N | | Portland | W 85–63 | 2–1 | Coors Events Center (7,783) Boulder, CO |
| Nov 22, 2015* 12:00 pm, P12N | | Omaha | W 87–82 | 3–1 | Coors Events Center (7,199) Boulder, CO |
| Nov 25, 2015* 7:00 pm, P12N | | Air Force | W 81–70 | 4–1 | Coors Events Center (7,698) Boulder, CO |
| Nov 29, 2015* 1:00 pm, P12N | | Northern Colorado | W 82–52 | 5–1 | Coors Events Center (7,424) Boulder, CO |
| Dec 2, 2015* 6:00 pm, P12N | | Fort Lewis | W 95–71 | 6–1 | Coors Events Center (7,587) Boulder, CO |
| Dec 6, 2015* 12:00 pm, RTRM | | at Colorado State | W 88–77 | 7–1 | Moby Arena (8,750) Fort Collins, CO |
| Dec 12, 2015* 6:00 pm, P12N | | BYU | W 92–83 | 8–1 | Coors Events Center (8,913) Boulder, CO |
| Dec 18, 2015* 7:00 pm, P12N | | Nicholls State Las Vegas Classic | W 85–68 | 9–1 | Coors Events Center (8,185) Boulder, CO |
| Dec 19, 2015* 7:00 pm, P12N | | Hampton Las Vegas Classic | W 95–53 | 10–1 | Coors Events Center (8,177) Boulder, CO |
| Dec 22, 2015* 8:30 pm | | vs. Penn State Las Vegas Classic semifinals | W 71–70 | 11–1 | Orleans Arena Paradise, NV |
| Dec 23, 2015* 8:30 pm, FS1 | | vs. No. 18 SMU Las Vegas Classic championship | L 66–70 | 11–2 | Orleans Arena (2,154) Paradise, NV |
| Pac-12 regular season ||||||
| Jan 1, 2016 9:00 pm, P12N | | at California | L 65–79 | 11–3 (0–1) | Haas Pavilion (9,964) Berkeley, CA |
| Jan 3, 2016 8:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Stanford | W 56–55 | 12–3 (1–1) | Maples Pavilion (3,887) Stanford, CA |
| Jan 8, 2016 7:00 pm, FS1 | | Utah | L 54–56 | 12–4 (1–2) | Coors Events Center (8,701) Boulder, CO |
| Jan 13, 2016 9:00 pm, ESPNU | | Oregon State | W 71–54 | 13–4 (2–2) | Coors Events Center (9,190) Boulder, CO |
| Jan 17, 2016 5:00 pm, P12N | | Oregon | W 91–87 | 14–4 (3–2) | Coors Events Center (8,459) Boulder, CO |
| Jan 20, 2016 8:00 pm, P12N | | at Washington | L 83–95 | 14–5 (3–3) | Alaska Airlines Arena (6,325) Seattle, WA |
| Jan 23, 2016 7:00 pm, P12N | | at Washington State | W 75–70 | 15–5 (4–3) | Beasley Coliseum (3,321) Pullman, WA |
| Jan 27, 2016 7:00 pm, P12N | | Stanford | W 91–75 | 16–5 (5–3) | Coors Events Center (8,001) Boulder, CO |
| Jan 31, 2016 3:00 pm, FS1 | | California | W 70–62 | 17–5 (6–3) | Coors Events Center (9,423) Boulder, CO |
| Feb 4, 2016 7:00 pm, FS1 | | at No. 16 Oregon | L 56–76 | 17–6 (6–4) | Matthew Knight Arena (7,226) Eugene, OR |
| Feb 6, 2016 6:30 pm, P12N | | at Oregon State | L 56–60 | 17–7 (6–5) | Gill Coliseum (6,517) Corvallis, OR |
| Feb 11, 2016 8:30 pm, P12N | | Washington State | W 88–81 $^{2OT}$ | 18–7 (7–5) | Coors Events Center (7,330) Boulder, CO |
| Feb 13, 2016 12:00 pm, P12N | | Washington | W 81–80 | 19–7 (8–5) | Coors Events Center (9,476) Boulder, CO |
| Feb 17, 2016 9:00 pm, ESPNU | | at USC | L 72–79 | 19–8 (8–6) | Galen Center (5,132) Los Angeles, CA |
| Feb 20, 2016 9:00 pm, FS1 | | at UCLA | L 53–77 | 19–9 (8–7) | Pauley Pavilion (8,492) Los Angeles, CA |
| Feb 24, 2016 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | | No. 9 Arizona | W 75–72 | 20–9 (9–7) | Coors Events Center (11,309) Boulder, CO |
| Feb 28, 2016 2:30 pm, P12N | | Arizona State | W 79–69 | 21–9 (10–7) | Coors Events Center (10,325) Boulder, CO |
| Mar 5, 2016 7:30 pm, ESPNU | | at No. 13 Utah | L 55–57 | 21–10 (10–8) | Jon M. Huntsman Center (15,000) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Pac-12 tournament ||||||
| Mar 9, 2016 3:30 pm, P12N | (5) | vs. (12) Washington State First Round | W 80–56 | 22–10 | MGM Grand Garden Arena (12,916) Paradise, NV |
| Mar 10, 2016 3:30 pm, P12N | (5) | vs. (4) No. 15 Arizona Quarterfinals | L 78–82 | 22–11 | MGM Grand Garden Arena (12,916) Paradise, NV |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| Mar 17, 2016* 11:30 AM, TNT | (8 S) | vs. (9 S) UConn First Round | L 67–74 | 22–12 | Wells Fargo Arena (16,628) Des Moines, IA |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. S=South Region. All times are in Mountain Time. ||||||