# 2015–16 Conference USA men's basketball season

The 2015–16 Conference USA men's basketball season began with practices in October 2015, followed by the start of the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November.

## Preseason
### Preseason Polls

| | C-USA Coaches |
| 1. | UAB (11) |
| 2. | Old Dominion (3) |
| 3. | Middle Tennessee |
| 4. | UTEP |
| 5. | Louisiana Tech |
| 6. | WKU |
| 7. | Rice |
| 8. | North Texas |
| 9. | Marshall |
| 10. | FIU |
| 11. | Charlotte |
| 12. | Florida Atlantic |
| 13. | UTSA |
| 14. | Southern Miss |

### Preseason All-Conference Team

* C-USA Coaches
* Adrian Diaz, F FIU Alex Hamilton, G Louisiana Tech Erik McCree, F Louisiana Tech Ryan Taylor, F Marshall Reggie Upshaw Jr.,G Middle Tennessee Trey Freeman, G Old Dominion Marcus Jackson, G Rice Robert Brown, G UAB William Lee, F UAB Earvin Morris, F UTEP

## Rankings

Legend :
| | Improvement in ranking |
| | Drop in ranking |
| | Not ranked previous week |
| RV | Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll |
| | | Pre/ Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 4 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 | Wk 13 |
| Charlotte | AP | | | | | | |
| Charlotte | C | | | | | | |
| FIU | AP | | | | | | |
| FIU | C | | | | | | |
| Florida Atlantic | AP | | | | | | |
| Florida Atlantic | C | | | | | | |
| Louisiana Tech | AP | | | RV | | | |
| Louisiana Tech | C | | | | | | |
| Marshall | AP | | | | | | |
| Marshall | C | | | | | | |
| Middle Tennessee | AP | | | | | | |
| Middle Tennessee | C | | | | | | |
| North Texas | AP | | | | | | |
| North Texas | C | | | | | | |
| Old Dominion | AP | RV | RV | | | | |
| Old Dominion | C | RV | RV | | | | |
| Rice | AP | | | | | | |
| Rice | C | | | | | | |
| Southern Miss | AP | | | | | | |
| Southern Miss | C | | | | | | |
| UAB | AP | | | | | RV | |
| UAB | C | | | | RV | RV | RV |
| UTEP | AP | | | RV | | | |
| UTEP | C | | | RV | | | |
| UTSA | AP | | | | | | |
| UTSA | C | | | | | | |
| WKU | AP | | | | | | |
| WKU | C | | | | | | |

## Conference schedules
### Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.
| | Charlotte | FIU | FAU | LaTech | Marshall | MTSU | UNT | ODU | Rice | USM | UAB | UTEP | UTSA | WKU |
| vs. Charlotte | – | 0–1 | 1-0 | 1-0 | 1–1 | 1-0 | 1–1 | 2-0 | 0-3 | 1-0 | 1-0 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 1–1 |
| vs. FIU | 1–0 | – | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 |
| vs. Florida Atlantic | 0-1 | 2–0 | – | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–3 | 1–0 |
| vs. Louisiana Tech | 0-1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | – | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 |
| vs. Marshall | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | – | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 |
| vs. Middle Tennessee | 0-1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | – | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 |
| vs. North Texas | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | – | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 |
| vs. Old Dominion | 0-2 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | – | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 |
| vs. Rice | 3-0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | – | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| vs. Southern Miss | 1-0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | – | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| vs. UAB | 0-1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | – | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 |
| vs. UTEP | 1-0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | – | 1–1 | 0–1 |
| vs. UTSA | 1-0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | – | 1–0 |
| vs. WKU | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | – |
| Total | 10–9 | 7–12 | 6–14 | 12–6 | 11–7 | 13–5 | 7–12 | 13–6 | 7–12 | 6–12 | 16–2 | 11–8 | 3–16 | 9–10 |

## Honors and awards
### Players of the Week

Throughout the conference regular season, the C-USA offices named one or two players of the week and one or two freshmen of the week each Monday.
| Week | Player of the week | Freshman of the week |
| November 16, 2015 | Chris Cokley, UAB | Ja'Michael Brown, North Texas |
| November 23, 2015 | Adrian Diaz, FIU | Andrien White, Charlotte |
| November 30, 2015 | Earvin Morris, UTEP | C. J. Burks, Marshall |
| November 30, 2015 | Earvin Morris, UTEP | Marcus Evans, Rice |
| December 7, 2015 | Adrian Diaz (2), FIU | Marcus Evans (2), Rice |
| December 14, 2015 | Alex Hamilton, Louisiana Tech | C. J. Burks (2), Marshall |
| December 21, 2015 | Erik McCree, Louisiana Tech | Marcus Evans (3), Rice |
| December 28, 2015 | James Kelly, Marshall | Marcus Evans (4), Rice |
| January 4, 2016 | Adrian Diaz (3), FIU | Andrien White (2), Charlotte |
| January 4, 2016 | Alex Hamilton (2), Louisiana Tech | Andrien White (2), Charlotte |
| January 11, 2016 | James Kelly (2), Marshall | Jon Davis, Charlotte |
| January 18, 2016 | William Lee, UAB | Marquez Letcher-Ellis, Rice |
| January 25, 2016 | Trey Freeman, Old Dominion | Jon Davis (2), Charlotte |
| February 1, 2016 | Trey Freeman (2), Old Dominion | Marcus Evans (5), Rice |
| February 8, 2016 | Trey Freeman (3), Old Dominion | Marcus Evans (6), Rice |
| February 15, 2016 | Erik McCree (2), Louisiana Tech | Marcus Evans (7), Rice |
| February 22, 2016 | James Kelly (3), Marshall | Marcus Evans (8), Rice |
| February 29, 2016 | Alex Hamilton (3), Louisiana Tech | Marcus Evans (9), Rice |
| March 7, 2016 | Alex Hamilton (4), Louisiana Tech | Marcus Evans (10), Rice |

### All-Conference USA Awards and Teams

2016 Conference USA Men's Basketball Individual Awards :
| Award | Recipient(s) | Team |
| Player of the Year | Alex Hamilton | Louisiana Tech |
| Gene Bartow Coach of the Year | Jerod Haase | UAB |
| Defensive Player of the Year | William Lee | UAB |
| Freshman of the Year | Marcus Evans | Rice |
| Newcomer of the Year | James Kelly | Marshall |
| Sixth Man Award | Dirk Williams | UAB |
2016 Conference USA Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams :
| First Team | Second Team | Third Team | All-Freshman Team | All-Defensive Team | All-Academic Team |
| Alex Hamilton (La. Tech) James Kelly (Marshall) Trey Freeman (ODU) Marcus Evans (Rice) Robert Brown (UAB) | Joseph Uchebo (Charlotte) Adrian Diaz (FIU) Erik McCree (La. Tech) Jeremy Combs (N. Texas) Chris Cokley (UAB) | Giddy Potts (MTSU) Reggie Upshaw Jr. (MTSU) William Lee (UAB) Nick Norton (UAB) Lee Moore(UTEP) | Jon Davis (Charlotte) Andrien White (Charlotte) Zoran Talley (ODU) Marcus Evans (Rice) Terry Winn (UTEP) | Adrian Diaz (FIU) Alex Hamilton (La. Tech) Brandan Stith (ODU) Marcus Evans (Rice) William Lee (UAB) | Jon Elmore (Marshall) Austin Loop (Marshall) Trey Freeman (ODU) Nick Norton (UAB) Dominic Artis (UTEP) |
| † - denotes unanimous selection ||||||

## Postseason
### Conference USA Tournament

The conference tournament is scheduled for March 8–12 at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, AL.

### NCAA tournament

| Seed | Region | School | First Four | Round of 64 | Round of 32 | Sweet 16 | Elite Eight | Final Four | Championship |
| 15 | Midwest | Middle Tennessee | | W, 90–81 vs. #2 Michigan State – (St. Louis) | L, 50–75 vs. #10 Syracuse – (St. Louis) | | | | |
| | | W–L (%): | 0–0 – | 1–0 1.000 | 0–1 .000 | 0–0 – | 0–0 – | 0–0 – | 0–0 –Total: 1–1 .500 |

### National Invitation Tournament

| Seed | Bracket | School | First round | Second round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals |
| 7 | St. Bonaventure | UAB | L, 79–97 vs. #2 BYU | | | | |
| | | W–L (%): | 0–1 .000 | 0–0 – | 0–0 – | 0–0 – | 0–0 – Total: 0–1 .000 |