# 2015–16 Providence Friars men's basketball team

The 2015–16 Providence Friars men's basketball team represented Providence College in the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Friars, led by fifth-year head coach Ed Cooley, played their home games at the Dunkin' Donuts Center, and were members of the Big East Conference. They finished the season 24–11, 10–8 in Big East play to finish in a tie for fourth place. They defeated Butler in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament to advance to the semifinals where they lost to Villanova. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as a #9 seed where they defeated USC in the first round, then lost to North Carolina in the second round.

## Previous season

The Friars finished the 2014–15 season 22–12 overall and 11–7 in Big East play to finish in fourth place. They defeated St. John's in the quarterfinals and lost to Villanova in the semifinals of the Big East tournament. The Friars received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as a #6 seed, losing to Dayton in the second round.

## Off season
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Ted Bancroft | 22 | G | 6'6" | 215 | RS Senior | Marion, MA | Graduated |
| Paschal Chukwu | 13 | C | 7'2" | 226 | Freshman | Westport, CT | Transferred to Syracuse |
| Carson Desrosiers | 33 | F | 7'0" | 250 | Senior | Windham, NH | Graduated |
| Tyler Harris | 25 | F | 6'9" | 223 | RS Junior | Dix Hills, NY | Graduated, transferred to Auburn |
| LaDontae Henton | 23 | F | 6'6" | 215 | Senior | Lansing, MI | Graduated/Went undrafted in 2015 NBA draft |

## Incoming recruits

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Ryan Fazekas PF | Michigan City, IN | Marquette Catholic High School | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Oct 29, 2013 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 80 ||||||
| Drew Edwards SG | Towson, MD | Calvert Hall College High School | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | Aug 29, 2014 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 80 ||||||
| Ricky Council II SF | Durham, NC | Moravian Prep | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 185 lb (84 kg) | Feb 24, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: POST ||||||
| Quadree Smith C | Temple Hills, Maryland | IMG Academy | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 290 lb (130 kg) | Jun 10, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: POST ||||||
| 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 July 28, 2015. ||||||

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Oct 31, 2015* 2:00 pm | | Stonehill | W 92–76 | | Dunkin' Donuts Center Providence, RI |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 14, 2015* 7:00 pm, FSN | | Harvard | W 76–64 | 1–0 | Dunkin' Donuts Center (9,477) Providence, RI |
| Nov 18, 2015* 7:00 pm, FS1 | | Illinois Gavitt Tipoff Games | W 60–59 | 2–0 | Dunkin' Donuts Center (8,069) Providence, RI |
| Nov 21, 2015* 7:00 pm, FSN | | Brown Ocean State Cup | W 94–73 | 3–0 | Dunkin' Donuts Center (8,706) Providence, RI |
| Nov 23, 2015* 6:30 pm, FS1 | | NJIT | W 83–76 | 4–0 | Dunkin' Donuts Center (5,009) Providence, RI |
| Nov 26, 2015* 8:00 pm, ESPNU | | vs. Evansville Wooden Legacy quarterfinals | W 74–64 | 5–0 | Titan Gym (2,460) Fullerton, CA |
| Nov 27, 2015* 10:30 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. No. 11 Arizona Wooden Legacy semifinals | W 69–65 | 6–0 | Titan Gym (2,873) Fullerton, CA |
| Nov 29, 2015* 9:00 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. No. 3 Michigan State Wooden Legacy championship | L 64–77 | 6–1 | Honda Center (4,393) Anaheim, CA |
| Dec 2, 2015* 7:00 pm, FSN | No. 23 | Hartford | W 89–66 | 7–1 | Dunkin' Donuts Center (5,169) Providence, RI |
| Dec 5, 2015* 7:00 pm, ESPNU | No. 23 | at Rhode Island Ocean State Cup | W 74–72 | 8–1 | Ryan Center (7,678) Kingston, RI |
| Dec 9, 2015* 7:00 pm, FS1 | No. 15 | Boston College Wooden Legacy Non-Bracket game | W 66–51 | 9–1 | Dunkin' Donuts Center (8,425) Providence, RI |
| Dec 12, 2015* 12:00 pm, FS1 | No. 15 | Bryant Ocean State Cup | W 74–67 | 10–1 | Dunkin' Donuts Center (7,369) Providence, RI |
| Dec 19, 2015* 8:00 pm, FSN | No. 14 | Rider | W 73–65 | 11–1 | Dunkin' Donuts Center (7,852) Providence, RI |
| Dec 21, 2015* 7:00 pm, CBSSN | No. 10 | at Massachusetts | W 90–66 | 12–1 | Mullins Center (4,411) Amherst, MA |
| Big East regular season ||||||
| Dec 31, 2015 2:30 pm, CBSSN | No. 12 | at No. 9 Butler | W 81–73 | 13–1 (1–0) | Hinkle Fieldhouse (9,100) Indianapolis, IN |
| Jan 2, 2016 3:30 pm, FS1 | No. 12 | St. John's Big East New Year's Marathon | W 83–65 | 14–1 (2–0) | Dunkin' Donuts Center (12,410) Providence, RI |
| Jan 5, 2016 7:00 pm, FS1 | No. 8 | Marquette | L 64–65 | 14–2 (2–1) | Dunkin' Donuts Center (10,446) Providence, RI |
| Jan 12, 2016 8:30 pm, FS1 | No. 12 | at Creighton | W 50–48 | 15–2 (3–1) | CenturyLink Center (17,073) Omaha, NE |
| Jan 16, 2016 4:30 pm, FS1 | No. 12 | Seton Hall | L 72–81 | 15–3 (3–2) | Dunkin' Donuts Center (11,148) Providence, RI |
| Jan 19, 2016 6:30 pm, FS1 | No. 16 | No. 18 Butler | W 71–68 | 16–3 (4–2) | Dunkin' Donuts Center (10,918) Providence, RI |
| Jan 23, 2016 12:00 pm, FOX | No. 16 | at No. 4 Villanova | W 82–76 | 17–3 (5–2) | Wells Fargo Center (7,191) Philadelphia, PA |
| Jan 26, 2016 8:30 pm, FS1 | No. 10 | No. 7 Xavier | L 68–75 | 17–4 (5–3) | Dunkin' Donuts Center (12,804) Providence, RI |
| Jan 30, 2016 8:00 pm, FS1 | No. 10 | at Georgetown | W 73–69 | 18–4 (6–3) | Verizon Center (14,481) Washington, D.C. |
| Feb 2, 2016 9:00 pm, FS1 | No. 11 | at DePaul | L 70–77 | 18–5 (6–4) | Allstate Arena (5,114) Rosemont, IL |
| Feb 6, 2016 2:30 pm, FS1 | No. 11 | No. 4 Villanova | L 60–72 | 18–6 (6–5) | Dunkin' Donuts Center (12,883) Providence, RI |
| Feb 10, 2016 7:00 pm, CBSSN | No. 20 | at Marquette | L 91–96 | 18–7 (6–6) | BMO Harris Bradley Center (14,616) Milwaukee, WI |
| Feb 13, 2016 12:07 pm, FOX | No. 20 | Georgetown | W 75–72 | 19–7 (7–6) | Dunkin' Donuts Center (12,582) Providence, RI |
| Feb 17, 2016 7:00 pm, FS1 | No. 23 | at No. 8 Xavier | L 74–85 | 19–8 (7–7) | Cintas Center (10,336) Cincinnati, OH |
| Feb 25, 2016 7:00 pm, FS1 | | at Seton Hall | L 52–70 | 19–9 (7–8) | Prudential Center (8,600) Newark, NJ |
| Feb 27 2016 4:00 pm, CBSSN | | DePaul | W 87–66 | 20–9 (8–8) | Dunkin' Donuts Center (12,435) Providence, RI |
| Mar 2, 2016 9:00 pm, CBSSN | | Creighton | W 70–66 | 21–9 (9–8) | Dunkin' Donuts Center (9,252) Providence, RI |
| Mar 5, 2016 12:30 pm, FS1 | | at St. John's | W 90–76 | 22–9 (10–8) | Madison Square Garden (10,079) New York, NY |
| Big East tournament ||||||
| Mar 10, 2016 2:30 pm, FS1 | (4) | vs. (5) Butler Quarterfinals | W 74–60 | 23–9 | Madison Square Garden (14,869) New York City, NY |
| Mar 11, 2016 6:30 pm, FS1 | (4) | vs. (1) No. 3 Villanova Semifinals | L 68–76 | 23–10 | Madison Square Garden (17,130) New York City, NY |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| Mar 17, 2016* 9:50 pm, TBS | (9 E) | vs. (8 E) USC First Round | W 70–69 | 24–10 | PNC Arena (17,387) Raleigh, NC |
| Mar 19, 2016* 9:40 pm, TBS | (9 E) | vs. (1 E) No. 3 North Carolina Second Round | L 66–85 | 24–11 | PNC Arena (19,433) Raleigh, NC |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East Region. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movement Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. RV=Others receiving 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 | RV | RV | RV | 23 | 15 | 14 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 10 | 11 | 20 | 23 | RV | NR | RV | RV | N/A |
| Coaches | RV | RV | NR | 24 | 18 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 17 | 10 | 11 | 17 | 20 | 24 | RV | RV | RV | RV |