# 2015–16 Saint Mary's Gaels men's basketball team

The 2015–16 Saint Mary's Gaels men's basketball team represented Saint Mary's College of California during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was head coach Randy Bennett's fifteenth season at Saint Mary's. The Gaels competed in the West Coast Conference and played their home games at the McKeon Pavilion. They finished the season 29–6, 15–3 in WCC play to win a share of the WCC regular season conference championship. They defeated Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine to advance to the championship game of the WCC tournament where they lost to Gonzaga. As a regular season conference champion, and #1 seed in their conference tournament, who failed to win their conference tournament, they received an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament. As a #2 seed, they defeated New Mexico State and Georgia to advance to the quarterfinals where they lost to Valparaiso.

## Previous season

The Gaels finished the 2014–15 season 21–10, 13–5 in WCC play to finish in a tie for second place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the WCC tournament to Portland. They were invited to the National Invitation Tournament where they lost in the first round to Vanderbilt.

## Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Brad Waldow | 00 | F | 6'9" | 260 | RS Senior | Shingle Springs, CA | Graduated |
| Kerry Carter | 3 | G | 6'2" | 205 | Senior | West Covina, CA | Graduated / Playing for Iberostar Tenerife (Spain) |
| Joe Coleman | 10 | G | 6'4" | 210 | RS Junior | Minneapolis, MN | Left the team for personal reasons |
| Tyler Harville | 12 | G | 5'11" | 170 | Freshman | Lexington, KY | Transferred to Berry College |
| Aaron Bright | 20 | G | 5'11" | 175 | Senior | Bellevue, WA | Graduated |
| Garrett Jackson | 22 | F | 6'6" | 225 | RS Senior | Portland, OR | Graduated |
| Treaven Duffy | 25 | G | 6'2" | 190 | RS Sophomore | Walnut Creek, CA | Transferred to San Francisco State |
| Desmond Simmons | 30 | F | 6'7" | 225 | RS Senior | Vallejo, CA | Graduated |

## Recruiting

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Stefan Gonzalez PG | Pocatello, ID | Highland High School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 185 lb (84 kg) | Sep 24, 2014 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 60 ||||||
| Franklin Porter SG | Portland, OR | Titon School | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 195 lb (88 kg) | Apr 15, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: nr Rivals: nr ESPN: nr ||||||
| 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: "ESPN". ESPN.com. "2015 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Regular season ||||||
| 11/13/2015* 8:00 pm, TheW.tv | | San Francisco State | W 80–56 | 1–0 | McKeon Pavilion (2,589) Moraga, CA |
| 11/16/2015* 7:00 pm, TheW.tv | | Manhattan | W 89–63 | 2–0 | McKeon Pavilion (2,242) Moraga, CA |
| 11/22/2015* 8:00 pm, ESPNU | | Stanford | W 78–61 | 3–0 | McKeon Pavilion (3,500) Moraga, CA |
| 11/29/2015* 5:00 pm, CHN | | Cal State Bakersfield | W 94–59 | 4–0 | McKeon Pavilion (2,340) Moraga, CA |
| 12/04/2015* 7:00 pm, TheW.tv | | UC Davis | W 81–67 | 5–0 | McKeon Pavilion (2,506) Moraga, CA |
| 12/06/2015* 5:00 pm, CHN | | UC Irvine | W 70–60 | 6–0 | McKeon Pavilion (2,333) Moraga, CA |
| 12/12/2015* 12:30 pm, P12N | | at California | L 59–63 | 6–1 | Haas Pavilion (10,074) Berkeley, CA |
| 12/14/2015* 7:00 pm, CHN | | Cal Poly | W 93–63 | 7–1 | McKeon Pavilion (2,183) Moraga, CA |
| 12/16/2015* 7:00 pm, TheW.tv | | Southern Utah | W 92–36 | 8–1 | McKeon Pavilion (1,836) Moraga, CA |
| 12/21/2015 8:00 pm, CSNCA | | at San Francisco | W 74–52 | 9–1 (1–0) | McKeon Pavilion (2,408) Moraga, CA |
| 12/23/2015 8:00 pm, CSNCA | | at Santa Clara | W 81–59 | 10–1 (2–0) | Leavey Center (1,950) Moraga, CA |
| 12/28/2015* 7:00 pm, TheW.tv | | Utah Valley | W 65–50 | 11–1 | McKeon Pavilion (2,113) Moraga, CA |
| 12/31/2015 8:00 pm, ESPNU | | BYU | W 85–74 | 12–1 (3–0) | McKeon Pavilion (3,183) Moraga, CA |
| 01/02/2016 7:00 pm, TheW.tv | | San Diego | W 79–46 | 13–1 (4–0) | McKeon Pavilion (2,185) Moraga, CA |
| 01/07/2016 7:00 pm, TheW.tv | | at Loyola Marymount | W 73–48 | 14–1 (5–0) | Gersten Pavilion (1,791) Los Angeles, CA |
| 01/09/2016 1:00 pm, CSNCA | | at Pepperdine | L 64–67 | 14–2 (5–1) | Firestone Fieldhouse (1,423) Malibu, CA |
| 01/14/2016 8:00 pm, ESPNU | | Pacific | W 78–62 | 15–2 (6–1) | McKeon Pavilion (2,983) Moraga, CA |
| 01/21/2016 8:00 pm, ESPNU | | Gonzaga | W 70–67 | 16–2 (7–1) | McKeon Pavilion (3,500) Moraga, CA |
| 01/23/2016 8:00 pm, CSNBA | | Portland | W 89–74 | 17–2 (8–1) | McKeon Pavilion (3,338) Moraga, CA |
| 01/30/2016 8:00 pm, CSNCA | | at Pacific | W 68–65 | 18–2 (9–1) | Alex G. Spanos Center (3,010) Stockton, CA |
| 02/04/2016 6:00 pm, BYUtv | | at BYU | L 59–70 | 18–3 (9–2) | Marriott Center (14,897) Provo, UT |
| 02/06/2016 6:00 pm, CSNCA | | at San Diego | W 60–43 | 19–3 (10–2) | Jenny Craig Pavilion (2,292) San Diego, CA |
| 02/11/2016 8:00 pm, CSNBA | | Pepperdine | L 63–69 | 19–4 (10–3) | McKeon Pavilion (3,340) Moraga, CA |
| 02/13/2016 8:00 pm, CSNBA | | Loyola Marymount | W 68–62 | 20–4 (11–3) | McKeon Pavilion (3,165) Moraga, CA |
| 02/18/2016 7:00 pm, TheW.tv | | at Portland | W 74–72 | 21–4 (12–3) | Chiles Center (2,868) Portland, OR |
| 02/20/2016 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | | at Gonzaga | W 63–58 | 22–4 (13–3) | McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) Spokane, WA |
| 02/25/2016 8:00 pm, CSNCA | | Santa Clara | W 75–50 | 23–4 (14–3) | McKeon Pavilion (3,165) Moraga, CA |
| 02/27/2016 8:00 pm, CSNCA | | at San Francisco | W 84–72 | 24–4 (15–3) | War Memorial Gymnasium (2,769) San Francisco, CA |
| 03/01/2016* 8:00 pm, TheW.tv | | Grand Canyon | W 73–64 | 25–4 | McKeon Pavilion (2,735) Moraga, CA |
| WCC tournament ||||||
| 03/05/2016 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | (1) | vs. (8) Loyola Marymount Quarterfinals | W 60–48 | 26–4 | Orleans Arena (7,209) Paradise, NV |
| 03/07/2016 6:00 pm, ESPN | (1) | vs. (4) Pepperdine Semifinals | W 81–66 | 27–4 | Orleans Arena (8,362) Paradise, NV |
| 03/08/2016 6:00 pm, ESPN | (1) | vs. (2) Gonzaga Championship | L 75–85 | 27–5 | Orleans Arena (7,418) Paradise, NV |
| NIT ||||||
| 03/15/2016* 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | (2) | (7) New Mexico State First Round – Valparaiso Bracket | W 58–56 | 28–5 | McKeon Pavilion (1,154) Moraga, CA |
| 03/20/2016* 4:30 pm, ESPNU | (2) | (3) Georgia Second Round – Valparaiso Bracket | W 77–65 | 29–5 | McKeon Pavilion (2,050) Moraga, CA |
| 03/22/2016* 4:00 pm, ESPN | (2) | at (1) Valparaiso Quarterfinals – Valparaiso Bracket | L 44–60 | 29–6 | Athletics–Recreation Center (5,444) Valparaiso, IN |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movement Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. (RV) Received votes but unranked. (NR) Not ranked. :
| 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 | Wk 19 | Final |
| AP | | | | | | | | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | NR | RV | | | | *N/A |
| Coaches | | | | | | | | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | 25 | RV | RV | RV | | | | |
*AP does not release post-NCAA tournament rankings