# 2015–16 UTEP Miners men's basketball team

The 2015–16 UTEP Miners basketball team represented the University of Texas at El Paso during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Miners, led by sixth year head coach Tim Floyd, played their home games at the Don Haskins Center and were members of Conference USA. They finished the season 19–14, 10–8 in C-USA play to finish in sixth place. They defeated FIU in the second round of the C-USA tournament to advance to the quarterfinals where they lost to Marshall. Despite having 19 wins and an above .500 record, they did not participate in a postseason tournament. UTEP averaged 7,385 fans per game, ranking 64th nationally.

## Previous season

The Miners finished the season 22–11, 13–5 in C-USA play to finish in a tie for the second place. They advanced to the semifinals of the C-USA tournament where they lost to Middle Tennessee. They were invited to the National Invitation Tournament where they lost in the first round to Murray State.

## Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Julian Washburn | 4 | G/F | 6'8" | 210 | Senior | Duncanville, TX | Graduated |
| C. J. Cooper | 5 | G | 6'0" | 180 | Senior | Chino, CA | Graduated |
| Lew Stallworth | 13 | G | 6'1" | 175 | Freshman | Santa Clarita, CA | Transferred to Texas–Rio Grande Valley |
| Cedrick Lang | 31 | F | 6'10" | 255 | Senior | Sioux Falls, SD | Graduated |
| Vince Hunter | 32 | F | 6'8" | 200 | Sophomore | Detroit, MI | Declare for 2015 NBA draft |
| Darnell Vandivort | 33 | G | 6'1" | 145 | Sophomore | El Paso, TX | Walk-on; didn't return |

### Incoming Transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Dominic Artis | 1 | G | 6'1" | 185 | Junior | Oakland, CA | Junior college transferred from Diablo Valley College |
| Lee Moore | 4 | G | 6'4" | 175 | Junior | Kennesaw, GA | Junior college transferred from Wallace State CC |

## Class of 2015 recruits

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Paul Thomas PF | Houston, TX | Summer Creek High School | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Sep 24, 2014 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 80 ||||||
| Christian Romine C | Mahomet, IL | Mahomet-Seymour High School | 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) | 205 lb (93 kg) | Sep 8, 2014 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Josh McSwiggan SF | Loughborough, England | Charmwood College | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | N/A | Mar 14, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Kelvin Jones C | Hobbs, NM | Hobbs High School | 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) | 210 lb (95 kg) | May 17, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Brodricks Jones C | Los Angeles, CA | Lawndale High School | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | 205 lb (93 kg) | Aug 3, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: 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. ||||||

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Opponent | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition |||||
| 10/31/2015* 2:00 pm | Cameron | W 78–69 | | Don Haskins Center (5,112) El Paso, TX |
| 11/07/2015* 7:05 pm | East Central Oklahoma | W 78–66 | | Don Haskins Center (6,384) El Paso, TX |
| Non-Conference Regular season |||||
| 11/14/2015* 7:05 pm | Loyola (New Orleans) | W 96–49 | 1–0 | Don Haskins Center (7,596) El Paso, TX |
| 11/21/2015* 7:30 pm | Texas State | W 77–62 | 2–0 | Don Haskins Center (7,311) El Paso, TX |
| 11/22/2015* 7:05 pm | Alcorn State Corpus Christi Coastal Classic | W 88–66 | 3–0 | Don Haskins Center (6,005) El Paso, TX |
| 11/24/2015* 7:05 pm | Florida A&M Corpus Christi Coastal Classic | W 72–54 | 4–0 | Don Haskins Center (6,682) El Paso, TX |
| 11/27/2015* 4:00 pm, CBSSN | vs. Southern Illinois Corpus Christi Coastal Classic semifinals | W 71–66 | 5–0 | American Bank Center (264) Corpus Christi, TX |
| 11/28/2015* 4:00 pm, CBSSN | vs. Colorado State Corpus Christi Coastal Classic championship | W 99–90 $^{2OT}$ | 6–0 | American Bank Center (274) Corpus Christi, TX |
| 12/02/2015* 7:00 pm | at New Mexico State Battle of I-10 | L 59–73 | 6–1 | Pan American Center (6,303) Las Cruces, NM |
| 12/05/2015* 6:00 pm, ASN | Texas–Arlington | L 62–76 | 6–2 | Don Haskins Center (7,567) El Paso, TX |
| 12/13/2015* 4:00 pm, P12N | at Washington State | L 68–84 | 6–3 | Beasley Coliseum (1,917) Pullman, WA |
| 12/19/2015* 7:00 pm, ASN | New Mexico State Battle of I-10 | L 53–73 | 6–4 | Don Haskins Center (9,040) El Paso, TX |
| 12/21/2015* 7:00 pm | Norfolk State Sun Bowl Invitational semifinals | L 76–85 | 6–5 | Don Haskins Center (7,746) El Paso, TX |
| 12/22/2015* 5:00 pm | Sam Houston State Sun Bowl Invitational 3rd place game | W 87–68 | 7–5 | Don Haskins Center (5,946) El Paso, TX |
| 12/29/2015* 7:05 pm | Texas–Rio Grande Valley | W 85–64 | 8–5 | Don Haskins Center (6,819) El Paso, TX |
| Conference USA regular season |||||
| 01/01/2016 7:00 pm, ASN | Rice | W 61–60 | 9–5 (1–0) | Don Haskins Center (7,154) El Paso, TX |
| 01/03/2016 3:00 pm, ASN | North Texas | W 84–75 | 10–5 (2–0) | Don Haskins Center (6,585) El Paso, TX |
| 01/07/2016 5:00 pm, ASN | at Middle Tennessee | L 72–78 | 10–6 (2–1) | Murphy Center (4,105) Murfreesboro, TN |
| 01/09/2016 12:00 pm, CBSSN | at UAB | L 80–87 | 10–7 (2–2) | Bartow Arena (4,287) Birmingham, AL |
| 01/16/2016 2:00 pm, ASN | at UTSA | L 67–71 | 10–8 (2–3) | Convocation Center (1,550) Birmingham, AL |
| 01/21/2016 7:05 pm | Florida Atlantic | W 71–56 | 11–8 (3–3) | Don Haskins Center (6,054) El Paso, TX |
| 01/23/2016 7:05 pm | FIU | L 69–79 | 11–9 (3–4) | Don Haskins Center (7,688) El Paso, TX |
| 01/28/2016 6:00 pm | at Southern Miss | L 58–71 | 11–10 (3–5) | Reed Green Coliseum (2,824) Hattiesburg, MS |
| 01/30/2016 2:00 pm, FSN | at Louisiana Tech | L 70–78 | 11–11 (3–6) | Thomas Assembly Center (4,131) Ruston, LA |
| 02/04/2016 7:05 pm | Marshall | W 112–108 | 12–11 (4–6) | Don Haskins Center (6,993) El Paso, TX |
| 02/06/2016 3:00 pm, FS1 | WKU 1966 50th Anniversary Game | W 93–89 $^{OT}$ | 13–11 (5–6) | Don Haskins Center (12,000) El Paso, TX |
| 02/11/2016 5:00 pm | at FIU | W 84–74 | 14–11 (6–6) | FIU Arena (936) Miami, FL |
| 02/13/2016 4:00 pm, ASN | at Florida Atlantic | W 89–82 | 15–11 (7–6) | FAU Arena (1,254) Boca Raton, FL |
| 02/18/2016 7:05 pm | Southern Miss | W 78–73 | 16–11 (8–6) | Don Haskins Center (7,012) El Paso, TX |
| 02/20/2016 4:00 pm, CBSSN | Louisiana Tech | W 91–80 | 17–11 (9–6) | Don Haskins Center (7,313) El Paso, TX |
| 02/25/2016 5:00 pm, FSN | at Old Dominion | L 53–74 | 17–12 (9–7) | Ted Constant Convocation Center (6,887) Norfolk, VA |
| 02/27/2016 5:00 pm | at Charlotte | L 78–88 | 17–13 (9–8) | Dale F. Halton Arena (5,813) Charlotte, NC |
| 03/05/2016 2:00 pm | UTSA | W 81–74 | 18–13 (10–8) | Don Haskins Center (7,430) El Paso, TX |
| Conference USA tournament |||||
| 03/09/2016 8:30 pm, ASN | vs. FIU Second round | W 85–77 | 19–13 | Legacy Arena (3,905) Birmingham, AL |
| 03/10/2016 8:30 pm, ASN | vs. Marshall Quarterfinals | L 85–87 | 19–14 | Legacy Arena (3,933) Birmingham, AL |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Mountain Time. |||||