# 2015–16 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs basketball team

The 2015–16 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs basketball team represented Louisiana Tech University during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bulldogs, led by first year head coach Eric Konkol, played their home games at the Thomas Assembly Center and were members of Conference USA. They finished the season 23–10, 12–6 in C-USA play to finish in three-way tie for third place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the C-USA tournament to Old Dominion. They were invited to the inaugural Vegas 16, which only had eight teams, where they lost in the quarterfinals to East Tennessee State.

## Previous season

The Bulldogs finished the 2014–15 season 27–9, 15–3 in C-USA play to finish as regular season C-USA champions. They advanced to the semifinals of the C-USA tournament where they lost to UAB. As a regular season conference champion who failed to win their conference tournament, they received an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament where they defeated Central Michigan in the first round and Texas A&M in the second round before losing in the quarterfinals to Temple.

## Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Michale Kyser | 1 | F | 6'10" | 205 | Senior | Lancaster, TX | Graduated |
| Raheem Appleby | 3 | G | 6'4" | 160 | Senior | Jacksonville, AR | Graduated |
| Speedy Smith | 4 | G | 6'3" | 180 | Senior | St. Petersburg, FL | Graduated |
| Xavian Stapleton | 11 | G | 6'6" | 190 | Freshman | Flora, MS | Transferred to Mississippi State |
| Leo Edwards | 33 | F | 6'8" | 225 | RS Freshman | Detroit, MI | Transferred to IPFW |

### Incoming Transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| DaShawn Robinson | 23 | G | 6'4" | 190 | Junior | Houston, Texas | Junior college transferred from Navarro College |

## Recruiting class of 2015

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Derric Jean SG | Hollywood, FL | McArthur High School | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 165 lb (75 kg) | Jun 16, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 78 ||||||
| Jy'Lan Washington SF | Smyrna, TN | Stewarts Creek School | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 175 lb (79 kg) | Jun 8, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 0 ||||||
| 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 30, 2015. ||||||

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Opponent | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition |||||
| 11/05/2015* 6:30 pm | Southwest Baptist | W 87–53 | | Thomas Assembly Center Ruston, LA |
| Non-conference regular season |||||
| 11/13/2015* 6:30 pm | Millsaps | W 95–33 | 1–0 | Thomas Assembly Center (3,513) Ruston, LA |
| 11/17/2015* 6:30 pm | Texas–Arlington Hoophall Miami Invitational | W 80–68 | 2–0 | Thomas Assembly Center (3,012) Ruston, LA |
| 11/21/2015* 7:00 pm | at Grambling State Hoophall Miami Invitational | W 86–67 | 3–0 | Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center (1,504) Grambling, LA |
| 11/24/2015* 7:00 pm, BTN | at Ohio State Hoophall Miami Invitational | W 82–74 | 4–0 | Value City Arena (11,572) Columbus, OH |
| 11/27/2015* 6:30 pm | North Carolina Central | W 71–50 | 5–0 | Thomas Assembly Center (4,227) Ruston, LA |
| 12/01/2015* 8:00 pm, CBSSN | at Memphis Hoophall Miami Invitational | L 68–94 | 5–1 | FedEx Forum (11,114) Memphis, TN |
| 12/04/2015* 6:30 pm | Jackson State | W 95–88 $^{2OT}$ | 6–1 | Thomas Assembly Center (3,504) Ruston, LA |
| 12/08/2015* 6:30 pm | LSU–Shreveport | W 82–49 | 7–1 | Thomas Assembly Center (3,612) Ruston, LA |
| 12/12/2015* 12:00 pm, ASN | Louisiana–Lafayette | W 91–79 | 8–1 | Thomas Assembly Center (3,912) Ruston, LA |
| 12/15/2015* 6:00 pm, SECN | at Ole Miss | L 80–99 | 8–2 | Tad Smith Coliseum (5,606) Oxford, MS |
| 12/18/2015* 6:30 pm | Southern | W 83–76 | 9–2 | Thomas Assembly Center (2,519) Ruston, LA |
| 12/22/2015* 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | at Florida Gulf Coast | W 66–63 | 10–2 | Alico Arena (3,514) Fort Myers, FL |
| 12/28/2015* 6:00 pm | Prairie View A&M | W 77–58 | 11–2 | Thomas Assembly Center (2,528) Ruston, LA |
| Conference USA regular season |||||
| 01/02/2016 6:00 pm | Southern Miss | W 87–57 | 12–2 (1–0) | Thomas Assembly Center (3,302) Ruston, LA |
| 01/07/2016 8:30 pm, CBSSN | Old Dominion | L 53–56 | 12–3 (1–1) | Thomas Assembly Center (4,807) Ruston, LA |
| 01/09/2016 6:00 pm | Charlotte | W 93–90 $^{OT}$ | 13–3 (2–1) | Thomas Assembly Center (4,209) Ruston, LA |
| 01/14/2016 6:00 pm | at FIU | L 74–88 | 13–4 (2–2) | FIU Arena (1,240) Miami, FL |
| 01/16/2016 6:00 pm | at Florida Atlantic | L 61–63 | 13–5 (2–3) | FAU Arena Boca Raton, FL |
| 01/23/2016 7:00 pm, ASN | at Southern Miss | W 70–59 | 14–5 (3–3) | Reed Green Coliseum (3,334) Hattiesburg, MS |
| 01/28/2016 6:30 pm | UTSA | W 85–75 | 15–5 (4–3) | Thomas Assembly Center (3,428) Ruston, LA |
| 01/31/2016 3:00 pm, FSN | UTEP | W 78–70 | 16–5 (5–3) | Thomas Assembly Center (4,131) Ruston, LA |
| 02/04/2016 7:00 pm | at Rice | W 90–78 | 17–5 (6–3) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,660) Houston, TX |
| 02/06/2016 3:00 pm, ASN | at North Texas | L 69–80 | 17–6 (6–4) | The Super Pit (4,610) Denton, TX |
| 02/11/2016 8:00 pm, ASN | Middle Tennessee | W 73–63 | 18–6 (7–4) | Thomas Assembly Center (5,011) Ruston, LA |
| 02/13/2016 1:00 pm, FSN | UAB | W 85–76 | 19–6 (8–4) | Thomas Assembly Center (5,213) Ruston, LA |
| 02/18/2016 7:00 pm | at UTSA | W 87–74 | 20–6 (9–4) | Convocation Center (1,258) San Antonio, TX |
| 02/20/2016 5:00 pm, CBSSN | at UTEP | L 80–91 | 20–7 (9–5) | Don Haskins Center (7,313) El Paso, TX |
| 02/25/2016 6:30 pm | North Texas | W 73–62 $^{OT}$ | 21–7 (10–5) | Thomas Assembly Center (3,092) Ruston, LA |
| 02/27/2016 6:00 pm | Rice | W 88–69 | 22–7 (11–5) | Thomas Assembly Center (5,527) Ruston, LA |
| 03/03/2016 6:00 pm, ASN | at Marshall | W 97–94 | 23–7 (12–5) | Cam Henderson Center (5,945) Huntington, WV |
| 03/05/2016 7:00 pm | at WKU | L 90–96 $^{OT}$ | 23–8 (12–6) | E. A. Diddle Arena (4,591) Bowling Green, KY |
| Conference USA tournament |||||
| 03/10/2016 2:30 pm, ASN | vs. Old Dominion Quarterfinals | L 52–68 | 23–9 | Legacy Arena (9,797) Birmingham, AL |
| Vegas 16 |||||
| 03/28/2016* 8:00 pm, CBSSN | vs. East Tennessee State Quarterfinals | L 83–88 | 23–10 | Mandalay Bay Events Center Paradise, NV |
| *Non-conference game. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. |||||