# 2015–16 Monmouth Hawks men's basketball team

The 2015–16 Monmouth Hawks men's basketball team represented Monmouth University during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Hawks, led by fifth year head coach King Rice, played their home games at the Multipurpose Activity Center and were members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). They finished the season 28–8, 17–3 in MAAC play to win the MAAC regular season championship. They defeated Rider and Fairfield to advance to the championship game of the MAAC tournament where they lost to Iona. As a regular season conference champion who failed to win their conference tournament, they received an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament. As one of the last four teams left out of the NCAA tournament, they received a #1 seed in the NIT where they defeated Bucknell in the first round to advance to the second round where they lost to George Washington.
This season is best known for Monmouth defeating five power conference opponents (UCLA, Notre Dame, USC, Georgetown, and Rutgers) and for the Hawks receiving votes in the AP poll for the first time ever.

## Previous season

The Hawks finished the 2014–15 season 18–15, 13–7 in MAAC play to finish in tie for third place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the MAAC tournament to Iona.

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Nov 7* 7:00 pm | | Georgian Court | W 107–77 | | Multipurpose Activity Center (806) West Long Branch, NJ |
| Regular season ||||||
| Nov 13* 11:00 pm, P12N | | at UCLA | W 84–81 $^{OT}$ | 1–0 | Pauley Pavilion (6,674) Los Angeles, CA |
| Nov 16* 10:00 pm, P12N | | at USC | L 90–101 | 1–1 | Galen Center (2,230) Los Angeles, CA |
| Nov 21* 2:00 pm | | at Drexel | W 82–74 | 2–1 | Daskalakis Athletic Center (1,522) Philadelphia, PA |
| Nov 26* 6:30 pm, ESPNU | | vs. No. 17 Notre Dame AdvoCare Invitational quarterfinals | W 70–68 | 3–1 | HP Field House (4,871) Orlando, FL |
| Nov 27* 9:30 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. Dayton AdvoCare Invitational semifinals | L 70–73 | 3–2 | HP Field House (4,508) Orlando, FL |
| Nov 29* 12:30 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. USC AdvoCare Invitational 3rd place game | W 83–73 | 4–2 | HP Field House (1,631) Orlando, FL |
| Dec 4 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Canisius | L 86–96 | 4–3 (0–1) | Koessler Athletic Center (1,554) Buffalo, NY |
| Dec 6 2:00 pm | | at Niagara | W 56–41 | 5–3 (1–1) | Gallagher Center (1,147) Lewiston, NY |
| Dec 13* 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Wagner | W 73–54 | 6–3 | Multipurpose Activity Center (3,901) West Long Branch, NJ |
| Dec 15* 7:30 pm, FS1 | | at Georgetown | W 83–68 | 7–3 | Verizon Center (5,258) Washington, D.C. |
| Dec 20* 1:00 pm, BTN | | at Rutgers | W 73–67 | 8–3 | The RAC (6,637) Piscataway, NJ |
| Dec 23* 6:00 pm | | at Cornell | W 78–69 | 9–3 | Newman Arena (2,034) Ithaca, NY |
| Dec 28* 4:00 pm | | at Army | L 84–91 | 9–4 | Christl Arena (3,033) West Point, NY |
| Jan 4 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Canisius | W 81–66 | 10–4 (2–1) | Multipurpose Activity Center (2,731) West Long Branch, NJ |
| Jan 9 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Quinnipiac | W 88–74 | 11–4 (3–1) | Multipurpose Activity Center (3,911) West Long Branch, NJ |
| Jan 11 7:00 pm, ESPN3, SNY | | at Fairfield | W 86–74 | 12–4 (4–1) | Webster Bank Arena (1,237) Bridgeport, CT |
| Jan 15 9:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Iona | W 110–102 | 13–4 (5–1) | Hynes Athletic Center (2,611) New Rochelle, NY |
| Jan 18 4:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Siena | W 85–69 | 14–4 (6–1) | Multipurpose Activity Center (3,911) West Long Branch, NJ |
| Jan 21 8:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Manhattan | L 71–78 | 14–5 (6–2) | Draddy Gymnasium (1,898) Riverdale, NY |
| Jan 24 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Marist | W 83–72 | 15–5 (7–2) | Multipurpose Activity Center (2,785) West Long Branch, NJ |
| Jan 28 7:00 pm | | at Quinnipiac | W 66–51 | 16–5 (8–2) | TD Bank Sports Center (2,612) Hamden, CT |
| Jan 30 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Saint Peter's | W 73–57 | 17–5 (9–2) | Multipurpose Activity Center (4,105) West Long Branch, NJ |
| Feb 1 7:00 pm | | at Siena | W 93–87 | 18–5 (10–2) | Times Union Center (7,016) Albany, NY |
| Feb 5 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Fairfield | W 91–67 | 19–5 (11–2) | Multipurpose Activity Center (3,785) West Long Branch, NJ |
| Feb 9 7:00 pm | | at Marist | W 87–61 | 20–5 (12–2) | McCann Field House (1,648) Poughkeepsie, NY |
| Feb 12 9:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Rider | W 79–78 | 21–5 (13–5) | Alumni Gymnasium (1,650) Lawrenceville, NJ |
| Feb 15 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Manhattan | W 79–70 | 22–5 (14–2) | Multipurpose Activity Center (3,040) West Long Branch, NJ |
| Feb 19 7:00 pm, ESPNU | | Iona | L 67–83 | 22–6 (14–3) | Multipurpose Activity Center (4,522) West Long Branch, NJ |
| Feb 21 2:00 pm | | at Saint Peter's | W 82–75 | 23–6 (15–3) | Yanitelli Center (1,013) Jersey City, NJ |
| Feb 26 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | | Rider | W 79–58 | 24–6 (16–3) | Multipurpose Activity Center (4,194) West Long Branch, NJ |
| Feb 28 5:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Niagara | W 77–68 | 25–6 (17–3) | Multipurpose Activity Center (4,172) West Long Branch, NJ |
| MAAC tournament ||||||
| Mar 4 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | (1) | vs. (8) Rider Quarterfinals | W 59–48 | 26–6 | Times Union Center (1,269) Albany, NY |
| Mar 6 4:30 pm, ESPN3 | (1) | vs. (5) Fairfield Semifinals | W 76–63 | 27–6 | Times Union Center (5,722) Albany, NY |
| Mar 7 7:00 pm, ESPN | (1) | vs. (2) Iona Championship game | L 76–79 | 27–7 | Times Union Center (3,115) Albany, NY |
| National Invitation tournament ||||||
| Mar 15* 7:30 pm, ESPN3 | (1) | (8) Bucknell First Round – Monmouth Bracket | W 90–80 | 28–7 | Multipurpose Activity Center (4,102) West Long Branch, NJ |
| Mar 21* 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | (1) | (4) George Washington Second Round – Monmouth Bracket | L 71–87 | 28–8 | Multipurpose Activity Center (3,442) West Long Branch, NJ |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Final |
| AP | | | | | | | | RV | RV | | | RV | | | RV | RV | | | | | Not released |
| Coaches' | | | | | | | | RV | RV | | | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | | | | | |