The 2015–16 Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team represented

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) () is a private Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. Founded in 1887 by Joseph Cataldo, an Italian-born priest and Jesuit missionary, the univ ...

in the

2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 13. The first tournament was the 2K Sports Classic and ended with the Final Four in Houston April 2–4. Practices officially began on October 2. Rule changes The followin ...

. The team was led by head coach

Mark Few Mark Norman Few (born December 27, 1962) is an American college basketball coach who has been the head coach at Gonzaga University since 1999. He has served on Gonzaga's coaching staff since 1989, and has been a constant on the sidelines through ...

, who was in his 17th season as head coach. The team played its home games at

McCarthey Athletic Center McCarthey Athletic Center (MAC) is a 6,000-seat indoor arena on the campus of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Opened in November 2004, it is home to the university's Bulldog basketball programs, members of the West Coast Conference (W ...

, which had a capacity of 6,000. The Bulldogs (also informally referred to as the Zags) played in their 36th season as a member of the

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting of ...

. They finished the season 28–8, 15–3 in WCC play to finish in a share for the WCC regular season championship. They defeated

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

, and

Saint Mary's St. Mary's, St. Marys, or St. Maries may refer to the following places: Australia * St Marys, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** St Marys railway station, Sydney ** North St Marys, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * St Marys, South Austra ...

to be champions of the WCC tournament and earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. As a #11 seed, they defeated

Seton Hall Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan u ...

and

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

to advance to the Sweet Sixteen where they lost to

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

. The final AP Poll is the most recent poll in which Gonzaga was unranked. They have since been ranked for 85 straight weeks from November, 2016-2021.

Previous season

The 2014–15 Gonzaga Bulldogs team were predicted to finish atop of the conference by the West Coast Conference Preseason Poll. The Zags finished in first place in the West Coast Conference Standings for the 18th time with a 17–1 conference record after BYU defeated the Zags in the regular season finale, snapping the nation's longest active home winning streak of 41 games, as well as Gonzaga's school record 22-game winning streak. The Bulldogs then went on to beat

in the West Coast Conference tournament, and claimed their 14th WCC tournament title, along with punching their 18th ticket to the NCAA tournament. Gonzaga entered the 2015 NCAA tournament as a #2 seed in the South region, and dismantled #15 seed North Dakota State, #7 seed Iowa, and #11 seed UCLA, to gain its second trip to the Elite Eight, as well as Mark Few's first as head coach. The Zags then fell to #1 seed (and eventual national champion) Duke, and finished the season with a 35–3 record, which were the most wins in school history.

Offseason

Coaching changes

Additions to staff

Player departures

Incoming transfers

2015 recruiting class

2016 recruiting class

Roster

* Roster is subject to change as/if players transfer or leave the program for other reasons. * Josh Perkins suffered a broken jaw in a November 2014 game and wasn't cleared to play with full contact until late April 2015. He was granted a medical hardship waiver and will have 4 years of eligibility remaining effective at the start of the 2015–16 season. * Jesse Wade graduated high school in 2015, but before enrolling in college at Gonzaga, he left for a 2-year

LDS mission A mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is a geographical administrative area to which church missionaries are assigned. Almost all areas of the world are within the boundaries of an LDS Church mission, whether ...

in Lyon, France, and will arrive on campus as a freshman in Fall 2017. *

Przemek Karnowski Przemysław Marcin "Przemek" Karnowski (; born 8 November 1993) is a Polish basketball player for Stelmet Zielona Góra of the PLK and the VTB United League. He completed his college career at Gonzaga University in the United States in 2017. He ...

did not play after the Bulldogs' fifth game of the season, a November 27, 2015 win over

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Ha ...

, due to back problems. On December 31, it was announced that he would undergo surgery and miss the rest of the season. At the time his surgery was announced, it had not been decided whether Karnowski would apply for a medical hardship waiver and play at Gonzaga in 2016–17, or turn professional after this season. He ultimately chose to remain at Gonzaga and play in the 2016–17 season.

Coaching staff

Rankings

Schedule

Gonzaga's non-conference schedule included home games against Arizona, UCLA, Montana, Northern Arizona, Mount St. Mary's, and Saint Martin's. Gonzaga played true road games at SMU and Washington State, and also faced off with Pittsburgh in the Armed Forces Classic in Okinawa, Japan. The Zags were invited to play in the Battle 4 Atlantis, where they played against three of the following in the Bahamas: Syracuse, UConn, Texas, Michigan, Texas A&M, Washington, and Charlotte. Gonzaga also played Tennessee in the 13th annual Battle in Seattle at KeyArena. Gonzaga played 18 conference games (home-and-home) during the season. Gonzaga will be featured on the ESPN networks at least 14 times in 2015–16. The WCC Tournament will feature 5 games televised on the ESPN networks. , - !colspan=12 style="background:#002967; color:white;", Exhibition , - !colspan=12 style="background:#002967; color:white;", Regular Season , - !colspan=12 style="background:#002967; color:white;", WCC Regular Season , - !colspan=12 style="background:#002967; color:white;", WCC Tournament , - !colspan=12 style="background:#002967; color:white;", NCAA tournament

Footnotes

References

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