The 2015–16 Liberty Flames men's basketball team represented the

Liberty University Liberty University (LU), known simply as Liberty, is a Private university, private Evangelicalism in the United States, evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, United States. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservativ ...

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 early-season tournaments to begin were the Puerto Rico Tip-Off and the Charleston Classic. The season ended with the 2016 NCAA Division I men's basketball tour ...

. The team played its home games in

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner and Abolitionism, abolitionist John Lynch (1740–1820), J ...

for the 26th consecutive season at Vines Center, with a capacity of 8,085. The team was led by

Ritchie McKay Ritchie Lawrence McKay (born April 22, 1965) is an American basketball coach who is in his second stint as the head coach of the Liberty Flames basketball, Liberty Flames of Liberty University. McKay for the previous six seasons had been the asso ...

, who was in his third season, but first season since his return to the program. They were members of the

Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), ...

. They finished the season 13–19, 10–8 in Big South play to finish in a tie for fifth place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the Big South tournament to UNC Asheville.

Departures

2015–16 Newcomers

John Dawson, originally from

Clovis, New Mexico Clovis is a city in and the county seat of Curry County, New Mexico. The population was 38,567 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Clovis is located in the New Mexico portion of the Llano Estacado, in the eastern part of the state. A ...

, transferred from

Marquette Golden Eagles men's basketball The Marquette Golden Eagles men's basketball team (formerly the Marquette Hilltoppers and Marquette Warriors) represents Marquette University in NCAA Division I (NCAA), Division I college basketball and competes in the Big East Conference. The tea ...

in January and will be eligible to play in after the 2015 fall semester. Anthony Fields, originally from

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, graduated from Bradley and will be eligible immediately. Fields started his career at Wake Forest before transferring to Bradley. He averaged 1.2 points per game last season for the Braves. Fields will be a senior.

Hansel Atencia Hansel Giovanny Atencia Suarez (born 24 May 1997) is a Colombian-Spanish basketball player for CB Estudiantes, Estudiantes of the Spanish LEB Oro. He is a member of the Colombia men's national basketball team, Colombia national basketball team. P ...

, originally from

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, played his high school basketball at Mountain Mission High in

Grundy, Virginia Grundy is a town in Buchanan County, Virginia, Buchanan County, Virginia, United States, an area located within the Appalachian Mountains region. It is the county seat of Buchanan County. The town is home to the Appalachian School of Law. The pop ...

. He averaged 8.5 points, 5.2 assists, 1.7 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game during his senior year. Lovell Cabbil, originally from

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal c ...

, played at Mansfield Summit high school where he averaged 23 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 3 steal per game his senior year. Myo Baxter-Bell, originally from

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

, played at Chaminade Julienne Catholic High school where he averaged 14 points, 6 rebounds and shot 73% from the free throw line his senior year. Caleb Homesley, originally from Indian Trail, North Carolina was the first commit of the 2015 class, originally recruited by former head coach Dale Layer.

Pre-season

Accolades and Rankings

Events

On March 4, 2015, hours after Liberty's loss in the first round of the

tournament, Dale Layer was relieved as head coach of the men's basketball team. Layer spent 6 seasons as the head coach, taking over when Ritchie McKay left in 2009. On April 1, 2015,

was announced as the men's basketball coach at Liberty University. McKay spent two years as the head coach for the 2007–08 and 2008–09 seasons before leaving to join

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023), known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He received many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, ...

at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. McKay served as the Associate head coach for the Cavaliers for 6 seasons before returning to Liberty.

Roster

*Roster is subject to change as/if players transfer or leave the program for other reasons. *John Dawson won't be eligible until January due to transfer rules.

Schedule

, - !colspan=12 style="background: #0A254E; color:white;", Regular season , - !colspan=12 style="background:#0A254E; color:white;", Big South tournament

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2015-16 Liberty Flames basketball team Liberty Flames basketball seasons

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