AP No. 17 | Coaches No. 22 2015–16 record 25–9 (12–6 Pac-12) | |
Assistant coach Joe Pasternack (5th year) | ||
The 2015–16 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team represented the University of Arizona during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was led by seventh-year head coach Sean Miller, and played their home games at McKale Center in Tucson, Arizona as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. They finished the season 25–9, 12–6 in Pac-12 play to tie with California for third place. They defeated Colorado in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament to advance to the semifinals where they lost to Oregon. Arizona received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, the program's 33rd appearance, as a 6-seed in the South Region. They lost in the first round to Wichita State.
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Previous season and offseason
The 2014–15 Arizona Wildcats finished the season with an overall record of 34–4 and a 16–2 conference record to win their second straight Pac-12 regular season championship (14th overall). Arizona claimed the longest active home winning streak in D-I men's college basketball (38th home win at 2nd all-time, 82nd home win at 5th all-time) after BYU defeated Gonzaga 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. In the Pac-12 Tournament as a #1 seed, Arizona defeated #8 seed California Golden Bears; 73–51, and #4 seed UCLA Bruins; 70–64. The Wildcats then went on to beat Oregon Ducks; 80–52 in the Pac-12 Tournament championship game, and claimed their 5th Pac-12 tournament title for the first time since 2002, along with punching their 32nd ticket to the NCAA Tournament. Arizona entered the NCAA Tournament as a #2 seed in the West region, and defeated #15 seed Texas Southern Tigers 93–72, then #10 seed Ohio State Buckeyes; 73–58, and #6 seed Xavier Musketeers, to gain its third trip (2nd straight) to the Elite Eight, as well as Sean Miller's first as head coach. The Wildcats then fell to #1 seed Wisconsin Badgers; 85–78 for the second time (from the Elite Eight's by 1 point overtime loss in last year).
Personnel
On April 13, assistant coach Damon Stoudamire left the team to rejoin the Memphis staff under head coach and former UA player Josh Pastner. On May 22 Mark Phelps, joined the Arizona staff.
Roster
After the Feb. 17 game against Arizona State, Sean Miller announced Pitts would not return for the remainder of the season.
Ranking movement
*AP does not release post-NCAA tournament rankings