2015–16 Penn State Nittany Lions basketball team

The 2015–16 Penn State Nittany Lions basketball team represented Pennsylvania State University in the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Head coach Pat Chambers coached his fifth season with the team. They played its home games in University Park, Pennsylvania at the Bryce Jordan Center, with two games at Rec Hall, and were members of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 16–16, 7–11 in Big Ten play to finish in tenth place. They lost to Ohio State in the second round of the Big Ten tournament.

2015–16 Penn State Nittany Lions basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	16–16 (7–11 Big Ten)
Head coach	Pat Chambers (5th season)
Assistant coaches	Keith Urgo Dwayne Anderson Ross Condon
Home arena	Bryce Jordan Center Rec Hall
Seasons ← 2014–15 2016–17 →

2015–16 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 14 Indiana	15	–	3		.833			27	–	8		.771
No. 2 Michigan State †	13	–	5		.722			29	–	6		.829
No. 18 Maryland	12	–	6		.667			27	–	9		.750
No. 12 Purdue	12	–	6		.667			26	–	9		.743
No. 25 Iowa	12	–	6		.667			22	–	11		.667
Wisconsin	12	–	6		.667			22	–	13		.629
Ohio State	11	–	7		.611			21	–	14		.600
Michigan	10	–	8		.556			23	–	13		.639
Northwestern	8	–	10		.444			20	–	12		.625
Penn State	7	–	11		.389			16	–	16		.500
Nebraska	6	–	12		.333			16	–	18		.471
Illinois	5	–	13		.278			15	–	19		.441
Minnesota	2	–	16		.111			11	–	20		.355
Rutgers	1	–	17		.056			7	–	25		.219
† 2016 Big Ten tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Previous season

The Nittany Lions finished the 2014–15 season with an overall record of 18–16, with a record of 4–14 in the Big Ten regular season to finish in 13th place. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament where they lost to Purdue.

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
John Johnson	1	G	6'1"	175	RS Junior	Pittsburgh, PA	Suspended[1]
D. J. Newbill	2	G	6'4"	205	RS Senior	Philadelphia, PA	Graduated
Geno Thorpe	13	G	6'3"	180	Sophomore	Pittsburgh, PA	Transferred to South Florida
Kevin Montminy	14	G	6'3"	185	Senior	Centre Hall, PA	Graduated
Alan Wisniewski	34	F	6'9"	230	Senior	Sterling Heights, MI	Graduated
Ross Travis	43	F	6'6"	225	Senior	Chaska, MN	Graduated

Incoming transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Terrence Samuel	13	G	6'4"	202	Sophomore	Brooklyn, NY	Connecticut

• Under NCAA transfer rules, Samuel will have to sit out for the 2015–16 season. Samuel will have three years of remaining eligibility entering the 2016–17 season.

Incoming recruits

College recruiting information

Name	Hometown	School	Height	Weight	Commit date
Josh Reaves SG	Fairfax, VA	Oak Hill Academy	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Jul 1, 2014
	Recruit ratings: Scout:    Rivals:    247Sports:    ESPN:
Mike Watkins C	Philadelphia, PA	The Phelps School	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Jun 12, 2013
	Recruit ratings: Scout:    Rivals:    247Sports:    ESPN:
Deividas Zemgulis PF	Kaunas, Lithuania	Saint Mary's Ryken	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	May 12, 2013
	Recruit ratings: Scout:    Rivals:    247Sports:    ESPN:
Overall recruit ranking:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, On3, 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. Retrieved June 22, 2015.

2016 Recruiting Class

College recruiting information (2016)
Name	Hometown	School	Height	Weight	Commit date
Joe Hampton SF	Mouth of Wilson, VA	Oak Hill Academy	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	265 lb (120 kg)	May 15, 2015
	Recruit ratings: Scout:    Rivals:    (79)
Nazeer Bostick PF	Philadelphia, PA	Roman Catholic	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Apr 30, 2015
	Recruit ratings: Scout:    Rivals:    (NR)
Overall recruit ranking:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, On3, 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: "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals. Retrieved June 22, 2015.

Personnel

Roster

2015–16 Penn State Nittany Lions men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown F 0 Payton Banks 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 220 lb (100 kg) RS So Lutheran Orange, CA F 1 Deividas Zemgulis 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Fr St. Mary Ryken Kaunas, Lithuania G 3 Devin Foster 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Sr Jefferson Township HS/Vincennes Dayton, OH F 5 Donovan Jack 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Sr Berks Catholic Reading, PA F 10 Brandon Taylor 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Sr Trenton Catholic Academy Tabernacle, NJ G 11 Samuel Halle (W) 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Jr West Springfield High School Springfield, VA G 13 Terrence Samuel (I)  6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 202 lb (92 kg) Jr Victory Collegiate/Connecticut Brooklyn, NY G 21 Isaiah Washington 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 160 lb (73 kg) RS Fr Williamsport Area Williamsport, PA G 23 Josh Reaves 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Fr Oak Hill Academy Fairfax, VA F 24 Mike Watkins 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Fr Phelps School Philadelphia, PA C 32 Jordan Dickerson 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Sr IMG Academy/Abraham Lincoln HS/SMU Brooklyn, NY G 33 Shep Garner 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So Roman Catholic HS Philadelphia, PA F 44 Julian Moore 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 235 lb (107 kg) RS So Germantown Acad Fort Washington, PA	Head coach Pat Chambers (Philadelphia) Assistant coach(es) Keith Urgo (Fairfield) Dwayne Anderson (Villanova) Ross Condon (Villanova) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Coaching staff

Position	Name	Year	Alma mater
Head coach	Patrick Chambers	2011	Philadelphia University (1994)
Associate head coach	Keith Urgo	2011	Fairfield University (2002)
Assistant coach	Dwayne Anderson	2013	Villanova University (2009)
Assistant coach	Ross Condon	2011	Villanova University (2007)
Director of Basketball Operations	David Caporaletti	2011	Philadelphia University (1993)
On campus recruiting coordinator	Nicholas Colella	2015	Penn State (2013)
Athletic trainer	Jon Salazer	2001	Penn State (1993)
Director of player development	Ryan Devlin	2013	Philadelphia University (2005)
Strength and conditioning coach	Brandon Spayd	2013	Juniata College (2010)
Graduate Manager	Evann Baker	2015	Quinnipiac University (2011)
Graduate Manager	Kevin Hacke	2015	West Virginia University (2013)

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 14, 2015* 1:00 pm		VMI	W 62–50	1–0	Bryce Jordan Center (5,959) University Park, PA
Nov 17, 2015* 5:00 pm, ESPNU		DePaul Gavitt Tipoff Games	W 68–62	2–0	Bryce Jordan Center (5,023) University Park, PA
Nov 20, 2015* 7:00 pm		at Duquesne	L 52–78	2–1	Consol Energy Center (3,520) Pittsburgh, PA
Nov 24, 2015* 6:00 pm, BTN		Radford	L 74–86	2–2	Bryce Jordan Center (4,675) University Park, PA
Nov 28, 2015* 1:00 pm		Bucknell	W 62–58	3–2	Bryce Jordan Center (5,097) University Park, PA
Dec 2, 2015* 7:15 pm, ESPNU		at Boston College ACC–Big Ten Challenge	W 67–58	4–2	Conte Forum (2,165) Chestnut Hill, MA
Dec 5, 2015* 12:00 pm, BTN		Eastern Michigan	W 81–70	5–2	Bryce Jordan Center (10,303) University Park, PA
Dec 8, 2015* 7:00 pm		at George Washington	L 66–76	5–3	Charles E. Smith Center (3,262) Washington, D.C.
Dec 10, 2015* 7:00 pm		Canisius Las Vegas Classic	W 81–67	6–3	Rec Hall (4,509) University Park, PA
Dec 12, 2015* 2:00 pm, BTN		Louisiana–Monroe Las Vegas Classic	W 54–50	7–3	Rec Hall (4,824) University Park, PA
Dec 19, 2015* 7:00 pm		vs. Drexel	W 63–57	8–3	Palestra  Philadelphia, PA
Dec 22, 2015* 10:30 pm		vs. Colorado Las Vegas Classic semifinals	L 70–71	8–4	Orleans Arena  Paradise, NV
Dec 23, 2015* 9:00 pm, FS1		vs. Kent State Las Vegas Classic 3rd place game	W 75–69	9–4	Orleans Arena  Paradise, NV
Big Ten regular season
Dec 30, 2015 5:00 pm, ESPN2		at No. 4 Maryland	L 64–70	9–5 (0–1)	Xfinity Center (17,950) College Park, MD
Jan 2, 2016 12:00 pm, BTN		at Michigan	L 56–79	9–6 (0–2)	Crisler Center (12,207) Ann Arbor, MI
Jan 5, 2016 7:00 pm, BTN		Minnesota	W 86–77	10–6 (1–2)	Bryce Jordan Center (5,892) University Park, PA
Jan 10, 2016 12:00 pm, BTN		No. 5 Michigan State	L 65–92	10–7 (1–3)	Bryce Jordan Center (10,855) University Park, PA
Jan 13, 2016 8:30 pm, BTN		at No. 25 Purdue	L 57–74	10–8 (1–4)	Mackey Arena (13,802) West Lafayette, IN
Jan 16, 2016 8:30 pm, ESPNU		at Northwestern	W 71–62	11–8 (2–4)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (7,512) Evanston, IL
Jan 21, 2016 8:00 pm, BTN		Wisconsin	L 60–66	11–9 (2–5)	Bryce Jordan Center (7,145) University Park, PA
Jan 25, 2016 7:00 pm, 11,542		at Ohio State	L 46–66	11–10 (2–6)	Value City Arena (11,542) Columbus, OH
Jan 30, 2016 12:00 pm, BTN		vs. Michigan B1G Super Saturday	L 72–79	11–11 (2–7)	Madison Square Garden (12,108) New York City, NY
Feb 3, 2016 7:00 pm, ESPNU		at No. 5 Iowa	L 49–73	11–12 (2–8)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (12,596) Iowa City, IA
Feb 6, 2016 8:00 pm, BTN		No. 22 Indiana	W 68–63	12–12 (3–8)	Bryce Jordan Center (10,351) University Park, PA
Feb 13, 2016 6:00 pm, ESPNU		at Nebraska	L 54–70	12–13 (3–9)	Pinnacle Bank Arena (15,613) Lincoln, NE
Feb 17, 2016 6:30 pm, BTN		No. 4 Iowa	W 79–75	13–13 (4–9)	Bryce Jordan Center (6,590) University Park, PA
Feb 20, 2016 1:00 pm, ESPNU		at Rutgers	W 70–58	14–13 (5–9)	The RAC (5,307) Piscataway, NJ
Feb 25, 2016 7:00 pm, ESPNU		Nebraska	W 56–55	15–13 (6–9)	Bryce Jordan Center (7,387) University Park, PA
Feb 28, 2016 12:00 pm, BTN		at No. 6 Michigan State	L 57–88	15–14 (6–10)	Breslin Center (14,797) East Lansing, MI
Mar 3, 2016 9:00 pm, ESPNU		Northwestern	L 61–71	15–15 (6–11)	Bryce Jordan Center (5,936) University Park, PA
Mar 6, 2016 12:00 pm, BTN		Illinois	W 86–79 2OT	16–15 (7–11)	Bryce Jordan Center (9,104) University Park, PA
Big Ten tournament
Mar 10, 2016 6:30 pm, ESPN2	(10)	vs. (7) Ohio State Second round	L 75–79	16–16	Bankers Life Fieldhouse (15,751) Indianapolis, IN
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time.

Source -

See also

• 2015–16 Penn State Lady Lions basketball team