2015–16 Rice Owls men's basketball team

2015–16 Rice Owls men's basketball
2015–16 Rice Owls men's basketball
Conference	Conference USA
Record	12–20 (7–11 C-USA)
Head coach	Mike Rhoades (2nd season);
Assistant coaches	Carlin Hartman; Scott Pera; J.D. Byers;
Home arena	Tudor Fieldhouse
	Seasons ← 2014–15 2016–17 →

2015–16 Conference USA men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
UAB	16	–	2	.889	26	–	7	.788
Middle Tennessee †	13	–	5	.722	25	–	10	.714
Marshall	12	–	6	.667	17	–	16	.515
Louisiana Tech	12	–	6	.667	23	–	10	.697
Old Dominion	12	–	6	.667	25	–	13	.658
UTEP	10	–	8	.556	19	–	14	.576
Charlotte	9	–	9	.500	14	–	19	.424
Western Kentucky	8	–	10	.444	18	–	16	.529
North Texas	7	–	11	.389	12	–	20	.375
Rice	7	–	11	.389	12	–	20	.375
FIU	7	–	11	.389	13	–	19	.406
Florida Atlantic	5	–	13	.278	8	–	25	.242
Southern Miss*	5	–	13	.278	8	–	21	.276
UTSA	3	–	15	.167	5	–	27	.156
*Ineligible for postseason play due to self-imposed postseason ban.

† 2016 C-USA Tournament winner

The 2015–16 Rice Owls men's basketball team represented Rice University during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Owls, led by second year head coach Mike Rhoades, played their home games at Tudor Fieldhouse and were members of Conference USA. They finished the season 12–20, 7–11 in C-USA play to finish in a three-way tie for ninth place. They lost in the second round of the C-USA tournament to Charlotte.

Previous season

The Owls finished the season 12–20, 8–10 in C-USA play to finish in a four-way tie for seventh place. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the C-USA tournament where they lost to Louisiana Tech.

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
Dan Peera	0	G	6'0"	180	Senior	San Ramon, California	Graduated
Jordan Reed	5	G	5'11"	170	Freshman	Lucas, Texas	Transferred to New Hampshire
Denzel Davis	10	F	6'8"	215	RS Freshman	Orlando, Florida	Left Rice (Personal)
Jeremy Jones	20	F	6'5"	205	Freshman	San Antonio, Texas	Transferred to Gonzaga^[1]
J.T. Trauber	24	G	5'10"	165	Freshman	Houston, Texas	Left Team (Personal)
Van Green	31	G	6'3"	185	Senior	Birmingham, Alabama	Exhausted Eligibility
Seth Gearhart	41	F	6'7"	215	Senior	Wilsonville, Oregon	Graduated

Recruiting class of 2015

College recruiting information
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Marcus Evans PG	Virginia Beach, VA	Cape Henry Collegiate School	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Jun 29, 2014
Marcus Evans PG	Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: NR
Connor Cashaw SG	Lincolnshire, IL	Adlai E. Stevenson High School	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Sep 30, 2014
Connor Cashaw SG	Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR
Marquez Letcher-Ellis SF	Houston, TX	Montverde Academy	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Oct 25, 2014
Marquez Letcher-Ellis SF	Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 79
Amir Smith SF	Missouri City, TX	Ridgepoint High School	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Apr 30, 2015
Amir Smith SF	Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: NR
Chad Lott PG	Shreveport, LA	Byrd High School	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	May 19, 2014
Chad Lott PG	Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 78
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, 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.com. Retrieved July 16, 2014.

Roster

2015–16 Rice Owls men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	0	Connor Cashaw	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Fr	Lincolnshire, IL
G	1	Max Guercy (C)	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Sr	Arleta, California
G	2	Marcus Evans	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Fr	Chesapeake, Virginia
G/F	4	Egor Koulechov	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	RS So	Volgograd, Russia
F	12	Marquez Letcher-Ellis	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Fr	Houston, Texas
G	15	Bishop Mency	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	So	Chino Hills, California
G	21	Chad Lott	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Fr	Shreveport, Louisiana
G	22	Marcus Jackson	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Jr	Acton, California
G	30	Oliver Xu (W)	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	So	Hong Kong
G/F	31	Harrison Brown (W)	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Fr	Charlottesville, Virginia
F	32	Amir Smith	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Fr	Missouri City, Texas
C	45	Nate Pollard	7 ft 1 in (2.16 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	So	Bountiful, Utah
C	54	Andrew Drone	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	260 lb (118 kg)	Jr	Junction, Illinois

Head coach

Mike Rhoades

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster
Last update: 2015-07-29

Schedule

^[2]

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
11/07/2015* 7:00 pm	LeTourneau	W 102–78		Tudor Fieldhouse Houston, TX
Non-conference regular season
11/13/2015* 10:30 pm, P12N	at No. 14 California	L 65–97	0–1	Haas Pavilion (10,530) Berkeley, CA
11/16/2015* 9:00 pm	at San Francisco Roundball Showcase	L 54–80	0–2	War Memorial Gymnasium (1,417) San Francisco, CA
11/19/2015* 8:00 pm, ASN	Oregon State	L 69–77	0–3	Tudor Fieldhouse (1,981) Houston, TX
11/22/2015* 5:00 pm	Fresno State Roundball Showcase	L 65–82	0–4	Tudor Fieldhouse (1,749) Houston, TX
11/25/2015* 8:00 pm, ASN	Lamar Roundball Showcase	W 94–82	1–4	Tudor Fieldhouse (1,376) Houston, TX
11/27/2015* 7:00 pm	UC Riverside Roundball Showcase	W 87–81	2–4	Tudor Fieldhouse (1,169) Houston, TX
11/29/2015* 5:00 pm	Texas–Arlington	L 74–92	2–5	Tudor Fieldhouse (1,668) Houston, TX
12/02/2015* 7:30 pm	at Houston Baptist	L 73–77	2–6	Sharp Gymnasium (887) Houston, TX
12/05/2015* 7:00 pm	St. Edward's	W 93–72	3–6	Tudor Fieldhouse Houston, TX
12/17/2015* 11:30 am	St. Thomas	W 67–54	4–6	Tudor Fieldhouse (5,268) Houston, TX
12/19/2015* 7:00 pm, ROOT	at New Mexico	W 90–89	5–6	The Pit (12,507) Albuquerque, NM
12/22/2015* 7:05 pm	at South Alabama	L 67–74	5–7	Mitchell Center (1,937) Mobile, AL
12/29/2015* 7:00 pm	Incarnate Word	L 76–82	5–8	Tudor Fieldhouse (1,747) Houston, TX
C-USA Regular season
01/01/2016 8:00 pm, ASN	at UTEP	L 60–61	5–9 (0–1)	Don Haskins Center (7,154) El Paso, TX
01/03/2016 3:00 pm	at UTSA	L 80–85	5–10 (0–2)	Convocation Center (607) San Antonio, TX
01/09/2016 1:00 pm, ASN	at North Texas	L 74–85	5–11 (0–3)	The Super Pit (1,886) Denton, TX
01/14/2016 7:00 pm, ASN	WKU	W 83–73	6–11 (1–3)	Tudor Fieldhouse (1,664) Houston, TX
01/16/2016 7:00 pm	Marshall	L 90–94	6–12 (1–4)	Tudor Fieldhouse (2,196) Houston, TX
01/21/2016 8:00 pm, CBSSN	at UAB	L 70–82	6–13 (1–5)	Bartow Arena (5,535) Birmingham, AL
01/23/2016 5:00 pm	at Middle Tennessee	L 73–87	6–14 (1–6)	Murphy Center (4,104) Murfreesboro, TN
01/30/2016 7:00 pm	North Texas	W 95–87	7–14 (2–6)	Tudor Fieldhouse (2,515) Houston, TX
02/04/2016 7:00 pm	Louisiana Tech	L 78–90	7–15 (2–7)	Tudor Fieldhouse (1,660) Houston, TX
02/06/2016 7:00 pm	Southern Miss	W 72–65	8–15 (3–7)	Tudor Fieldhouse (2,760) Houston, TX
02/11/2016 6:00 pm	at Charlotte	L 73-102	8–16 (3–8)	Dale F. Halton Arena (3,127) Charlotte, NC
02/13/2016 1:00 pm, ASN	at Old Dominion	W 75–66	9–16 (4–8)	Ted Constant Convocation Center (7,075) Norfolk, VA
02/18/2016 7:00 pm	Florida Atlantic	W 90–85	10–16 (5–8)	Tudor Fieldhouse (1,400) Houston, TX
02/20/2016 1:00 pm, ASN	FIU	W 86–70	11–16 (6–8)	Tudor Fieldhouse (3,859) Houston, TX
02/25/2016 7:00 pm	at Southern Miss	W 76–74 ^OT	12–16 (7–8)	Reed Green Coliseum (2,547) Hattiesburg, MS
02/27/2016 6:00 pm	at Louisiana Tech	L 69–88	12–17 (7–9)	Thomas Assembly Center (5,527) Ruston, LA
03/03/2016 7:00 pm	Charlotte	L 75–88	12–18 (7–10)	Tudor Fieldhouse (1,349) Houston, TX
03/05/2016 1:00 pm, ASN	Old Dominion	L 67–74	12–19 (7–11)	Tudor Fieldhouse (3,418) Houston, TX
Conference USA tournament
03/09/2016 6:00 pm, ASN	vs. Charlotte Second round	L 69–79	12–20	Legacy Arena (3,905) Birmingham, AL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

References

^ "Jim Meehan: Interesting addition to Gonzaga's roster: walk-on 6-5 wing Jeremy Jones. Redshirt QB at Rice last season, then joined basketball team". September 2, 2015.
^ "2015-2016 Schedule". www.RiceOwls.com. Rice University. Archived from the original on April 22, 2016.

[Jones-1] "Jim Meehan: Interesting addition to Gonzaga's roster: walk-on 6-5 wing Jeremy Jones. Redshirt QB at Rice last season, then joined basketball team". September 2, 2015.

[2] "2015-2016 Schedule". www.RiceOwls.com. Rice University. Archived from the original on April 22, 2016.

[1]

[2]

v t e Rice Owls men's basketball
Venues	Tudor Fieldhouse (1950–present)
Rivalries	Houston
Culture & lore	Sammy the Owl Marching Owl Band
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25