2015–16 Bucknell Bison men's basketball team

2015–16 Bucknell Bison men's basketball
2015–16 Bucknell Bison men's basketball
Patriot League regular season champions
NIT, First round
Conference	Patriot League
Record	17–14 (14–4 Patriot)
Head coach	Nathan Davis (1st season);
Assistant coaches	Paul Harrison; John Griffin; Ryan Ayers;
Home arena	Sojka Pavilion
	Seasons ← 2014–15 2016–17 →

The 2015–16 Bucknell Bison men's basketball team represented Bucknell University during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bison, led by first year head coach Nathan Davis, played their home games at Sojka Pavilion, and were members of the Patriot League. They finished the season 17–14, 14–4 in Patriot League play to win the regular season league championship. They lost in the quarterfinals of the Patriot League tournament to Holy Cross. As a regular season champion who failed to win their league tournament, they received an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament where they lost in the first round to Monmouth.

2015–16 Patriot League men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Bucknell	14	–	4	.778	17	–	14	.548
Lehigh	13	–	5	.722	17	–	15	.531
Boston University	11	–	7	.611	19	–	15	.559
Army	9	–	9	.500	19	–	14	.576
Navy	9	–	9	.500	19	–	14	.576
Colgate	9	–	9	.500	13	–	17	.433
American	9	–	9	.500	12	–	19	.387
Loyola (MD)	8	–	10	.444	9	–	21	.300
Holy Cross †	5	–	13	.278	15	–	20	.429
Lafayette	3	–	15	.167	6	–	24	.200


† 2016 Patriot League tournament winner

Previous season

The Bison finished the 2014–15 season 19–15, 13–5 in Patriot League play to win the Patriot League regular season championship. They advanced to the semifinals of the Patriot League tournament where they lost to Lafayette. As a regular season league champion who failed to win their league tournament, they received an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament where they lost in the first round to Temple.

On March 30, head coach Dave Paulson resigned to take the same position at George Mason.^[1] He finished at Bucknell with a 10-year record of 134–94. On April 20, the school hired Nathan Davis as head coach.^[2]

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
Joshea Singleton	1	G	6'3"	205	Senior	Kinston, NC	Graduated
Steven Kasper	3	G	6'3"	192	Senior	Lakeland, TN	Graduated
J. C. Show	12	G	6'2"	185	Freshman	Clarks Summit, PA	Transferred to Binghamton
Cory Starkey	22	F	6'8"	216	Senior	Petoskey, MI	Graduated

Incoming recruits

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Nate Sestina #83 PF	Emporium, PA	Cameron County High School	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Aug 6, 2014
Nate Sestina #83 PF	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 62
Kimbal Mackenzie PG	Oakville, ON	The John Carroll School	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Aug 8, 2014
Kimbal Mackenzie PG	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR
Nate Jones SG	Radford, VA	Radford High School	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	185 lb (84 kg)
Nate Jones SG	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR
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 September 27, 2015.

2016 class recruits

US college sports recruiting information for 2016 recruits
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Bruce Moore #77 PF	Randallstown, MD	McDonough High School	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	N/A	Sep 15, 2015
Bruce Moore #77 PF	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 66
Ben Robertson SF	High Point, NC	High Point Christian Academy	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sep 14, 2015
Ben Robertson SF	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR
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: "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved September 27, 2015.

Roster

2015–16 Bucknell Bison men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
F	0	D.J. MacLeay	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	213 lb (97 kg)	Jr	Reagan	San Antonio, TX
G	1	Kimbal Mackenzie	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Fr	John Carroll	Oakville, ON
G	2	Stephen Brown	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	So	Christ Chapel Academy	Manassas, VA
C	4	Nate Sestina	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Fr	Cameron County	Emporuim, PA
G	5	John Azzinaro	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Jr	Brennan	San Antonio, TX
G	14	Chris Hass	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	184 lb (83 kg)	Sr	Pellston	Pellston, MI
G	15	Nate Jones	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Fr	Radford	Radford, VA
C	20	Nana Foulland	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	227 lb (103 kg)	So	Berks Catholic	Reading, PA
G	22	Matt O'Reilley	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Fr	Prolific Prep Academy	Moraga, CA
F	23	Zach Thomas	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	So	Oakdale	Ijamesville, MD
F	25	Matt Banas	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Sr	Hershey	Hershey, PA
G	32	Ryan Frazier	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sr	Salisbury School	Silver Springs, MD
C	44	Ben Oberfeld	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	Jr	Eastview	Eagan, MN
F	50	Dom Hoffman	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	222 lb (101 kg)	Sr	Gill St. Bernard's	Hawthorne, NJ

Head coach

Nathan Davis (Randolph–Macon)

Assistant coach(es)

Paul Harrison (Washington and Lee)
John Griffin (Bucknell)
Ryan Ayers (Notre Dame)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule

^[3]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
11/13/2015* 7:00 pm		Shenandoah	W 107–61	1–0	Sojka Pavilion (2,577) Lewisburg, PA
11/15/2015* 1:00 pm, CBSSN		Wake Forest	L 82–90	1–1	Sojka Pavilion (3,247) Lewisburg, PA
11/18/2015* 7:00 pm		at Robert Morris	W 81–76^[4]	2–1	Charles L. Sewall Center (1,602) Moon Township, PA
11/21/2015* 7:00 pm		at Manhattan	W 80–67	3–1	Draddy Gymnasium (1,810) Riverdale, NY
11/21/2015* 7:00 pm		Siena	L 81–83 ^OT	3–2	Sojka Pavilion (2,295) Lewisburg, PA
11/28/2015* 1:00 pm		at Penn State	L 58–62	3–3	Bryce Jordan Center (5,097) University Park, PA
12/02/2015* 7:00 pm		Columbia	L 61–72	3–4	Sojka Pavilion (2,465) Lewisburg, PA
12/05/2015* 12:00 pm, RSN		at NC State	L 86–99	3–5	PNC Arena (16,378) Raleigh, NC
12/08/2015* 7:00 pm		at Mount St. Mary's	L 73–81	3–6	Knott Arena (1,789) Emmitsburg, MD
12/22/2015* 7:00 pm		at Princeton	L 77–89	3–7	Jadwin Gymnasium (2,049) Princeton, NJ
12/27/2015* 2:00 pm		Fairfield	L 91–101	3–8	Sojka Pavilion (2,313) Lewisburg, PA
Patriot League regular season
12/30/2015 7:00 pm		Navy	W 88–58	4–8 (1–0)	Sojka Pavilion (2,914) Lewisburg, PA
01/02/2016 3:00 pm		at Army	W 84–76	5–8 (2–0)	Christl Arena (1,597) West Point, NY
01/06/2016 7:00 pm		American	W 72–54	6–8 (3–0)	Sojka Pavilion (2,584) Lewisburg, PA
01/09/2016 2:00 pm		Holy Cross	W 98–71	7–8 (4–0)	Sojka Pavilion (3,111) Lewisburg, PA
01/11/2016 7:30 pm, CBSSN		at Lehigh	W 82–76	8–8 (5–0)	Stabler Arena (1,042) Bethlehem, PA
01/16/2016 7:00 pm		Colgate	L 73–84	8–9 (5–1)	Sojka Pavilion (3,137) Lewisburg, PA
01/20/2016 7:00 pm, ASN		at Loyola (MD)	W 67–58	9–9 (6–1)	Reitz Arena (796) Baltimore, MD
01/23/2016 1:00 pm		at Boston University	W 74–71	10–9 (7–1)	Case Gym (791) Boston, MA
01/25/2016 7:30 pm, CBSSN		Lafayette	W 79–67	11–9 (8–1)	Sojka Pavilion (2,640) Lewisburg, PA
01/30/2016 7:00 pm		Army	W 94–66	12–9 (9–1)	Sojka Pavilion (3,513) Lewisburg, PA
02/03/2016 7:00 pm		at American	L 55–69	12–10 (9–2)	Bender Arena (759) Washington, D.C.
02/06/2016 1:00 pm		at Holy Cross	W 77–52	13–10 (10–2)	Hart Center (2,647) Worcester, MA
02/10/2016 7:00 pm, ASN		Lehigh	L 65–80	13–11 (10–3)	Sojka Pavilion (2,523) Lewisburg, PA
02/13/2016 2:00 pm		at Colgate	L 81–91	13–12 (10–4)	Cotterell Court (N/A) Hamilton, NY
02/17/2016 7:00 pm		Loyola (MD)	W 87–52	14–12 (11–4)	Sojka Pavilion (2,493) Lewisburg, PA
02/21/2016 12:00 pm, CBSSN		Boston University	W 80–59	15–12 (12–4)	Sojka Pavilion (3,044) Lewisburg, PA
02/24/2016 7:00 pm		at Lafayette	W 86–83 ^2OT	16–12 (13–4)	Kirby Sports Center (1,664) Easton, PA
02/27/2016 4:00 pm		at Navy	W 77–73	17–12 (14–4)	Alumni Hall (2,909) Annapolis, MD
Patriot League tournament
03/03/2016 7:00 pm		Holy Cross Quarterfinals	L 72–77 ^2OT	17–13	Sojka Pavilion (2,700) Lewisburg, PA
NIT
03/15/16* 7:30 pm, ESPN3	(8)	at (1) Monmouth First round – Monmouth Bracket	L 80–90	17–14	Multipurpose Activity Center (2,661) West Long Branch, NJ
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time.

References

^ "George Mason hires Dave Paulsen from Bucknell to replace Paul Hewitt". Washington Post. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
^ "Bucknell hires D-III coaching standout Nathan Davis as its new coach". CBSSports.com. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
^ "Men's Basketball".
^ "Bucknell downs Robert Morris, 81-76". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 19, 2015.

[1] "George Mason hires Dave Paulsen from Bucknell to replace Paul Hewitt". Washington Post. Retrieved January 19, 2017.

[2] "Bucknell hires D-III coaching standout Nathan Davis as its new coach". CBSSports.com. Retrieved January 19, 2017.

[3] "Men's Basketball".

[4] "Bucknell downs Robert Morris, 81-76". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 19, 2015.

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