2015–16 Houston Cougars men's basketball team

2015–16 American Athletic Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Temple	14	-	4	.778	21	-	12	.636
No. 24 SMU^*	13	-	5	.722	25	-	5	.833
Houston	12	-	6	.667	22	-	10	.688
Cincinnati	12	-	6	.667	22	-	11	.667
Tulsa	12	-	6	.667	20	-	12	.625
UConn †	11	-	7	.611	25	-	11	.694
Memphis	8	-	10	.444	19	-	15	.559
UCF	6	-	12	.333	12	-	18	.400
East Carolina	4	-	14	.222	12	-	20	.375
South Florida	4	-	14	.222	8	-	25	.242
Tulane	3	-	15	.167	12	-	22	.353

^* Ineligible for postseason due to postseason ban † American Athletic Conference tournament Champions Rankings from AP poll

The 2015–16 Houston Cougars men's basketball team represents the University of Houston during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Cougars, led by second year head coach Kelvin Sampson, are third year members of the American Athletic Conference. The Cougars’ home arena is the on-campus Hofheinz Pavilion.

Previous Season

The Cougars finished the season 13–19, 4–14 in conference play to finish in tenth place. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the The American Tournament where they lost to Tulsa.

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
Mikhail McLean	1	F	6'6"	210	Senior	Nassau, Bahamas	Graduated
Cavon Baker	3	G	6'1"	175	Junior	Queens, NY	Transferred to St. Peter's
J. C. Washington	11	F	6'6"	225	Freshman	Houston, TX	Transferred to Trinity Valley Community College
Adam Drexler	20	F	6'5"	205	Junior	Houston, TX	Walk-on; didn't return
Jherrod Stiggers	21	G	6'4"	215	Junior	Terrell, TX	Play professionally overseas

Incoming Transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Xavier Dupree	1	F	6'9"	210	Junior	Houston, TX	Junior college transferred from Paris Junior College
Rob Gray	2	G	6'2"	190	Sophomore	Forest City, NC	Junior college transferred from Howard College
Damyean Dotson	21	G	6'6"		Junior	Houston, TX	Junior college transferred from Houston Community College
Kyle Meyer	33	C	6'10"	222	Junior	Alpharetta, GA	Junior college transferred from Eastern Florida State College

Class of 2015 signees

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Chris Harris C	Houston, TX	Madison High School	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Mar 13, 2015
Chris Harris C	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: K.A. Rivals: 247Sports: K.A. ESPN grade: 80
Galen Robinson PG	Houston, TX	Westbury Christian School	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	K.A.	Nov 20, 2014
Galen Robinson PG	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: K.A. ESPN grade: NR
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: NR Rivals: NR ESPN: NR
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: "Houston Basketball Commitment List". Rivals.com. Retrieved 2015-08-13. "2015 Houston Basketball Commitment List". Scout.com. Retrieved 2015-08-13. "ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2015-08-13. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved 2015-08-13. "2015 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved 2015-08-13.

Roster

2015–16 Houston Cougars men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F	0	Danrad Knowles	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	RS Jr	Nassau, Bahamas
F	1	Xavier Dupree	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Jr	Houston, TX
G	2	Rob Gray, Jr.	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	So	Forest City, NC
G	3	Ronnie Johnson	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	RS Jr	Indianapolis, IN
G	4	LeRon Barnes	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	RS Sr	Stonewall, LA
G	5	L. J. Rose	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Sr	Houston, TX
G	12	Wes VanBeck (W)	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	So	Houston, TX
F	13	Bertrand Nkali	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	RS Jr	Bertoua, Cameroon
G	21	Damyean Dotson	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Jr	Houston, TX
G	23	Eric Weary, Jr.	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Sr	New Orleans, LA
F	24	Devonta Pollard	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Sr	Porterville, MS
G	25	Galen Robinson, Jr.	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Fr	Houston, TX
C	33	Kyle Meyer	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	Jr	Atlanta, GA

Head coach

Kelvin Sampson (UNC Pembroke)

Assistant coach(es)

Alvin Brooks (Lamar)
Talvin Hester (Texas Wesleyan)
Kellen Sampson (Oklahoma)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
11/13/2015* 7:00 PM	Montana Tech	W 96–65		Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, TX
Non-conference regular season
11/18/2015* 7:00 PM, ESPN3	Prairie View A&M	W 110–59	1–0	Hofheinz Pavilion (1,223) Houston, TX
11/21/2015* 7:00 PM, ESPN3	Florida A&M	W 97–52	2–0	Hofheinz Pavilion (3,163) Houston, TX
11/28/2015* 7:00 PM, ESPN3	Louisiana–Monroe	W 76–64	3–0	Hofheinz Pavilion (2,332) Houston, TX
11/30/2015* 7:00 PM, ESPN3	Texas–Rio Grande Valley	W 78–65	4–0	Hofheinz Pavilion (1,974) Houston, TX
12/02/2015* 7:00 PM, ESPN3	Murray State	W 93–78	5–0	Hofheinz Pavilion (2,089) Houston, TX
12/08/2015* 6:00 PM	at Rhode Island	L 57–67	5–1	Ryan Center (3,633) Kingston, RI
12/13/2015* 7:00 PM, ESPNU	LSU	W 105–98 ^OT	6–1	Hofheinz Pavilion (7,918) Houston, TX
12/16/2015* 7:00 PM, ESPN3	North Carolina Central Global Basketball Classic	W 73–65	7–1	Hofheinz Pavilion (3,342) Houston, TX
12/19/2015* 7:00 PM, ESPN3	Eastern Illinois Global Basketball Classic	W 81–65	8–1	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, TX
12/21/2015* 7:00 PM	vs. Grand Canyon Global Basketball Classic semifinals			Cox Pavilion Paradise, NV
12/22/2015*	vs. Marshall or Wyoming Global Basketball Classic			Cox Pavilion Paradise, NV
12/28/2015* 1:00 PM, ESPN3	Nicholls State			Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, TX
AAC regular season
12/30/2015 1:00 PM, ESPNU	at South Florida			USF Sun Dome Tampa, FL
01/02/2016 11:00 AM, ESPNews	at Temple			Liacouras Center Philadelphia, PA
01/05/2016 8:00 PM, ESPNU	Tulane			Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, TX
01/13/2016 6:00 PM, ESPNU	at Cincinnati			Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, OH
01/17/2016 1:00 PM, CBSSN	Connecticut			Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, TX
01/19/2016 8:00 PM, ESPNU	at SMU			Moody Coliseum Dallas, TX
01/23/2016 3:00 PM, CBSSN	South Florida			Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, TX
01/27/2016 7:00 PM, ESPNews	Tulsa			Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, TX
01/30/2016 11:00 AM, ESPNews	at East Carolina			Williams Arena Greenville, NC
02/01/2016 7:00 PM, CBSSN	SMU			Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, TX
02/07/2016 2:00 PM, ESPNU	at Tulsa			Reynolds Center Tulsa, OK
02/10/2016 6:00 PM, ESPNU	Memphis			Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, TX
02/13/2016 2:00 PM, ESPNews	UCF			Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, TX
02/17/2016 8:30 PM, ESPNews	at Tulane			Devlin Fieldhouse New Orleans, LA
02/21/2016 6:00 PM, ESPNews	Temple			Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, TX
02/24/2016 6:00 PM, ESPNU	at UCF			CFE Arena Orlando, FL
02/28/2016 12:00 PM, CBSSN	at Connecticut			Gampel Pavilion Storrs, CT
03/03/2016 8:00 PM, CBSSN	Cincinnati			Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, TX
American Athletic Conference Tournament
03/10–13/2016	vs.			Amway Center Orlando, FL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** RV = Received votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Final
AP						RV															Not released
Coaches'

References

External links

Official website

v t e Houston Cougars men's basketball
Venues	Sam Houston Coliseum (select games; 1937–19??) Jeppesen Gymnasium (1946–1966) Delmar Fieldhouse (1966–1969) Fertitta Center (1969–present) Health and Physical Education Arena (2017–2018)
Rivalries	Rice SMU
Culture & lore	Shasta Phi Slama Jama Game of the Century "Cougar Fight Song" Spirit of Houston
Menschen	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 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
NCAA Final Four appearances in italics