2015–16 Mercer Bears men's basketball | |
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Challenge in Music City Champions
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CIT, First round
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Conference | Southern Conference |
2015–16 record | 19–15 (8–10 SoCon) |
Head coach | Bob Hoffman (8th year) |
Assistant coach | Doug Esleeck |
Assistant coach | Jarred Merrill |
Assistant coach | Jason Eaker |
Home arena | Hawkins Arena |
2015–16 Southern Conference men's basketball standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chattanooga † | 15 | – | 3 | .833 | 29 | – | 6 | .829 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
East Tennessee State | 14 | – | 4 | .778 | 24 | – | 12 | .667 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Furman | 11 | – | 7 | .611 | 19 | – | 16 | .543 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wofford | 11 | – | 7 | .611 | 15 | – | 17 | .469 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Western Carolina | 10 | – | 8 | .556 | 16 | – | 18 | .471 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
UNC Greensboro | 10 | – | 8 | .556 | 15 | – | 19 | .441 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mercer | 8 | – | 10 | .444 | 19 | – | 15 | .559 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Samford | 4 | – | 14 | .222 | 14 | – | 19 | .424 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
VMI | 4 | – | 14 | .222 | 9 | – | 21 | .300 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Citadel | 3 | – | 15 | .167 | 10 | – | 22 | .313 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
† 2016 SoCon Tournament winner |
The 2015–16 Mercer Bears men's basketball team represented Mercer University during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bears, led by eighth year head coach Bob Hoffman, played their home games at Hawkins Arena on the university's Macon, Georgia campus and were second year members of the Southern Conference. They finished the season 19–15, 8–10 in SoCon play to finish in seventh place. They defeated The Citadel in the first round of the SoCon Tournament to advance to the quarterfinals where they lost to East Tennessee State. They were invited to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament where they lost in the first round to Coastal Carolina.
Jibri Bryan, a sixth-year senior, was shot and killed on February 2, 2016. He was found with a gunshot wound to the head in the driver's seat of a Chevy Monte Carlo parked in a convenience store in Macon, Georgia. Bryan played in six games in the 2015–16 season due to a knee injury, averaging 7.8 points per game. Jarvis Clinton Miller has been charged in the murder of Bryan after attempting to flee from the crime scene. In a statement, Mercer coach Bob Hoffman said, "Jibri Bryan was a special young man who was a great contributor to our team and did everything that was asked of him.