Indiana won the Big Ten regular season by two games over second place Michigan State.

After taking over for Bo Ryan midseason, Greg Gard was named the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award winner.

The Big Ten tournament was held from March 9–13, 2016 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Seven Big Ten schools (Michigan State, Indiana, Maryland, Purdue, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan) were invited to the NCAA Tournament marking the sixth consecutive year the Big ten had at least six teams in the Tournament.

Nine Big Ten teams won 20 games on the season marking the first time in history this occurred.

[6] According to the Big Ten media, Melo Trimble was the preseason conference player of the year and he was joined on the All-Big Ten preseason team by James Blackmon, Jr., Yogi Ferrell, Jarrod Uthoff, Jake Layman, Caris LeVert, Denzel Valentine, A. J. Hammons, Nigel Hayes, and Bronson Koenig.

[11] Blackmon, Ferrel, Hammons, Hayes, Koenig, Layman, LeVert, Trimble, Valentine and Williams all made the initial 50-man John R. Wooden Award watch list on November 17.

[15][16] Iowa's Mike Gesell, Maryland's Varun Ram, Michigan's Spike Albrecht, Nebraska's Shavon Shields, Purdue's Rapheal Davis, Rutgers' Greg Lewis and Wisconsin's Hayes were named Allstate Good Works Team nominees.

[26] Trimble was one vote shy of tying Ben Simmons for the fifth and final spot on the Associated Press pre-season All-American team.

[27] No Big Ten player made the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook preseason All-America first team.

[28] Maryland was the unanimous selection by the Big Ten Network to top the preseason conference rankings.

[41] The schedule also included an extensive slate of ESPN Inc. family of networks (ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU) Tuesday and Thursday night of the conference season coverage and CBS Sports scheduled games for Saturday or Sunday afternoons starting January 10, 2016.

[43] On January 30, the conference scheduled its inaugural annual "Super Saturday – College Hoops & Hockey" doubleheader featuring a basketball game between Michigan and Penn State followed by a hockey game between the teams from the same schools at Madison Square Garden.

On November 17 in the Champions Classic, Denzel Valentine led Michigan State over Kansas by posting the first triple-double of the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season with 29 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists.

[65][66] On January 5, Diamond Stone was named national freshman of the week by the United States Basketball Writers Association.

LeVert, Trimble, Uthoff and Valentine were among the 25 players included in the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 Watch List on January 13.

[68] On January 19, 30 Senior CLASS Award candidates were named including Rapheal Davis, Mike Gesell, Shavon Shields, and Valentine.

[77] Shavon Shields was named an Allstate NABC Good Works Team selections on February 9.

[78] Mike Gesell, Jarrod Uthoff, Colby Wollenman and Shavon Shields were named 2015-16 CoSIDA Academic-All District selections on February 11, making it two straight seasons that each was among the 40 finalists for the 15-man Academic All-America team.

[79] On that same day Ferrell, Hammons, Trimble, Uthoff and Valentine were included in the Naismith Award Late season Top 35 Watch List.

[80] Ferrell, Trimble, Uthoff and Valentine were included in the Wooden Award Late season Top 20 Watch List on February 12.

[81] On the same day, Tom Izzo, Bo Ryan and Lefty Driesell were named finalists for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

[88] After taking over for Bo Ryan midseason, Greg Gard was named the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award winner.

[96] He also earned the Lute Olson Award as the most outstanding non-freshman men's college basketball player in NCAA Division I competition.

[98] Valentine, Uthoff and Ferrell received broad support as 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans.

[103] Sports Illustrated named Valentine a first team selection and Ferrell, Uthoff and Trimble as honorable mentions.

[106] With an average attendance of 12,555 fans per game, including home games and the 2016 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament, the Big Ten Conference led the nation in men's basketball attendance for the 40th consecutive season according to the NCAA.

On March 8, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association released its 2015–16 Men's All-District Teams, based upon voting from its national membership.

[115] The following all-conference selections were listed as seniors or graduate students: Yogi Ferrell, Denzel Valentine, Jarrod Uthoff, A. J. Hammons, Bryn Forbes, Shavon Shields, Matt Costello and Brandon Taylor.

The following players were invited to the NBA Draft Combine: Robert Carter, Deyonta Davis, Hammons, Jake Layman, Caris LeVert, Diamond Stone, Caleb Swanigan, Melo Trimble, Valentine, Nigel Hayes, and Troy Williams.