# 2008–09 Memphis Tigers men's basketball team

The 2008–09 Memphis Tigers men's basketball team represented the University of Memphis in the 2008–09 college basketball season, the 88th season of Tiger basketball. The Tigers were coached by ninth-year head coach John Calipari, and they played their home games at the FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee.

## Recruiting

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Tyreke Evans PG | Chester, PA | American Christian | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 195 lb (88 kg) | Apr 16, 2008 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 98 ||||||
| Ángel García PF | Toa Baja, Puerto Rico | East Chicago Central | 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Sep 2, 2007 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 93 ||||||
| C. J. Henry SG | Oklahoma City, OK | Putnam City | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 195 lb (88 kg) | Aug 26, 2008 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: N/A ||||||
| Roburt Sallie SG | Sacramento, CA | City College of San Francisco | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 195 lb (88 kg) | Jun 16, 2008 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: N/A ||||||
| Matt Simpkins PF | Patterson, NC | The Patterson School | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | 205 lb (93 kg) | Jan 5, 2008 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 80 ||||||
| Wesley Witherspoon SF | Atlanta, GA | Berkmar | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 185 lb (84 kg) | May 1, 2008 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 96 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 6 Rivals: 4 ESPN: 14 ||||||
| 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: "Memphis Basketball Commitments". Rivals.com. Retrieved February 11, 2010. "2008 Memphis Basketball Commits". Scout.com. Retrieved February 11, 2010. "ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved February 11, 2010. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved February 11, 2010. "2008 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved February 11, 2010. ||||||

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Regular season ||||||
| Sat, Nov 15* 7:00 pm | No. 13 | Fairfield | W 90–63 | 1–0 | FedExForum (17,741) Memphis, TN |
| Mon, Nov 17* 11:00 pm, ESPN | No. 13 | Massachusetts | W 80–58 | 2–0 | FedExForum (18,254) Memphis, TN |
| Thu, Nov 20* 3:30 pm | No. 13 | vs. Chattanooga O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off | W 83–71 | 3–0 | Coliseo de Puerto Rico (3,207) Hato Rey, PR |
| Fri, Nov 21* 6:00 pm | No. 13 | vs. Seton Hall O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off | W 84–70 | 4–0 | Coliseo de Puerto Rico (6,733) Hato Rey, PR |
| Sun, Nov 23* 6:30 pm | No. 13 | vs. Xavier O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off | L 58–63 | 4–1 | Coliseo de Puerto Rico (8,242) Hato Rey, PR |
| Tue, Dec 2* 7:00 pm | No. 18 | Marist | W 100–61 | 5–1 | FedExForum (17,329) Memphis, TN |
| Sat, Dec 13* 1:00 pm, CBS | No. 17 | at No. 19 Georgetown | L 70–79 $^{OT}$ | 5–2 | Verizon Center (15,238) Washington, D.C. |
| Wed, Dec 17* 7:00 pm | No. 23 | Arkansas-Little Rock | W 59–51 | 6–2 | FedExForum (17,220) Memphis, TN |
| Sat, Dec 20* 5:00 pm, ESPN | No. 23 | No. 17 Syracuse | L 65–72 | 6–3 | FedExForum (17,091) Memphis, TN |
| Mon, Dec 22* 12:00 pm | | Drexel | W 87–49 | 7–3 | FedExForum (16,715) Memphis, TN |
| Mon, Dec 29* 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | | Cincinnati | W 60–45 | 8–3 | FedExForum (18,071) Memphis, TN |
| Wed, Dec 31* 1:00 pm | | Northeastern | W 80–48 | 9–3 | FedExForum (17,1643) Memphis, TN |
| Sat, Jan 3* 7:00 pm | | Lamar | W 108–75 | 10–3 | FedExForum (16,386) Memphis, TN |
| Wed, Jan 7 8:00 pm | | Marshall | W 80–57 | 11–3 (1–0) | FedExForum (17,606) Memphis, TN |
| Sat, Jan 10 4:00 pm | | at UCF | W 73–66 | 12–3 (2–0) | UCF Arena (9,825) Orlando, FL |
| Tue, Jan 13 6:30 pm, ESPN2 | | at Tulsa | W 55–54 | 13–3 (3–0) | Reynolds Center (5,936) Tulsa, OK |
| Sat, Jan 17 7:00 pm | | UAB | W 81–68 | 14–3 (4–0) | FedExForum (18,456) Memphis, TN |
| Wed, Jan 21 8:00 pm | No. 22 | Rice | W 80–52 | 15–3 (5–0) | FedExForum (17,589) Memphis, TN |
| Sat, Jan 24* 2:30 pm, CBS | No. 22 | at Tennessee | W 54–52 | 16–3 (5–0) | Thompson-Boling Arena (21,905) Knoxville, TN |
| Wed, Jan 28 6:00 pm | No. 18 | at East Carolina | W 85–64 | 17–3 (6–0) | Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (5,705) Greenville, NC |
| Sat, Jan 31 12:00 pm | No. 18 | Houston | W 83–68 | 18–3 (7–0) | FedExForum (17,687) Memphis, TN |
| Wed, Feb 4 8:00 pm | No. 14 | at SMU | W 79–66 | 19–3 (8–0) | Moody Coliseum (5,056) Dallas, TX |
| Sat, Feb 7* 8:00 pm, ESPN | No. 14 | at No. 18 Gonzaga ESPN College GameDay | W 68–50 | 20–3 (8–0) | Spokane Arena (11,339) Spokane, WA |
| Wed, Feb 11 7:00 pm | No. 8 | Tulsa | W 63–37 | 21–3 (9–0) | FedExForum (17,941) Memphis, TN |
| Sat, Feb 14 4:00 pm | No. 8 | at Southern Miss | W 72–47 | 22–3 (10–3) | Reed Green Coliseum (5,431) Hattiesburg, MS |
| Wed, Feb 18 7:00 pm | No. 5 | SMU | W 90–47 | 23–3 (11–0) | FedExForum (17,497) Memphis, TN |
| Sat, Feb 21 3:00 pm, ESPN | No. 5 | at UTEP | W 70–63 | 24–3 (12–0) | Don Haskins Center (11,659) El Paso, TX |
| Thu, Feb 26 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 5 | at UAB | W 71–60 | 25–3 (13–0) | Bartow Arena (9,153) Birmingham, AL |
| Sat, Feb 28 12:00 pm | No. 5 | Southern Miss | W 58–42 | 26–3 (14–0) | FedExForum (18,454) Memphis, TN |
| Wed, Mar 3 6:00 pm | No. 5 | at Houston | W 69–60 | 27–3 (15–0) | Hofheinz Pavilion (6,049) Houston, TX |
| Sat, Mar 7 12:00 pm | No. 5 | Tulane | W 74–47 | 28–3 (16–0) | FedExForum (18,466) Memphis, TN |
| Conference USA Tournament ||||||
| Thu, Mar 12 6:00 pm | (1) No. 4 | vs. (8) Tulane Quarterfinal | W 51–41 | 29–3 | FedExForum (12,141) Memphis, TN |
| Fri, Mar 13 3:00 pm | (1) No. 4 | vs. (5) Houston Semifinal | W 74–49 | 30–3 | FedExForum (11,792) Memphis, TN |
| Sat, Mar 14 10:35 am, CBS | (1) No. 4 | vs. (8) Tulsa Championship | W 64–39 | 31–3 | FedExForum (14,058) Memphis, TN |
| NCAA Tournament ||||||
| Thu, Mar 19* 11:25 am, CBS | (2W) No. 3 | vs. (15) Cal State Northridge First Round | W 81–70 | 32–3 | Sprint Center (17,319) Kansas City, MO |
| Sat, Mar 21* 2:20 pm, CBS | (2W) No. 3 | vs. (10) Maryland Second round | W 89–70 | 33–3 | Sprint Center (18,247) Kansas City, MO |
| Thu, Mar 26* 8:37 pm, CBS | (2W) No. 3 | vs. (3) No. 9 Missouri Sweet Sixteen | L 91–102 | 33–4 | University of Phoenix Stadium (20,101) Glendale, AZ |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||
    Source:

## Rankings

| Poll | Pre | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 | Wk 13 | Wk 14 | Wk 15 | Wk 16 | Wk 17 | Wk 18 | Final |
| AP | 13 | 13 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 23 | | | | | 22 | 18 | 14 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | – |
| Coaches | 12 | 12 | 17 | 15 | 15 | 21 | 24 | | | | 25 | 19 | 15 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 9 |