# 2008–09 Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball team

The 2008–09 Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball team represented Vanderbilt University in the 2008–09 NCAA Division I men's college basketball season. The team competed in the East Division of the Southeastern Conference and finished with an overall record of 19–12 (SEC: 8–8). They were led by Kevin Stallings, in his ninth year as head coach, and played their home games at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tennessee. It was their sixth straight winning season, although they failed to play in a post-season tournament for the first time in five years.
The previous year's 2007–08 team finished 26–8 and ranked 25th in both the AP Poll and the ESPN/USA Today (Coaches) poll.
Entering the season, Vanderbilt was picked by the media attending the SEC's media days in October to finish 4th in the SEC East, behind Tennessee, Florida and Kentucky.
Vanderbilt lost three starters from the previous year's team—2008 SEC-player of the year swingman Shan Foster (20.3 ppg), shooting guard Alex (Red) Gordon (10.8 ppg) and power forward Ross Neltner (8.3 ppg) – and returned two starters—sophomore center A.J. Ogilvy and junior point guard Jermaine Beal. With no seniors and only two juniors (Beal and junior guard George Drake), the Commodores were one of the youngest team's in Division I.
Ogilvy, the Commodores' leading rebounder (6.7 rpg) and second leading scorer (17.0 ppg) the previous season, was selected by the SEC media and SEC coaches to the pre-season all-SEC first team.

## Roster

| # | Name | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | High School | GP | Min | Ppg | Rpg | Apg |
| 0 | Jermaine Beal | G | 6–3 | 210 | Junior | DeSoto, TX | DeSoto | 31 | 33.1 | 12.5 | 3.5 | 3.2 |
| 1 | Brad Tinsley | G | 6–3 | 180 | Freshman | Oregon City, OR | Oregon City | 31 | 31.0 | 11.0 | 2.5 | 2.8 |
| 2 | Charles Hinkle | G/F | 6–6 | 200 | Freshman | Los Alamitos, CA | Hebron Academy (Maine)/Los Alamitos | 25 | 8.4 | 2.0 | 0.9 | 0.4 |
| 3 | Festus Ezeli | C | 6–11 | 245 | Freshman | Benin City, Nigeria | Igbinedion Education Center | 29 | 12.4 | 3.8 | 2.6 | 0.0 |
| 4 | Andrew (A.J.) Ogilvy | C | 6–11 | 250 | Sophomore | Sydney, Australia | Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra | 29 | 27.6 | 15.4 | 7.1 | 1.3 |
| 5 | Lance Goulbourne | G/F | 6–7 | 215 | Freshman | Brooklyn, NY | The Hun School | 23 | 14.1 | 5.1 | 3.3 | 0.3 |
| 12 | Jordan Smart$^2$ | G/F | 6–6 | 170 | Freshman | Lexington, KY | Lexington Catholic | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 15 | Elliott Cole$^2$ | G | 5–11 | 175 | Sophomore | Memphis, TN | Memphis University School | 10 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| 21 | Darshawn McClellan | F | 6–7 | 220 | Sophomore | Fresno, CA | Edison (Fresno) | 31 | 16.9 | 2.1 | 3.0 | 1.1 |
| 22 | Jamie Graham$^2$ | G | 5–11 | 180 | Sophomore | Nashville, TN | Whites Creek | 5 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| 24 | Andre Walker$^1$ | F | 6–7 | 214 | Sophomore | Flossmoor, IL | Brewster Academy (N.H.)/Homewood-Flossmoor | 3 | 23.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 1.3 |
| 33 | Steve Tchiengang | F | 6–8 | 240 | Freshman | Douala, Cameroon | Montverde Academy/Cypress Community Christian | 25 | 17.3 | 3.6 | 3.2 | 0.5 |
| 34 | George Drake | G | 6–4 | 210 | Junior | Calera, AL | Calera | 30 | 17.4 | 5.4 | 2.7 | 1.2 |
| 44 | Jeffery Taylor | G-F | 6–7 | 200 | Freshman | Norrköping, Sweden | Hobbs High School, Hobbs, NM | 31 | 26.0 | 12.2 | 6.2 | 1.7 |
$^1$ Missed the season after torn ACL against MTSU. $^2$ Walk-on.
Source: ESPN.com

## 2008–09 schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 9* 4:00 pm | Alabama-Huntsville | W 84–65 | | Memorial Gymnasium (11,655) Nashville, TN |
| Regular season ||||||
| November 16* 4:00 pm | Morehead State | W 74–48 | 1–0 | Memorial Gymnasium (12,562) Nashville, TN |
| November 20* 7:00 pm, FSN | Illinois | L 63–69 | 1–1 | Memorial Gymnasium (12,630) Nashville, TN |
| November 24* 7:00 pm, CSS | Middle Tennessee State | W 65–57 | 2–1 | Memorial Gymnasium (12,502) Nashville, TN |
| November 26* 7:00 pm | Central Arkansas Cancun Challenge | W 83–62 | 3–1 | Memorial Gymnasium (12,126) Nashville, TN |
| November 29* 7:30 pm, CBSCS | vs. Drake Cancun Challenge | W 72–57 | 4–1 | Moon Palace Resort (275) Cancun, MX |
| November 30* 9:30 pm, CBSCS | vs. VCU Cancun Challenge | W 71–66 | 5–1 | Moon Palace Resort (312) Cancun, MX |
| December 3* 7:00 pm | Illinois-Chicago | L 55–74 | 5–2 | Memorial Gymnasium (13,214) Nashville, TN |
| December 6* 1:00 pm, FSN | at Georgia Tech | L 51–63 | 5–3 | Alexander Memorial Coliseum (7,219) Atlanta, GA |
| December 10* 7:00 pm, CSS | Alabama A&M | W 78–55 | 6–3 | Memorial Gymnasium (12,662) Nashville, TN |
| December 16* 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | South Florida Big East/SEC Challenge | W 71–52 | 7–3 | Sommet Center (9,498) Nashville, TN |
| December 20* 5:00 pm, CSS | Tennessee Tech | W 83–63 | 8–3 | Memorial Gymnasium (12,700) Nashville, TN |
| December 22* 8:00 pm, CSS | Furman | W 68–49 | 9–3 | Memorial Gymnasium (11,961) Nashville, TN |
| December 31* 11:00 am | Saint Francis (PA) | W 84–55 | 10–3 | Memorial Gymnasium (12,496) Nashville, TN |
| January 3* 4:00 pm, CBSCS | at Massachusetts | W 78–48 | 11–3 | Mullins Center (5,698) Amherst, Massachusetts |
| January 10 1:00 pm, LFS | at Kentucky | L 60–70 | 11–4 (0–1) | Rupp Arena (24,249) Lexington, KY |
| January 14 7:00 pm | Georgia | W 50–40 | 12–4 (1–1) | Memorial Gymnasium (13,972) Nashville, TN |
| January 17 7:00 pm, FSN | at Mississippi State | L 66–73 | 12–5 (1–2) | Humphrey Coliseum (9,268) Starkville, MS |
| January 20 8:00 pm, ESPN | Tennessee Super Tuesday | L 63–76 | 12–6 (1–3) | Memorial Gymnasium (14,057) Nashville, TN |
| January 25 12:30 pm, CBS | No. 24 Florida | L 69–94 | 12–7 (1–4) | Memorial Gymnasium (13,993) Nashville, TN |
| January 28 6:00 pm | at South Carolina | L 76–86 | 12–8 (1–5) | Colonial Life Arena (12,766) Columbia, SC |
| January 31 1:00 pm | at Auburn | W 82–75 | 13–8 (2–5) | Beard–Eaves–Memorial Coliseum (6,896) Auburn, AL |
| February 5 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | Alabama | W 79–74 | 14–8 (3–5) | Memorial Gymnasium (13,850) Nashville, TN |
| February 7 12:00 pm, CBS | Mississippi | W 71–61 | 15–8 (4–5) | Memorial Gymnasium (14,316) Nashville, TN |
| February 14 2:00 pm, LFS | at Tennessee | L 50–69 | 15–9 (4–6) | Thompson–Boling Arena (20,375) Knoxville, TN |
| February 17 8:00 pm, ESPN | Kentucky Super Tuesday | W 77–64 | 16–9 (5–6) | Memorial Gymnasium (14,366) Nashville, TN |
| February 21 2:00 pm, LFS | at Florida | L 68–82 | 16–10 (5–7) | O'Connell Center (12,543) Gainesville, FL |
| February 25 6:30 pm | at Georgia | L 57–61 | 16–11 (5–8) | Stegeman Coliseum (5,841) Athens, GA |
| February 28 8:00 pm, ESPNU | South Carolina | W 96–83 | 17–11 (6–8) | Memorial Gymnasium (13,963) Nashville, TN |
| March 4 7:00 pm | at No. 12 LSU | W 75–67 | 18–11 (7–8) | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (13,249) Baton Rouge, LA |
| March 8 1:00 pm, LFS | Arkansas | W 75–58 | 19–11 (8–8) | Memorial Gymnasium (14,316) Nashville, TN |
| SEC tournament ||||||
| March 12 6:30 pm, LFS | vs. Alabama Round 1 | L 75–82 | 19–12 | St. Pete Times Forum (12,152) Tampa, FL |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||