# 2008–09 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball team

The 2008–09 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball team represented Wake Forest University in the 2008–09 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team's head coach was Dino Gaudio. The team played its home games in the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and was a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
On January 19, the Deacons took the top spot in both the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll and the Associated Press poll, making it the second time in program history a Wake Forest team was number one in the country.
Wake Forest finished the regular season with a record of 24–5, and 11–5 in the ACC, which tied them with Duke. The Demon Deacons received the number two seed in the 2009 ACC men's basketball tournament in a tiebreaker over Duke because of their victory against number one seed North Carolina.

## Preseason

In the preseason ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll the Demon Deacons were ranked #24.

## Roster

| # | Name | Position | Height | Class | Hometown | Last School |
| 1 | Al-Farouq Aminu | Forward | 6'9" | Freshman | Norcross, Georgia | Norcross |
| 30 | Brett Bitove | Guard | 6'3" | Freshman | Toronto, Ontario | Benjamin School (FL) |
| 2 | Gary Clark | Guard | 6'4" | Sophomore | Sarasota, Florida | Montverde Academy |
| 35 | Ben Davis | Guard | 6'3" | Sophomore | St. Louis, Missouri | Westminster Christian Academy |
| 41 | Brooks Godwin | Forward | 6'5" | Freshman | Winston-Salem, North Carolina | Mount Tabor |
| 4 | Harvey Hale | Guard | 6'3" | Senior | Albuquerque, New Mexico | Rio Grande |
| 52 | Bobby Hoekstra | Forward | 6'7" | Senior | Lewisville, North Carolina | Forsyth Country Day School |
| 23 | James Johnson | Forward | 6'9" | Sophomore | Cheyenne, Wyoming | Cheyenne East |
| 20 | Mike Lepore | Guard | 6'1" | Senior | Flemington, New Jersey | Lawrenceville Prep |
| 13 | Chas McFarland | Center | 7'0" | Junior | Lovington, Illinois | Worcester Academy |
| 25 | Jimmy McQuilkin | Guard | 5'10" | Senior | Columbia, Maryland | Atholton |
| 10 | Ish Smith | Guard | 6'0" | Junior | Concord, North Carolina | Central Cabarrus |
| 0 | Jeff Teague | Guard | 6'2" | Sophomore | Indianapolis, Indiana | Pike |
| 40 | Ty Walker | Center | 7'0" | Freshman | Wilmington, North Carolina | New Hanover |
| 44 | David Weaver | Forward/Center | 6'11" | Junior | Black Mountain, North Carolina | Owen |
| 42 | L. D. Williams | Guard | 6'4" | Junior | Yadkinville, North Carolina | Montverde Academy |
| 55 | Tony Woods | Center | 6'11" | Freshman | Rome, Georgia | Rome |

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site city, state |
| Regular season ||||||
| November 14* 7:00 p.m. | No. 21 | North Carolina Central | W 94–48 | 1–0 | LJVM Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC |
| November 19* 7:00 p.m., ACC Select | No. 20 | UNC Wilmington | W 120–88 | 2–0 | LJVM Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC |
| November 24* 8:00 p.m., ACC Select | No. 19 | Winston-Salem State | W 62–31 | 3–0 | LJVM Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC |
| November 27* 4:30 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 19 | vs. Cal State Fullerton 2008 Anaheim Classic | W 75–69 | 4–0 | Anaheim Convention Center Anaheim, CA |
| November 28* 3:45 p.m., ESPNU | No. 19 | vs. UTEP 2008 Anaheim Classic | W 82–79 | 5–0 | Anaheim Convention Center Anaheim, CA |
| November 30* 10:30 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 19 | vs. Baylor 2008 Anaheim Classic | W 87–74 | 6–0 | Anaheim Convention Center Anaheim, CA |
| December 3* 7:15 p.m., ESPN | No. 15 | Indiana ACC/Big Ten Challenge | W 83–58 | 7–0 | LJVM Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC |
| December 6* 7:30 p.m. | No. 15 | Bucknell | W 81–52 | 8–0 | LJVM Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC |
| December 14* 4:00 p.m., FSN | No. 11 | Wright State | W 66–53 | 9–0 | LJVM Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC |
| December 19* 7:00 p.m., ESPNU | No. 10 | at Richmond | W 86–79 | 10–0 | Robins Center Richmond, VA |
| December 22* 7:00 p.m., MASN | No. 6 | at East Carolina | W 95–54 | 11–0 | Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum Greenville, NC |
| December 30* 7:00 p.m., ACC Select | No. 6 | Radford | W 83–61 | 12–0 | LJVM Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC |
| January 3* 8:00 p.m., The Mountain | No. 6 | at Brigham Young | W 94–87 | 13–0 | Marriott Center Provo, UT |
| January 11 8:00 p.m., FSN | No. 4 | No. 3 North Carolina | W 92–89 | 14–0 (1–0) | LJVM Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC |
| January 14 9:00 p.m., Raycom | No. 2 | at Boston College | W 83–63 | 15–0 (2–0) | Conte Forum Chestnut Hill, MA |
| January 17 9:00 p.m., ABC | No. 2 | at No. 10 Clemson | W 78–68 | 16–0 (3–0) | Littlejohn Coliseum Clemson, SC |
| January 21 7:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 1 | Virginia Tech | L 71–78 | 16–1 (3–1) | LJVM Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC |
| January 28 7:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 6 | No. 1 Duke | W 70–68 | 17–1 (4–1) | LJVM Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC |
| January 31 12:00 p.m., Raycom | No. 6 | at Georgia Tech | L 74–76 | 17–2 (4–2) | Alexander Memorial Coliseum Atlanta, GA |
| February 4 7:30 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 7 | at Miami | L 52–79 | 17–3 (4–3) | BankUnited Center Coral Gables, FL |
| February 8 4:00 p.m., Raycom | No. 7 | Boston College | W 93–76 | 18–3 (5–3) | LJVM Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC |
| February 11 7:00 p.m., ACC Select | No. 7 | at North Carolina State | L 76–82 | 18–4 (5–4) | RBC Center Raleigh, NC |
| February 14 4:00 p.m., Raycom | No. 7 | No. 25 Florida State | W 86–63 | 19–4 (6–4) | LJVM Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC |
| February 18 7:30 p.m., ACC Select | No. 8 | Georgia Tech | W 87–69 | 20–4 (7–4) | LJVM Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC |
| February 22 7:45 p.m., FSN | No. 8 | at No. 9 Duke | L 91–101 | 20–5 (7–5) | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| February 26 7:45 p.m., Raycom | No. 13 | North Carolina State | W 85–78 | 21–5 (8–5) | LJVM Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC |
| February 28 8:00 p.m., Raycom | No. 13 | at Virginia | W 70–60 | 22–5 (9–5) | John Paul Jones Arena Charlottesville, VA |
| March 3 9:00 p.m., FSN Regional | No. 10 | at Maryland | W 65–63 | 23–5 (10–5) | Comcast Center College Park, MD |
| March 8 6:00 p.m., FSN | No. 10 | No. 18 Clemson | W 96–88 | 24–5 (11–5) | LJVM Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC |
| ACC Tournament ||||||
| March 13 7:00 p.m., ESPN2/Raycom | (2) No. 8 | vs. (7) Maryland Quarterfinals | L 64–75 | 24–6 (11–5) | Georgia Dome Atlanta, GA |
| NCAA Tournament ||||||
| March 20* 9:40 p.m., CBS | (4 MW) No. 12 | vs. (13 MW) Cleveland State First Round | L 69–84 | 24–7 (11–5) | American Airlines Arena Miami, FL |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking ( ) = First-place votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Final |
| AP | 21 | 20 | 19 | 15 | 11 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 2 (2) | 1 (68) | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 13 | 10 | 8 | 12 | Not released |
| Coaches | 24 | 25 | 24 | 17 | 11 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 3 (2) | 1 (25) | 4 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 20 |

## Leading scorer by game

| Game | Player |
| North Carolina Central | Aminu (21) |
| UNC Wilmington | Teague (31) |
| Winston-Salem State | Teague (14) |
| Cal State Fullerton | Teague (24) |
| UTEP | Teague (29) |
| Baylor | Williams (15) |
| Indiana | Johnson (21) |
| Bucknell | Teague (26) |
| Wright State | Hale (17) |
| Richmond | Teague (21) |
| East Carolina | Aminu (21) |
| Radford | Teague (19) |
| Brigham Young | Teague (30) |
| North Carolina | Teague (34) |
| Boston College | Teague (29) |
| Clemson | Teague (24) |
| Virginia Tech | Teague (23) |
| Duke | Aminu (15) |
| Georgia Tech | Aminu (17) |
| Miami | Teague (19) |
| Boston College | Teague (27) |
| North Carolina State | Johnson (21) |
| Florida State | Aminu (17) |
| Georgia Tech | Johnson (24) |
| Duke | Teague (28) |
| NC State | Johnson (28) |
| Virginia | Aminu, McFarland, and Teague (12) |
| Maryland | Teague (17) |
| Clemson | Aminu and Johnson (21) |
| Maryland | Johnson (20) |
| Cleveland St. | Johnson (22) |