The 2008–09 George Mason Patriots men's basketball team began its 43rd season of collegiate play on November 15, 2008, versus the University of Vermont. The players were looking to continue the success from their 2007–2008 season where they won the 2008 Colonial Athletic Association tournament championship game and advanced to the 2008 NCAA men's basketball tournament. The 2008–09 Patriots had a 13–5 regular season record and were runners-up in the 2009 Colonial Athletic Association tournament. The team reached the 2009 National Invitation Tournament, but they lost in overtime to eventual tournament champion Penn State.
Season notes On February 2, 2009, it was announced that George Mason would play the Creighton Bluejays on February 21 as part of the annual ESPN Bracket Busters event. On January 21, 2009, during a game versus Northeastern University, senior guard John Vaughan suffered a concussion and was carted off the court. He was taken to a local hospital and released later that night. He missed at least 1 week of action. On December 27, 2008, it was announced that sophomore forward Vlad Moldoveanu will be released from his basketball commitment. He enrolled at American University. On December 22, 2008, the George Mason men's basketball team won their 600th game in the history of the program.
Awards
Second Team All-CAA Darryl Monroe John Vaughan
Third Team All-CAA Cam Long
CAA All-Rookie Team Ryan Pearson
CAA All-Defensive Team John Vaughan
CAA Player of the Week Darryl Monroe – Jan. 12
CAA Rookie of the Week Ryan Pearson – Nov. 17 Ryan Pearson – Dec. 1
Roster
Stats Player GP GS MPG FG% 3FG% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG Cam Long 33 33 32.7 .462 .404 .748 4.8 3.2 1.1 .1 11.7 John Vaughan 31 29 32.3 .418 .369 .747 4.5 1.6 .9 .5 10.8 Darryl Monroe 33 33 29.6 .573 .000 .574 7.7 2.1 1.1 .5 10.5 Dre Smith 33 32 28.4 .355 .265 .784 2.8 1.0 .8 .2 8.9 Ryan Pearson 32 1 17.1 .488 .000 .643 3.8 .7 .6 .8 7.0 Louis Birdsong 33 32 22.8 .488 .308 .702 3.5 .6 .8 1.1 6.4 Andre Cornelius 33 3 18.8 .399 .324 .545 1.8 1.3 .5 .1 5.5 Mike Morrison 31 0 10.8 .545 .000 .302 2.5 .3 .1 .7 4.0 Vlad Moldoveanu 7 0 9.9 .353 .375 .500 2.1 .6 .0 .0 2.3 Isaiah Tate 28 0 9.2 .333 .257 .375 1.6 .4 .2 .0 1.9 Jimmy Nolan 6 0 4.0 .375 .333 .000 .3 .5 .0 .0 1.3 Brian Henderson 5 0 2.6 .250 1.000 .000 .4 .2 .0 .0 0.6 Chris Fleming 10 1 6.0 .125 .000 1.000 1.8 .4 .1 .1 0.4
Game log
!colspan=12 style=| Non-conference regular season
!colspan=12 style=|CAA regular season
!colspan=12 style=|CAA tournament
!colspan=12 style=|National Invitation tournament
Recruiting The following is a list of players signed for the 2009–10 season:
References