ACC Hoops: Wake Forest Collapses, Falls to Florida State 72-70

It happened again. The Wake Forest Demon Deacons (18-7, 10-4 ACC), temporarily on the right side of the bubble, fell to the Florida State Seminoles (15-9, 6-7 ACC) in Winston Salem Wednesday night 72-70. The Deacons lost to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the penultimate game last season and then lost to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in their first game in the ACC Tournament. Two seasons ago, with the Deacs on the bubble again, they lost back to back games against Boston College and Syracuse that sealed the Deacs future. 

The Demon Deacons dominated the majority of the game, taking a 35-21 lead into the halftime break. The Deacs kept up their dominance in the second half and seemed to be cruising to an easy win with a 16 point lead with around 9 minutes to play in the game, 59-43. The Seminoles then went on a 31-13 run to end the game, scoring over 50 points in the second period.

The final fifteen minutes was a microcosm for the state of ACC play this season. The Deacs were up two after Forbes drew up a brilliant play that gave Efton Reid a wide open slam with 24 seconds left to play. The Seminoles Taylor Bol Bowden drained a three from the top of the key to give the Noles a 70-69 lead with 15 seconds left to play. Ty-Laur Johnson of the Deacs took the inbounds and threw up what looked like a desperation three from the logo with 8 seconds left, losing track of how much time was left in the game. Florida State got the rebound and successfully avoided the Deacs foul attempts. In possibly an inexperienced move or excitement from the comeback, Florida State guard Justin Thomas threw down a dunk to give the Noles a 72-69 advantage with two seconds left on the clock. Cam Hildreth caught Wake’s inbound pass near the half court line and threw up a hail mary as the Seminoles did the unthinkable: Daquan Davis fouled Hildreth on the attempt giving Wake’s leader a three foul shots to tie the game. 

Hildreth, an 83% free throw shooter and the senior leader of the Deacs is exactly who they wanted to take these shots in this type of situation. Unfortunately, the drama did not last long as Hildreth missed the first of the three attempts, virtually ending the game without another miracle. Hildreth made the second and intentionally missed the third but the Deacs were unable to get the rebound against the Seminoles’ length and the Deacs dropped a quad 3 game. 

The Deacs were led by Hildreth’s 22 points followed by Hunter Salis’ 20, 6 boards, and 3 assist performance. The Deacs could only manage 7 points off the three players that got minutes off the bench, all 7 scored by Juke Harris. The Seminoles were led by Jamir Watkins’ and Taylor Bol Bowen’s 15 points.

Next up for the Deacs is a must win against the SMU Mustangs (19-5, 10-3 ACC) in Dallas. The Deacs cannot drop any more games this season to make up for the loss to Florida State and a win in Dallas is a great start to getting back on track. 

The Seminoles look to carry their second half performance into Clemson on Saturday to pull off an upset against a team that is on a hot streak.