Courtesy of GoDeacs.com
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Back from winter break and focused on its first test within Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) action, Wake Forest men’s basketball (9-3, 1-0) was in control from start to finish on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 30), comfortably taking down the Virginia Tech Hokies (9-4, 1-1) in an 86-63 victory for a conference-opener win.
The Deacs extended their winning streak to seven games, the longest since 2009. Over the seven-game stretch, the Deacs have a plus-144 point differential for an average margin of victory of 20.5 during that span. All seven wins have been by double-digits and the last four have been by 20-plus.
Senior forward Andrew Carr played with energy and physicality on both ends, ultimately notching the 1,000th point of his collegiate career. Finishing with 15 points on 4-of-9 field goal shooting, He was also close to a double-double, adding eight rebounds in addition to two steals, a block and going a perfect 7-of-7 from the free-throw line. Up to date, in this season alone, Carr has reached career milestones in 100 blocks and 500 rebounds.
For the fifth-straight showing, five Deacons registered double-digits in points, led by Hunter Sallis’ 20. Likewise to Carr, the Omaha native just missed out on a double-double – grabbing nine rebounds. Sallis’ two blocks tied for a career high. He has scored 20 or more on six separate occasions in 2023-24.
Cameron Hildreth and Kevin Miller chipped in 14 points apiece, with the former making both of his two three-point attempts. Efton Reid III helped set the tone from the opening tip, contributing 13 points (5-of-9 shooting), eight rebounds, two assists and two steals in just under 20 minutes of playing time.
The Deacons shot 90.5 percent from the charity stripe for the contest, making 19 of 21 tries. It marked the third game this season in which Wake Forest shot over 90 percent from the line and the second consecutive showing.
Defensively, the team forced 19 turnovers by the Hokies while only committing seven – the second-lowest amount in a single contest this year.
Wake Forest will open the New Year on the road. The Deacs will face the Boston College Eagles in Chestnut Hill on Tuesday, January 2. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. ET and the game will air live on ACC Network.
How It Happened
- The Wake Forest defense held Virginia Tech scoreless on their first two possessions.
- On the Deacs’ second possession of the game, they took a 2-0 lead off a putback bucket from Reid.
- Reid followed his bucket with a steal and back down hook shot on the next possession for the 4-0 lead.
- Two possessions later, Hildreth got on the board with a turnaround layup for the 6-2 lead heading into the first media timeout.
- Out of the timeout, Miller extended Wake Forest’s lead to 8-2 with a fadeaway jumper from the right baseline.
- The first free throws of the game came from Hildreth, who went 2-of-2 for the 10-4 Wake Forest lead.
- On the next possession, Sallis also went 2-of-2 from the line to extend the lead, 12-4.
- After a Virginia Tech turnover, Carr got on the board with a jumper from the lane and the Deacs went up 14-4, less than seven minutes into the game.
- Miller beat the defense on the baseline for a layup and the 16-8 lead.
- Sallis put Wake up by 10 once again with a fadeaway jumper in the lane, 18-8, ahead of the under-12 media timeout.
- Out of the timeout, Friedrichsen drained his first three of the game to keep the Deacs’ lead.
- On the next possession, a hook shot from Reid put the Deacs up 12 before a putback dunk from Marion extended it to 25-11.
- Reid continued his offensive prowess with his first three of the game on the next possession for the 28-13 lead.
- At the shot clock buzzer, Hildreth hit a pullup jumper from the lane for the 15-point Wake Forest lead.
- After a small scoring drought on both sides, a third-chance bucket from Carr kept the Deacs up 15, 32-17 with six minutes to play.
- Two free throws from Miller put Wake up, 36-22, with under four to go in the first half.
- A tap in from Carr off a Hildreth lob kept the Deacs up, 38-24.
- On the next possession, Miller drained a jumper from the charity stripe for Wake’s largest lead of the game, 40-24, with a minute to go in the half.
- Sallis then hit a pullup jumper from the left wing to take the lead, 42-24.
- Carr hit two free throws for the 44-24 halftime lead.
- The Wake Forest defense caused 12 turnovers for the Hokies in the first 20 minutes.
- Reid led all scorers at half with nine points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field.
- Carr went into the locker room with a game-high seven first-half rebounds.
- Carr opened the second half with an and-one conversion to extend the Deacs’ lead, 47-24.
- On the next possession, Sallis hit his first three of the day for the 50-26 lead.
- Two possessions later he drove the lane to extend the lead.
- Miller went 3-of-3 from the free throw line to put Wake up, 54-30, into the first media timeout of the second half.
- A layup from Keller out of the timeout extended Wake’s lead.
- Miller hit a pullup three on the next possession to give Wake its largest lead, 58-30, with 14:46 left to play.
- Miller then went 2-of-2 from the free throw line to keep Wake up, 60-33.
- A putback from Sallis off a Carr corner three extended the Deacs’ lead on the next possession.
- Carr went 2-of-2 from the free throw line and Sallis dropped a layup to put Wake Forest up, 66-41 with 11:21 left to play.
- A driving layup from Hildreth out of the timeout kept the Deacs ahead.
- Sallis hit a corner three and Wake went up 24 with under 10 minutes to play.
- On the very next possession, Hildreth drained a three from the right wing for the 27-point lead into the timeout.
- With two free throws with five minutes left, Andrew Carr recorded his 1,000th career point and put Wake Forest up 76-52.
- Hildreth hit his second three of the game from the right wing to put Wake up 83-60 with under two minutes to play.
- Wake Forest defeated Virginia Tech, 86-63.
Stats of the Game
- With the win, Wake Forest is now 39-5 inside LJVM Coliseum since the start of the 2021-22 season.
- Saturday marked the first time Wake Forest opened ACC play at home since Jan. 5, 2014, against North Carolina.
- The Demon Deacons won that matchup, 73-67.
- Wake Forest extended its win-streak to seven games, the longest streak since 2009-10 (Dec. 5 to Jan. 3).
- Over the seven-game stretch, the Deacs have a plus-144 point differential for an average margin of victory of 20.5 during that span. All seven wins have been by double-digits and the last four have been by 20-plus.
- The Demon Deacons took a 20-point lead into the locker room, marking their largest halftime lead of the season.
- Additionally, Wake Forest’s 44 first-half points are its most in a first half this season, while also posting the fewest points allowed in the first half at 24.
- Saturday also marked the largest win over an ACC opponent since the team’s 101-76 victory over NC State on March 2, 2022.
- Andrew Carr reached 1,000 points for his career on Saturday – happening on a free throw at the 5:14 mark of the second half.
- He became the 57th Demon Deacon throughout program history to enter the 1,000-point club.
Key Moment
Starting at the 1:56 mark, the Demon Deacons closed out the first half on an 8-0 run and extended the lead to 20 heading into the locker room.
- The spurt started with an Andrew Carr alley-oop finish from Cameron Hildreth.
- Kevin Miller and Hunter Sallis followed with short jumpers, and Carr drew a foul to sink in two free throws before the horn sounded.
- The Deacs would hold a 20-plus point advantage for the remainder of the contest.
Coach’s Comments
“This game was won on December 26th at 7 p.m. We had the best practice I’ve ever had in 35 years coming back after some time off for Christmas. Normally, those practices are kind of sloppy, somebody’s late, somebody has travel problems. Everybody was in there at 7 p.m. when the horn went off. Typically, I don’t do a lot of defense on the 26th. Usually we do conditioning, shots, some dummy offense and then we move on to the next day. We had a two-hour grinder, straight defense. We got after each other and came back at 10 a.m. the next morning and went for an hour and a half, got after it and came back at 4 p.m. and did it again. We had three practices in less than 24 hours and they were on point. They put the game plan into the game, starting on the 28th and 29th. The preparation was outstanding and I could feel like we were going to play well.
In the first half we got off to a great start, because we had six steals in the first half, nine for the game. We didn’t foul them, they only had 14 free throw attempts, they only made five threes and we turned them over 19 times. Our full court pressure was very disruptive in the first half. Our bigs did an incredible job of just defending. Sometimes those things don’t show up in the box score. Keller played his tail off defensively. Carr was unbelievable, Marion kept some balls alive. We just preached and preached and preached to the bigs, ‘never out and never up’ on all those screens. Our bigs did an incredible job of following the game plan. Kidd had a good game, but he scored 14 points on 15 shots and no free throws. Keller, Reid, Carr and Marion were outstanding.”
Up Next
Wake Forest will open the New Year on the road. The Deacs will face the Boston College Eagles in Chestnut Hill Tuesday, January 2. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. ET and the game will air live on ACC Network.
