PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Spending Saturday (Dec. 17) up North for a final non-conference test of the regular season, the Wake Forest men’s basketball team visited Rutgers University, falling in an 81-57 decision.
Offensively, the Demon Deacons (8-4, 0-1) were led by Damari Monsanto, as the redshirt junior tied a career best in three-pointers made, ending with six on a 50 percent shooting clip from the outside. Monsanto’s 22 points paced all scorers.
Cameron Hildreth reached double-figures in points for the eighth consecutive game, totaling 13 during the afternoon. Tyree Appleby added 10 points while Andrew Carr grabbed five rebounds for the second straight showing.
The Deacs were most successful from beyond the arc, piecing a 42.3 three-point percentage mark as a team. Rutgers shot 31.6 percent around that area of the floor.
Wake Forest has gone 1-1 against BIG Ten foes this season. The team downed Wisconsin, 78-75, in the 2022 ACC/BIG Ten Challenge last month on Nov. 29.
Saturday was just the second all-time meeting between Wake Forest and Rutgers throughout program history.
The Deacons wrapped non-conference play on an 8-3 overall mark.
Standout Stat
- Damari Monsanto tied a personal best in three-point makes during Saturday’s outing, pouring in six. The redshirt junior ultimately went 6-of-12 from distance (50 percent) and 7-of-15 from the field (46.7 percent).
- This is Monsanto’s second game of 20 or more points in the 2022-23 campaign.
- Monsanto has connected on six three-pointers in five showings throughout his college career.
- Earlier this season, in a home win over Hampton (Nov. 26), he splashed in 6-of-9 attempts.
How It Happened
- Hildreth opened the scoring for the Deacs with a driving layup at the 19:19 mark.
- Appleby found Marsh in the paint for an easy layup to bring Wake Forest to within three with 17:52 remaining in the first half.
- The pair connected for the next Wake Forest basket with an alley-oop.
- Hildreth took advantage of a Rutgers turnover for his second basket of the game at the 15:45 mark.
- Wake Forest used a 7-0 run over a 1:13 minute span to get back into the game at 18-15.
- Appleby knocked down his first basket of the contest with a three-pointer off an assist from Bradford before Monsanto hit a triple of his own on the next possession.
- Klintman recorded a steal and found Hildreth on a fast break for a layup with 10:17 to go in the half.
- The freshman forward picked up another assist on the next Wake Forest possession as he found Monsanto for his second three of the game.
- Monsanto and Appleby connected on three-pointers on back-to-back possessions with four minutes left in the half.
- The pair opened the contest shooting a combined 5-for-6 from beyond-the-arc.
- Appleby reached double digits with 2:58 to go in the half after a quick solo 4-0 run.
- Carr extended the run to 7-0 with his first three-pointer of the game to bring the Demon Deacons to within 10 with 2:14 left in the half.
- Wake Forest trailed Rutgers, 33-43, at halftime.
- Appleby led the Deacs with 10 points on 3-for-4 shooting and a pair of assists.
- Carr opened the second-half scoring for the Deacs with a turnaround jumper.
- Wake Forest used three-pointers to fuel a 12-2 run over a 2:29 minute span.
- Hildreth and Monsanto knocked down a pair of threes on back-to-back possessions with 14:19 remaining in the contest.
- Williamson hit a corner three of his own to get Wake Forest back to within 10 points with 13:23 remaining.
- Monsanto hit his fifth three-pointer of the contest with a shot from the corner off of an inbound pass from Hildreth.
- He tied his career-high with his sixth triple of the game at the 3:37 mark.
- The redshirt-junior guard closed out the scoring for Wake Forest with a second-chance jumper in the paint.
- The Demon Deacons fell to the Scarlet Knights, 57-81.
Coach’s Comments
“Congrats to Rutgers, they have a really good basketball team. They physically overwhelmed us, especially at the beginning of the first half and beginning of the second half, that’s where the game got out of hand for us. We just weren’t strong with the ball and got sped up. They’re really elite at stealing the basketball. We knew coming in here that we couldn’t have any pickoffs. We gave up five of those in the first half and there’s really no way to defend those. We knew coming into the game, we’d have to keep them out of the lane and we didn’t do it. They were 44-16 in the paint. I think I had them at 25-for-30 on two’s, like 1.75 points-per-possession. That’s atrocious. When we kept them outside, they didn’t score. We had more turnovers than we had made field goals. You can’t win games that way. Credit to them. They rebound 40 percent of the misses most of the time. We did a pretty good job of keeping them off the offensive glass, but they were scoring at such a high rate they didn’t get a lot of those opportunities. They have a really great balance on offense, they have some really big wings that are good players. Then, of course, the big boy inside is a really good player. I think Steve Pikiell’s got a really nice team and I’m sure they’re gonna win a lot of games.” – head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Wake Forest returns home Tuesday, December 20, for its final game before the Christmas break and its first ACC game at home this season. The Deacs will host the Duke Blue Devils at LJVM Coliseum on the 20th. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET and the game will air live on ACC Network.
