WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Looking to bounce back and remain undefeated on its home floor, the Wake Forest men’s basketball team completed the deed during Tuesday evening (Dec. 20), defeating Big Four rival No. 14 Duke (10-3, 1-1) for a first Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) victory of the year.
The victory was the Demon Deacons’ (9-4, 1-1) first over a ranked opponent both this season and in the head coach Steve Forbes era. It was Wake Forest’s first win over Duke since Feb. 25, 2020.
With the win, Wake Forest is 7-0 at home for the second season in a row and just the second time since 2013-14 when the Deacs went 12-0. This is the first time Wake has had back-to-back 7-0 home starts since 2007-08 and 2008-09 when they went 12-0 and 8-0 inside LJVM.
Five Deacs notched double-figures in scoring, led by Tyree Appleby’s 18 points. The graduate guard was especially effective at the free-throw line (13-of-14), while adding eight assists and four rebounds. Appleby has now led Wake Forest in scoring through six season contests.
Cameron Hildreth was close to recording a double-double, finishing with 16 points and a game-high nine rebounds. The sophomore continued his streak of 10 or more points, reaching a ninth consecutive showing.
Damari Monsanto posted 13 points while snagging five rebounds. Andrew Carr and Matthew Marsh rounded out the quintet with 10 points apiece.
Wake Forest made 22 of 26 attempts at the charity stripe, totaling a near 85.0 percentage. The team also shot over 46 percent from the field.
Standout Stat
- For the second time this season, five Demon Deacons had double-digit scoring performances.
- It was also the first time all five starters have finished in double figures since Feb. 26, 2022 against Louisville
How It Happened
- Marsh opened the scoring with a tip-in layup at the 19:14 mark.
- Wake Forest went on a 9-0 run over a three minute span to take an early 11-4 lead.
- Hildreth leveled the score at 4-4 with a jumper before Marsh gave the Demon Deacons the lead with an alley-oop slam assisted by Monsanto with 16:39 remaining in the first half.
- Appleby extended the lead as he earned his way to the line and knocked down a pair of free throws after the first media timeout.
- Wake Forest opened the contest with a 6-2 rebounding advantage over Duke, including four offensive rebounds in the first two minutes.
- Williamson capped off the run with a three-pointer, assisted by Appleby.
- Appleby regained the lead for the Demon Deacons with a three-point play with 12:37 left in the first half.
- Bradford recorded his first points of the contest with a dunk off another Appleby assist to extend the lead to 16-12.
- Williamson hit a turnaround jumper at the 10:39 mark to give Wake Forest a three-point lead before the under-12 media timeout.
- Klintman doubled the lead with a three-pointer off a dish-out from Appleby.
- Appleby found Marsh for his second alley-oop dunk of the game to make it 23-17 Wake Forest with 7:46 remaining in the half.
- Appleby picked up his fifth assist of the game with 7:20 left in the first half as he found Monsanto open for three.
- Carr knocked down a three-pointer of his own to extend the lead to eight after a Monsanto assist with 5:25 to go in the half.
- The junior forward scored seven straight Wake Forest points, including a pair of jumpers.
- Hildreth hit a hookshot with 2:12 remaining in the half to put the Deacs up 35-28.
- Wake Forest went into the locker room with a 39-30 lead.
- The Deacs used balanced scoring in the first half to build the nine-point advantage, as all eight players recorded at least one field goal and five had at least five points.
- Appleby finished the first half with five points, five assists and three rebounds.
- As a team, the Deacs shot 14-for-30 (46.7%) and outrebounded the Blue Devils, 21-15.
- Appleby opened the second half scoring with a pair of free throws at the 18:52 mark.
- Hildreth hit a jumper in the paint before Appleby knocked down a three to give Wake Forest a 14-point lead with 17:47 remaining.
- Marsh finished his third alley-oop of the contest after a lob from Appleby.
- Hildreth reached double-digits with a layup for the Deacs’ fourth consecutive make to open the second half.
- The Deacs forced five turnovers in the first five minutes of the second half.
- Bradford fought his way to the basket for two with 13:07 remaining to extend the lead to 55-42.
- Monsanto hit his second three-pointer of the contest with 11:35 to go to give Wake Forest a 14-point lead before the under-12 media timeout.
- Monsanto earned his way to the line and knocked down a pair of free throws to reinstate the double-digit lead with 9:17 remaining.
- Appleby and Marsh connected on an alley-oop for the third time of the contest (Marsh’s fourth) at the 7:48 mark.
- Hildreth knocked down a two-point jumper to put Wake Forest up 68-57 with 4:42 left.
- The Demon Deacons held Duke to no field goals (0-6) over a four-minute span until the 4:03 mark.
- A pair of Appleby free throws followed by a Hildeth layup and Monsanto jumper on three consecutive possessions helped the Deacs hold on to a comfortable nine-point lead before a Duke timeout with 1:54 left.
- Carr went 2-for-2 from the line with a minute left before Monsanto sealed the victory with a three-pointer from the left lane line.
- The Deacs held off the Blue Devils to win, 81-70.
Coach’s Comments
“I’m really proud of my team. Here’s the thing, you go up to Rutgers and you get your butt kicked, and that’s life, right? It’s how you bounce back and I thought they did a really good job of coming back and preparing to play Duke. I know they had a couple of really good players out and I have a lot of respect for the program and Jon. I think they have a really good team. They’re gonna get better and better but it was their first road game. We’ve been pretty battle-tested with our schedule.
They do a really good job of not fouling and offensive rebounding. Tonight, we did the best job we could rebounding the ball against them, so that was huge. They didn’t get a lot of easy points off offensive rebounds. Then in the second half, we got into the double bonus, and we haven’t been able to do that for a while. That hurt them. Then you have a guy like Ty who can put the ball in his hands and get fouled, he’s gonna make free throws. That was a big key. I’m really proud of our team. In the second half, we took a punch to the canvas there in about nine minutes, but we came right back. We didn’t fold, and we’ve had some moments where we’ve teetered and we didn’t finish and tonight was a great example of finishing. If Matthew had enough attempts, he’d be leading the country in field goal percentage. He’s 31-for-35 from the field. Hildreth just plays so hard and he’s just a competitor. I’m really proud of my team. It’s a good feeling in the locker room. We’re 1-1 in the league. That’s what it is. 1-1 with 18 more of these to go so enjoy and get ready to play the next one.” – head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Wake Forest will take a holiday break from December 21-26 before returning to practice ahead of their New Year’s Eve matchup against the Virginia Tech Hokies. The Deacs and the Hokies will face off Dec. 31 at 12:00 p.m. ET inside LJVM Coliseum.
Tickets for that game can be purchased here.
