Wake Forest Defeats SMU, 77-66

The Deacs did it. They avoided a disastrous two game losing streak to keep themselves in postseason consideration. The Wake Forest Demon Deacons went into Dallas and beat the red hot SMU Mustangs (19-6, 10-4 ACC) 77-66 Saturday evening. Both teams were sitting on the “First Four Out” slot in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracket predictions. This game, for all intents and purposes, was a play-in game for the NCAA Tournament.

The Boopie Bowl was over before it even began. Wake transfer Boopie Miller was held out of the game against his former team due to a lower leg injury. Wake star Cam Hildreth also missed the game with a foot contusion, seemingly putting the Deacs behind the 8 ball before the game even began. The Mustangs jumped out to a 13-3 lead after the first five minutes of play. The Deacs battled back, grabbed a slim lead, but went into the half trailing 34-32. The second half was all Deac as they scored 45 points in the period and held the Mustangs to 32. 

The second half was dominated by the emergence of Parker Friedrichsen. The sharp shooter seemed to have lost his touch between his freshman and sophomore campaigns. Last season, the Deacs could count on Friedrichsen to bury 2 or 3 threes a game. Friedrichsen had only made 5 threes in the last month for the Deacs coming into Saturday. Friedrichsen finished the game with the second highest scoring total on the team with 18 points, going 5-7 from deep. The Deacons only made two three pointers outside of Friedrichsen’s performance.

Hunter Salis led the Deacs with 20 points but only went 4-15 from the field, but Salis went 11-14 from the line to bolster his stat line. Ty’Laur Johnson rebounded from his questionable three point attempt in the final seconds of the Florida State game to score 12. Efton Reid added 10 points and 8 boards, The Deacs only played 7 players against the Mustangs and only had scoring contributions from 6. 

The Deacons were able to hold SMU 7 footer Samet Yigitoglu to 4 points and 1 rebound. Chuck Harris had 15 points and 6 assists to lead the Mustangs, Kario Oquendo added 13 points and 9 rebounds. 

The Deacons have a week off before they travel to Raleigh to take on the NC State Wolfpack (10-15, 3-11 ACC). The Wolfpack snapped a 9 game losing streak with a win of the Boston College Eagles over the weekend. The Deacs must avoid another let down and loss to an inferior team. A loss to the Wolfpack may be too big of a hole for the Deacs to climb back out of. Currently, the Deacs have moved from the bubble to in the NCAA tournament. It is up to them to stay there.

The SMU Mustangs have a reprieve in their mid-week matchup against the lowly Notre Dame Fighting Irish (11-13, 5-8 ACC). The Mustangs then play host to the 23rd ranked Clemson Tigers on Saturday. A win against the Tigers should move the Mustangs from the “First Four Out” to solididly in the NCAA Tournament.