WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Following a break for the holidays and coming off a big win last week over No. 14 Duke, the Demon Deacons men’s basketball team earned their second-straight Atlantic Coast Conference victory on New Year’s Eve against Virginia Tech, 77-75. The victory was earned behind stellar defense as the Deacs forced 13 turnovers and graduate guard Tyree Appleby poured in 24 points and seven assists.
Wake Forest (10-4, 2-1 ACC) is now an astounding 8-0 at home this season and has won 13 games inside Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum dating back to last season. Deacon Nation provided a huge boost to the men’s basketball team on Saturday afternoon, as 8,709 (second-largest crowd of the season) were on hand to see the game.
The 13-game win streak is the longest streak since the Deacs won 13 in a row from March 10, 2013 to Jan. 25, 2014. The Deacs are now 26-2 at home since the start of the 2021-22 season.
In addition to Appleby on Saturday, the Deacs were paced by fellow team captains Andrew Carr and Daivien Williamson, who chipped in 14 and 12 points, respectively. Defensively, Wake Forest held the Hokies to only six makes from three-point distance, resulting in a clip of 28.6 percent, and forced Virginia Tech (11-3, 1-2 ACC) to commit 13 turnovers.
Saturday’s win over the Hokies marked the Demon Deacons first inside LJVM Coliseum since Jan. 31, 2015. Additionally, Wake Forest has now downed the Hokies in back-to-back contests as the Deacs beat Va. Tech on Dec. 4, 2021 in Blacksburg, 80-61. The last time that Wake Forest had a winning streak vs. Virginia Tech in the storied history of this rivalry is when the Deacs won three-straight between 2013-15.
Next up, the Demons Deacons will hit Tobacco Road for their first of two matchups against the North Carolina Tar Heels this season. Wake Forest will play North Carolina Jan. 4 in the Dean Dome. Tipoff is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. ET and the game will air live on ACC Network.
Standout Stats
- With the 77-75 win on Saturday afternoon over Virginia Tech, Wake Forest has now started 8-0 at home for the second season in a row and just the second time since 2013-14 when the Deacs went 12-0.
- This season marks the first time Wake has had back-to-back 8-0 home starts since 2007-08 and 2008-09 when they went 12-0 and 8-0, respectively, inside LJVM Coliseum.
- With today’s win over Virginia Tech, Wake Forest is now an astounding 26-2 inside Joel Coliseum since the start of the 2021-22 season.
- Wake Forest has now won 13-straight games inside Joel Coliseum, which is tied for the longest streak since the Deacs won 13 in a row from March 10, 2013 to Jan. 25, 2014.
How It Happened
- Virginia Tech’s Lynn Kidd won the opening tip and the Demon Deacons defense forced Kidd into a contested two-point shot that missed on the game’s opening possession.
- Wake Forest opened the scoring on its first possession as junior Andrew Carr canned a triple at the 19:14 mark of the first half.
- The Demon Deacons opened the game on a 5-0 scoring run before the Hokies were able to score.
- Undaunted, Virginia Tech answered with an 8-0 run of its own as the game went into the first media timeout at 15:56 remaining in the first half.
- Graduate guard Tyree Appleby forced the game into the media timeout as he was fouled on a three-point attempt. The Atlantic Coast Conference’s third-leading scorer hit all three free throws to knot the game, 8-8.
- Virginia Tech answered the three makes at the charity stripe with another 5-0 run, before Appleby hit two more free throws with 13:05 remaining in the opening stanza to bring the Hokies lead down to just three points, 13-10.
- The Hokies put together another 5-0 scoring run, highlighted by Sean Pedulla three-point play.
- Wake Forest called its first timeout of the game at the 12:11 mark off the first half to help thwart the VT run.
- Freshman Bobi Klintman hit a jumper with 11:28 on the clock and graduate guard Daivien Williamson canned the Deacs second triple of the game with 10:52 remaining to bring the Hokies lead down to five, 20-15.
- Sophomore center Matthew Marsh had a put-back layup (9:32) and Williamson hit his second three pointer of the game to knot the game at 20 apiece with 8:34 remaining in the first half.
- Marsh hit a pair of free throws out of the under-eight media timeout to put the Demon Deacons out in front (22-20) for the first time since the 16:58 mark of the first half.
- Virginia Tech and Wake Forest traded baskets (and technical fouls) over the course of the next four-plus minutes and the game was tied at 29 with 3:55 left in the first half.
- The final four minutes of the first half were highlighted by an Appleby contested triple with 1:59 remaining and a Marsh two-handed slam with 28 seconds left as the Deacs entered halftime tied, 38-38.
- In the first half, Wake Forest forced the Hokies to commit five turnovers, while the Deacs only had one. The Demon Deacons were able to score six points off those VT miscues.
- Wake Forest also grabbed six offensive rebounds and held the Hokies to just 31 percent shooting from downtown in the opening half.
- A pair of and-one
- Wake Forest opened the scoring in the second half with 19:37 remaining on an Andrew Carr and-one layup and free throw.
- Virginia Tech answered with a layup by Lynn on its next possession.
- Leading 41-40, Appleby (18:05) and Carr (17:12) hit their second pointers of the game, respectively.
- With 15:39 remaining in the game, Appleby canned a floater in the lane to give Wake Forest its largest lead of the game to that point, 49-42.
- The Deacs opened the second half shooting 50% (4-of-8), while limiting the VT to just 16% shooting from the floor (1-of-6).
- Carr forced the under-16 media timeout following a layup that he converted, while being fouled, off a Hildreth steal with 15:26 on the clock. The and-one play gave Wake Forest a 10-point (52-42) advantage.
- The Demon Deacons forced the Hokies to commit six turnovers in the first six minutes of the second half.
- Wake Forest and Virginia Tech traded baskets and fast breaks and the Deacs led by six (57-51) with 10:40 remaining at the under-12 media timeout.
- After VT trimmed the Deacs lead to two (60-58) with less than nine minutes remaining in the game, Wake Forest extended the lead back to three after an Appleby free throw entered the under-8 media timeout (7:47) ahead, 61-58.
- Following a VT layup, Williamson hit a triple with 7:16 remaining to extend the Deacs lead back to two possessions, 64-60.
- Wake Forest and Virginia Tech traded baskets, but Williamson brought the lead back to seven (69-62) after he hit his fourth three-pointer of the game with 5:46 left.
- The triple forced VT to use a timeout.
- Appleby hit a dagger three-point field goal with the shot clock expiring with 4:18 remaining to extend the Demon Deacons lead to eight, 72-64.
- Virginia Tech answered with six-straight points to bring the Demon Deacons lead down to two (72-70) with just over two minutes remaining in the game.
- After a timeout, Appleby was fouled on the Deacs next two possessions and extended Wake Forest’s lead back to five, 75-70.
- Undaunted, VT’s Grant Basile hit a three-point field goal with one minute left in the game to bring the Deacs lead back to two, 75-73.
- On the ensuing possessions, Wake Forest missed a pair of three pointers but was able to secure offensive rebounds on each miss.
- Redshirt junior Damari Monsanto was fouled off the second offensive rebound and hit a pair of free throws with six seconds remaining on the clock.
- Virginia Tech hit a jumper on their last possession to bring the game to the final score, 77-75.
Coach’s Comments
“Really proud of my team. I challenged them all week about being 1-2 in tough-guy games. You know, we beat Wisconsin on the road, we lost to Clemson and we lost at Rutgers. I knew Virginia Tech is obviously one of the toughest teams in the league. They’re really well coached. So I thought we did a good job of handling the physicality of the game. Against Clemson, we took bad shots that were really turnovers. And against Rutgers, we just turned it over. And so today, we only had seven turnovers and I bet we took maybe one or two bad shots, that’s it. And so, I think that adds up. Plus, we have a lot of the 50-50 balls late. We got a bunch of offensive rebounds and kept more possessions and I thought that Daivien (Williamson) made some really big shots when we needed it. Ty (Appleby) came off the ball, we had some good stuff in there. We put that in this week. We did a really good job of making 11 three’s against them. One of the things with Matt (Marsh) – they’re worried about the roll, obviously. So we put a single side tag on them, which means it’s a single side tag over there on the roll. And they have to guard it, so that gives us the lane. And, I think we probably got a lot of three’s off the midline; and we made them. So, credit to our players. It was a good win. I think a lot of Virginia Tech. I think they have a really nice team. They’re going to win a lot of games. So, I think this will hold up to be a really good win for us.” – head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
The Demons Deacons will hit Tobacco Road for their first of two matchups against the North Carolina Tar Heels this season. Wake Forest will play North Carolina Jan. 4 in the Dean Dome. Tipoff is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. ET and the game will air live on ACC Network.
