WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Wake Forest mens’ basketball team fell to Miami 76-72 on Saturday afternoon inside Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The Demon Deacons (20-6, 10-5 ACC) converted over 50 percent of their field goals for the 14th time this season with a mark of 54.9 percent, including 42.9 percent from beyond the arc. Wake Forest also won the battle on the glass, finishing with 31 rebounds to Miami’s 27.
Alondes Williams led the team’s scoring effort with a game-high 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting, the Milwaukee native’s sixth game of scoring 25 points or more. Williams also finished with four assists and is one assist away (137) from moving into the top 25 of the program’s single-season assist leaderboard.
Daivien Williamson also finished in double figures, with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting to go along with four rebounds.
Khadim Sy led the team’s rebounding effort, with seven rebounds to pair with his seven points on a perfect 3-for-3 from the field.
How It Happened
Daivien Williamson’s converted three-point play at the stripe opened up scoring for the Deacs to start the game.
Jake LaRavia and Williamson connected on back-to-back triples to give the team an early 9-5 lead just over three minutes into the contest.
A layup from LaRavia gave Wake Forest a 15-11 advantage going into the under-12 timeout.
Isaiah Mucius’ first three-pointer gave the Deacs a seven-point lead (20-13) with 10:36 remaining in the first half.
Damari Monsanto netted his first shot from beyond the arc to extend Wake Forest’s lead to nine (24-15) with eight minutes until halftime.
Monsanto hit his second three a minute later to give the team its first double-digit lead (27-16) of the afternoon with seven minutes remaining until intermission.
Alondes Williams’ pair of triples restored the team’s double-digit lead (35-25) with under four minutes left in the opening period.
Wake Forest entered halftime with a 40-33 lead over Miami.
Eight of nine Demon Deacons to see first-half action found the bottom of the net, led by Williams and Williamson’s nine and eight points, respectively
The team shot 55.6 percent (15-of-27) from the field in the first half, including 52.8 percent (7-of-13) from beyond the arc
Williams netted his third triple on the opening possession of the second half to extend the team’s lead to ten (43-33).
Williamson rolled in a layup to end a 6-0 Miami run and give the Deacs a six-point lead (45-39) with 17:15 left in the contest.
Williams scored a layup and dished an alley-oop to LaRavia on the following possession to put Wake Forest up six (50-44) with 14:21 to play in regulation.
Dallas Walton thundered down a dunk to end a 10-0 Miami run and cut the Deacs’ deficit to two (56-54) with 9:32 remaining in the final period.
Moments later, Williams retook the lead (57-56) with 7:46 to play after converting a three-point play at the free throw line.
Khadim Sy’s layup knotted the game at 61 with just over six minutes left in the contest.
Mucius’ second make from downtown tied the game at 67 with just over three minutes remaining in regulation.
Williams’ converted a three-point play at the stripe to cut the team’s deficit to two (74-72) with 37 seconds on the clock.
Wake Forest fell to Miami, 76-72.
Stat of the Game
Alondes Williams led Wake Forest’s scoring efforts with 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting, 16 of which came in the second half.
Williams came into the contest being the only player in the country averaging 19 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists.
Williams has now scored in double figures in 24 of Wake Forest’s 25 games.
After dishing four assists against Miami, Williams needs just one assist to move into the top 25 on the all-time leaderboard for single-season assists.
Coach’s Comments
“I thought Miami just played harder and wanted to win more than we did. We had a difficult time containing their guards and when we did, we did not come up with the 50/50 balls as much as we should have. They also turned us over and we could not turn them over, we had ten second-half turnovers that killed our offense. They scored 19 points off our turnovers, and you can’t win that way. We left a lot of points on the table at the rim in the first half as well. The turnovers are definitely a problem.
I was really disappointed in my ability to get our team ready to play hard. We didn’t get anything in transition, our pace was really bad, and that’s on me. We don’t normally play this way, and Miami took advantage with the intensity and urgency that they played with in the second half, which is how this ended up as a loss.” – head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Following Saturday’s action, Wake Forest will head to Durham for their second regular season matchup with Duke on Wednesday, February 15.
Tipoff in Cameron Indoor Stadium is set for 7 p.m. and the game will air live on ESPN or ESPN2.
