WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Wake Forest fell 80-62 to NC State Saturday afternoon inside Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The Demon Deacons (6-11, 3-11) hit seven triples for the 11th-straight game, but could not overcome the Wolfpack’s (10-9, 6-8) hot shooting as they tallied a 50 percent field goal percentage.
Graduate guard Ian DuBose led the way in scoring for Wake Forest with a game-high 14 points on 5-for-9 from the field. The Durham, N.C. native has now led the Deacs in scoring in three of his six games this season, and has scored in double figures in five-straight contests.
Finishing with 11 points, junior guard Daivien Williamson posted his team-high 10th double-figure game this season. Junior forward Isaiah Mucius also tallied 11 points, which marked his ninth double-digit effort of the year.
How It Happened
Isaiah Mucius put the Deacs on the scoreboard first with a layup as both teams traded baskets for the first few minutes.
Mucius’ first made triple of the afternoon gave the Deacs their first lead (7-6) with 16:49 to go in the first half.
Ian DuBose connected on a jump shot, ending an 8-0 Wolfpack run, which cut the NC State lead to four (20-16) with 10:14 left in the opening period.
After falling behind 15 points, the Deacs went on a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to eight (35-27) with 5:14 to play in the first half.
Wake Forest went into the intermission trailing the Wolfpack, 51-35.
DuBose (11 points) and Daivien Williamson (nine points) led the team in first-half scoring.
The second half began with NC State continuing their hot shooting. The Wolfpack extended their lead to 19 with 13:40 remaining in regulation.
Just before the under-12 break, DuBose connected on his second three pointer of the game, giving him a team-high 14 points.
The Demon Deacons ultimately fell 80-62 to the Wolfpack.
The trio of Dubose, Mucius and Williamson combined for 36 of Wake Forest’s 62 points.
Stats of the Game
Ody Oguama (two offensive rebounds today) has grabbed an offensive rebound in every game of his sophomore campaign.
After scoring 14 today, Ian DuBose is averaging 14.8 points and five rebounds on 47.6% shooting from the field in four games since returning to action.
Straight From Forbes
“Congrats to NC State. Coach Keatts had his team excited and ready to play today. They enforced their will on us both offensively and defensively and they dominated the game from the 15-minute mark to the end.
In the first half, I thought Ody’s foul trouble hurt us, and then we allowed Beverly to get going by basically blowing two switches that were easy to do. Every team has to play a certain way to be successful and our way is our way, and there’s a very small margin of error. If we are not tough with the ball, don’t share the ball, not connect on defense, not grab the ball with two hands, and we do not execute, we are going to have a tough time finding a way to win. When we don’t get 50/50 balls, it is deflating.
Since day one, when I took over in July, there’s two glaring issues with our team that I have not been able to fix, and it’s completely my fault. Number one, we don’t ever get 50/50 balls and they get them and score. And number two, we’re just bad in defensive transition. We work on it every single day. It is one of the most important things to me that we do, and I have failed as a coach to get our team to do it. That is on me, it’s not on the players, that’s on me.
I just thought they were a more aggressive team and a more prepared team than we were and they did a great job today of taking it to us.”
Up Next
Wake Forest will be back in action Wednesday afternoon against Clemson for the final game of a three-game homestand.
Tipoff against the Tigers is set for 4:30 p.m. and the game will broadcast on ACC Network.
