When: Saturday January 31 – 12:00 PM
Where: Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Winston-Salem NC
TV: The CW (may change due to time change)
Opponent: Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Prediction – KenPom (KP) / Bart Torvik (BT): NC State 79-76 / NC State 79-75
Wolfpack Snapshot:
- Record: 15-6, 6-2
- Rankings: KP #24, BT #27
- NET Ranking: NET 27, 5th in ACC – Q1 (1-5), Q2 (6-0), Q3 (4-1), Q4 (4-0)
Wolfpack Season So Far:
Coach Wade after the Syracuse win:
- On the uniform issue: Oops, my bad. Stop harassing the staff, you loonies! (did I mention I make a lot of money?) [paraphrased]
- On the best ACC start in 20 years (since Sendek in ’05-’06): “My thoughts are we should be 7-1, so I’m not really pleased with 6-2. We should be 7-1, not 6-2, but I guess it’s good. I guess that’s something you guys can write about, but I’m not very pleased with where we are. I think we should be better than we are. I guess 6-2 beats 5-3, but you know, the Georgia Tech game just still makes me pretty upset, but look, 6- 2 is not bad, but we have a strive for a little bit higher and better than that. Virginia just whipped us. We weren’t beating Virginia; they just whipped us. But the Georgia Tech game is a game we could have won. We had a big lead in the second half, nine-point lead in the second half, we blew it. So, we want to be better now.”
What’s On the Line?
The Deacs are NET 67 making this a Q1 game. The cutoff is 75, they need to right the ship fast or this one will slip to a Q2. The back half of their ACC
schedule looks easier than the front.
The back half of the Wolfpack’s schedule is tough. KenPom has them favored in 5 of 9, predicting wins in the 5 home games – except Duke, and losses in the 4 road games – except Notre Dame.
Wolfpack Player Notes:
- Scottie Ebube – ankle – Participated in practice with the team Thursday for the first time since the injury.
Opponent Overview:
ACC preseason voters picked Wake Forest to finish 11th – currently ranked 17th
Wake has struggled in the ACC so far, losing 6 of 8 games played and is currently on a 3-game losing streak. Tuesday night they led at Pitt by 6 at the half but lost by 4 in overtime.
Opponent Snapshot:
- Record: 11-10, 2-6
- Rankings: KP #74, BT #68
- NET Ranking: NET 67 , 11th in ACC – Q1 (0-6), Q2 (3-4), Q3 (1-0), Q4 (7-0)
Previous Game Against Wolfpack:
The Deacons put up 10 more 3PT shots than the Pack but shot only 26% from distance. In the postgame Coach Forbes called out their 16 turnovers and poor shooting as the culprits but credited the Wolfpack for playing tough defense and making it difficult for his team.
Player Notes
- Juke Harris is 2nd in the ACC in scoring, 2nd in 3PT%, and 2nd in 3PT per game (ACC play)
- Myles Colvin is 6th in the ACC in steals per game (ACC play)
What to watch for:
- NCST – trends to watch
- Fouls – In the first Wake game, both Williams and Copeland had foul trouble. Q had 3 in the first half and ended with 4. DW picked up 2 early, and 2 more in the second half.
- Bigs – Together Lubin & Sagnia were 13-14 from the field against Syracuse. 9 assisted dunks / layups, and 4 tip-ins. The one miss was a 4-foot hook by Sagnia. CWW said Sagnia had his best practice ever last week and needs to increase his minutes.
- Darrion Williams – Need scoring consistency – DW found his touch again against ‘Cuse. In 4 ACC games he has scored under 10 (including UVA & GT), in 3 he’s had 20+, and against Clemson he scored 17.
- Guards rebounding – Holloman (career high), Able (career high), and Arceneaux each had 7. The guards had 25 of 45 rebounds. To compete on the boards, this has to continue.
- WF – strength – causing turnovers – 3rd in the ACC in forcing turnovers in league play, 3rd in steals per game
- WF – weakness – defense – 16th in in the ACC in scoring defense in conference play
- WF – strength – 3PT% – ranked 6th in 3PT%, 3rd in 3PT made and attempted in ACC play
- WF – weakness – rebounding – ranked last in team rebounds in ACC play, ranked last in defensive rebounds, ranked next to last in opponent team rebounding
- NCST – record watch – Paul McNeil has 64 made 3PT shots after 21 games. He’s averaging 3.04 per game, tracking for 94.4 in the regular season. DJ Horne’s record is 105 (88 reg. season, 17 post season)
Prediction:
Wake comes out flinging 3PT shots every which way and those friendly, home court rims help them out. They lead at the half, but Coach’s Chambers and Wade provide some deep defensive counseling, and the Pack cools them off in the second. The Wolfpack shooting heats up and they pull away, final score 80-69
