Well, that felt like Deja vu. After being down double digits for much of the first half, the Deacs turned things around and managed to take command of the game through most of the second half, only to lose
the lead and once again come up 1 point short of a signature win. It was almost an exact replica of the Michigan game, without the overtime.
The first half could not have started off worse, with Tre’Von Spillers picking up his first foul in about 7 seconds right off the tip and Texas Tech ripping off a 13-0 run in the first 3 minutes of the game. With Spillers already in foul trouble, JT Toppin went to work on the Wake Forest defense, scoring 14 first half points on 6-10 shooting. When he did miss, the Red Raiders would simply grab offensive rebounds until they did score—the Deacs gave up 11 offensive rebounds and 8 second chance points through the first 20 minutes of the game. On the other side, Wake missed a ton of easy shots (including 2 breakaway dunks) and once again struggled from the free throw line, shooting 6-11 from the stripe. The Deacs would have found themselves down double digits at the half if not for a late 10-0 run fueled by Cooper Schwieger and Myles Colvin to cut the lead to just 1 point at the break. It also helped that Texas Tech finished the first half shooting 5-21 from beyond the arc.
Wake turned things on in the 2nd half. The Deacs were more aggressive double teaming Toppin in the post and blitzing ball screens—the adjustment helped keep Toppin to just 9 points on 4-9 shooting in the 2nd half. On offense, the Deacs were getting a ton of dribble penetration into the lane, which allowed them to score 22 points in the paint and up their percentage to 56.3% throughout the 2nd half.
Juke Harris, who was seemingly invisible in most of the first, once again woke up to carry the Deacs in the 2nd—Harris scored 23 of his 26 points in the 2nd half on 7-8 shooting. Myles Colvin was the only other Wake Forest player that played particularly well in the 2nd—it was pretty clear he wanted to take on his former team, and he did all he could with 19 points and 6 rebounds to make it happen.
Down the stretch, it was the 3-point shooting from Texas Tech that would be the deciding factor. Every time it seemed like Wake was going to pull away, someone for the Red Raiders would hit a huge 3-pointer to keep the game close. Jaylen Petty was the main culprit in the 2nd half—the freshman guard hit 3 of his 4 attempts from beyond the arc in the 2nd half, including 2 huge ones under 5 minutes after Wake had regained lead. The Red Raiders finished the game 12-35 from beyond the arc.
Wake definitely had their chances to win, but poor execution with under a minute remaining in the game took away any hope of pulling out the victory. Once again, Wake showed that they are a team that can compete with anyone in the nation, but they just cannot pull out the big-time signature win. Not only does this loss hand Wake their 8th straight loss against a ranked opponent, but it also takes away another opportunity to get a huge win over #1 Purdue tomorrow. Instead, Wake will now play Memphis, a 1-3 team that is currently ranked 75th in KenPom—that is one of those games with very little upside that could be a resume killer in March. It almost feels like we are in “must win” territory already.
It is so frustrating that Wake is just 2 points away from two top 15 wins and likely being ranked themselves, and they just keep shooting themselves in the foot at the end of the game. It is even more maddening when you realize that the Deacs missed 21 free throws combined in their two 1-point losses to Michigan and Texas Tech. The good news is that if Wake can play at this level for the rest of the season—and admittedly that’s a big “if”—these losses shouldn’t hurt them too much.
We are onto Memphis.
Go Deacs!
