For the second straight season, Wake Forest has been blown out by the Vanderbilt Commodores, this time by 23 points.
The Deacs kept it close for a while—with 3:27 left in the first half, Justin Ray hit a pair of free throws to bring Wake back within 3 points. Vanderbilt responded and ended the half on a 9-0 run to take a 12 point lead into the break. Every time Wake would fight back to within 6 points, the Commodores would go on another run and push the lead back out
to double digits. The Deacs hung around for a bit, but ultimately, Vandy finished the final 6 minutes of the game on an 18-4 run to win by 23 points.
The Wake Forest defense actually played pretty well in this one, but it didn’t matter because the offense was abysmal. Despite holding Vanderbilt to 38% shooting for the game, the Deacs got blown out because they scored just 51 points and were 6-26 from beyond the arc—it is nearly impossible to pull off a road upset over a Top 25 team without being able to put the ball in the basket. It also didn’t help that Wake was once again outrebounded by double digits. Kevair Kennedy was really the only Deac who had a decent game on offense, finishing with 20 points on 7-15 shooting. Gavin Placide was the only other Wake Forest player to hit double digits, scoring 10 points.
This was Wake’s first game against a tournament caliber team, and they simply looked outmatched. Without multiple guys who can create and score off the dribble, the 5-out offense just isn’t very effective. Far too often, the offense devolved into 4 players watching Kennedy try to drive past his man, only for him to get swarmed by defenders, dribble back out to the perimeter, and then start the process over again. After Gavin Placide scored the first 4 points for Wake Forest, the Deacs did a terrible job getting him the ball in scoring position. When they did finally get him the rock, it was out on the 3-point line where he had to try to back his into the paint or drive to the basket. Placide is clearly the most talented player on the team, and any possession that doesn’t go through him in the post is probably a mistake.
Wake has a lot to work on after this one. Luckily they get 4 buy games in a row before they head to the Battle 4 Atlantis to take on Mississippi State.
Onto the next.
