Following a strong game against Louisville, Wake Forest continued to roll on Senior Night Wednesday with a blowout victory against a struggling NC State team 101-76 for its 13th ACC win of the season, tying the program record.

The Demon Deacons’ win was a story of two halves. Wake Forest Head Coach Steve Forbes was not happy with his team’s performance in the first half.

“That was probably as mad as I’ve been at halftime this season,” Forbes said. “Just because of the fact that we were getting beat to the loose balls. It really upset me.”

Wake Forest led 41-40 at halftime. NC State was 7-of-15 from long range and was finding offensive success outside of their star player, Dereon Seabron.

But after the break, things could not have gone any better. The Demon Deacons celebrated Senior Night by coming out of the locker room and dominating the Wolfpack 

The score was tied at 48 a few minutes into the second half before Wake Forest completely took control of the game. The Demon Deacons outscored the Wolfpack 60-31 after halftime.

Wake Forest connected on 39-of-64 field goals, including 10-of-27 shooting from three-point land.

Winston-Salem native and senior guard Daivien Williamson dropped a career-high 28 points, and did so confidently and efficiently, knocking down 11-of-14 shot attempts.

Senior forward Dallas Walton notched the first double-double of his career, scoring 20 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Walton continued his absurdly accurate shooting from the Louisville game in the win. In his last two games, Walton is 16-of-18 from the field and 5-of-5 from long range.

ACC Player of the Year frontrunner Alondes Williams put together a nice game, scoring 17 points and dishing out 11 assists for another double-double. He also threw down a ferocious dunk in the second half that sent shockwaves throughout the Joel.

As part of the Senior Night festivities, Alondes Williams, Khadim Sy, Isaiah Mucius, Walton, Williamson, Miles Lester and Anthony Mathis, Jr. were all recognized. Mucius, Walton and Williamson all could utilize their free year of eligibility from the COVID-19 pandemic and return next season.

Wake Forest is now locked into the No. 5-seed for the ACC Tournament next week in Brooklyn. They have a first-round bye and will play the winner of the game between the 12th and 13th seeds. If they win that, the Demon Deacons will take on the four seed in the quarterfinals, who will be either Miami or North Carolina.

Additionally, an NCAA Tournament bid is pretty close to being locked up. Any result in Brooklyn other than a bad loss to a double-digit seed should lead to an at-large bid.

This team has completed an impressive regular season, one that came as a big surprise to everyone. Wake Forest has generated tangible momentum entering postseason play and high expectations of what can be accomplished. Deacon Nation has been waiting a while for this return to relevancy.

“The hardest thing in life to regain is respect, and this team has gone out and regained the respect of our campus, our community, the ACC and the nation,” Forbes said.