An all too familiar story unfolded during the opening minutes of Monday night’s non-conference matchup between the Demon Deacons (7-3) and the Delaware State Hornets (6-8).
Wake Forest walked onto the court as double-digit favorites, traded scores, missed shots, fell behind to a lesser team and spent a good portion of the game playing catch-up.
That story was short-lived, however, as Wake Forest regained the lead with eight minutes left in the first half and never came close to relinquishing it on its way to an 88-59 victory over Delaware State.
It may have been the Demon Deacons’ first game in nine days due to final examinations, but the prolific scoring offense and scrappy defense didn’t take a break. Five players scored in double-digit figures while the team scored 24 points from turnovers.
Junior Hunter Sallis led all scorers with 19 points, redshirt sophomore Kevin “Boopie” Miller was close behind with 17 points and 5 assists and senior Andrew Carr notched 15 points and 11 rebounds (six offensive) to record his second double-double of the season.
“Maybe we were a little rusty coming out of the gate tonight, but that is not an excuse,” Head Coach Steve Forbes said. “We had great practices during our time off. I was disappointed in the way we started the game. We have to give credit to Delaware State tonight. [They were] 75th in the country in offensive rebound percentage. Also, they were 18th in the country in turnover percentage, so I knew this game was not going to be a walk in the park.”
Going against a 3-2 zone defense, Wake Forest opted for the three-point shot more than any other game this season (47.5% of field goal attempts were from behind the arc). The home team started the air raid quickly, as 10 of their first 12 shots were from range, taking the given shot rather than driving to the hoop. But it wasn’t until when freshman marksman Parker Friedrichsen checked into the game that Wake Forest’s rhythm really started grooving.
Friedrichsen scored three of four shots from the three-point line and buzzed around the court, forcing pesky turnovers as the Demon Deacons went on a 22-4 run during the latter half of the opening period. The freshman guard led Wake Forest with four steals on the night. This performance off the bench proved helpful given that Sallis, the team’s leading scorer (17.8 ppg), was bucket-less from the field in the first half. The guard rebounded after the break with 14 points.
“Sometimes when things aren’t going so well for your shot, [you’ve] got to try to get some easy ones,” Forbes said about Sallis’ second-half recovery. “[You’ve] got to create it by driving it, getting fouled and making some plays defensively, which he did get out of transition.’
Forbes continued, “He’s a smart kid. His shot is fine. It’s just that the mid-range ones are harder than the wide-open threes. It’s like [Friedrichsen] banked his first three shots and then missed a couple wide open ones. I think everybody in the building is shocked because he actually misses the shot, but he’s going to miss. I’m more encouraged by the way he defends and handles the ball.”
As has been the case all year, Wake Forest was not reliant on one or two players to secure the 29-point win — the largest margin of victory so far. For the ninth time in a 10-game season, the deadly quartet of Sallis, Miller, Carr and junior Cameron Hildreth (14 pts) all scored in double-digits, and for the third-straight game, five players reached the double-digit threshold (Friedrichsen, 12).
Only Miller played more than 30 minutes of the game (31), allowing rotational players Marqus Marion (4 pts, 2 reb) and Efton Reid III (2 pts, 7 reb) to get valuable minutes and starters to stay rested.
After the first 10 games, and with one non-conference opponent left on the schedule, Forbes is confident his team will be able to kick it into the next gear and make some noise once ACC play begins.
“I don’t think we’ve reached our potential, thank goodness” Forbes said. “I do think this team can get a heck of a lot better in a lot of ways. I do think we’ve gotten better though. I think defensively we’ve gotten a lot better; we’re rebounding the ball better, even though it’s going to get even better.”
He continued: “I think we can be as good as everybody. I haven’t seen anybody on film or on television, and I’m like ‘Oh, we couldn’t beat them.’ I really don’t think that. So, we’ll see. My teams have always [gotten] better, and I told them this yesterday during the [semester] break. We just have [improved] because we have more time to practice and work on just basketball. There’s no books. So, I like where we are at.”
