Wake Forest Men’s Basketball’s season came to a close on Sunday night as the Demon Deacons struggled mightily to defend down the stretch, falling at home to the Illinois State Redbirds.
The Deacons got out to an early advantage on the back of strong interior play from forward Tre’Von Spillers. After a Redbird 3-pointer to open the game, they went on a 10-0 run to make it 10-3, including 5 points from star guard Juke Harris. Illinois State fought back a bit, but another short run from Spillers and guard Myles Colvin meant the Deacs held an 18-9 advantage midway through the first half.
Then we reached an inflection point. Spillers committed his second foul of the game at the 9:35 mark, and he was forced to limit his minutes the rest of the half so as not to get a third foul before the break.
From there, things got iffy. With Spillers out, the Deacs had to go to forwards Cooper Schweiger and Omaha Biliew to play the interior. It wasn’t a good day for Schwieger, who had season-long struggles with physicality and rebounding. The big man scored just 2 points in this game with one rebound and one assist while committing three fouls and turning the ball over three times. Biliew contributed well, but the loss of Spillers was crucial in the Redbirds’ response.
From that point to the end of the half, Wake Forest was outscored 23-14, and Illinois State tied the game at halftime, 32-32.
Once again, Wake Forest came out with a strong start to the second half, as they took a 9-point lead midway through the period and led 59-50 with 9:21 to go. Over the next four minutes, the Redbirds would hit three 3-pointers and go on a 13-2 run to take a 3-point lead with just over five minutes to go.
Guard Ty Pence was fantastic for Illinois State, scoring 17 of his 23 points in the second half, and guard Johnny Kinziger hit 5-of-7 3-pointers en route to a 17-point second-half performance of his own.
The teams battled, and with just over a minute to go, the score drew even at 73-73. ISU’s Chase Walker scored in the paint, and Tre’Von Spillers added two more to his 24-point effort, meaning the Redbirds had the ball with no shot clock and 28 seconds to go.
The Deacons actually didn’t have too bad a defensive possession, but Kinziger hit yet another 3-pointer with 1.9 seconds on the clock, and Wake Forest’s last-ditch attempt to tie it failed as their season ended with a 78-75 loss.
“[Illinois State] decided to step up the physicality of the game defensively, and I don’t think we reacted very well to it,” said Head Coach Steve Forbes postgame. When asked about how his team wasn’t able to handle said physicality, Forbes said, “I think they listen, I think they try, I think it comes down to who you are as a player … some guys just can’t do it. They can’t make that adjustment or improvement to be able to handle that kind of stuff.”
Describing the season, Forbes called it “frustrating”, citing consistency issues. “When we played consistent, what happened? We were pretty good. When we didn’t, we weren’t.”
On what his staff will be looking for in the upcoming transfer portal, Forbes said, “you look for some skill, some toughness. You look for guys that can play through physicality on offense, can guard physically, can rebound the ball.”
With one of the lowest budgets in the power conferences, the Deacons have an uphill battle ahead of them to build a squad that can make the NCAA Tournament next season.
