On a bleak, seven-degree afternoon in Chestnut Hill, Mass., the Demon Deacons’ shooting performance could be described in one word—cold.
Shooting just 35 percent on the day, one of the only bright spots in Wake Forest’s 77-71 loss to Boston College was the performance of freshman forward Chaundee Brown.
A native of Orlando, Fla., Brown was not affected by the cold weather that seemingly showed itself in his teammates’ shooting. Scoring 20 points on 12 attempts, including six of seven from beyond the arc, Brown played his best game yet in a Demon Deacon uniform.
“It felt great being aggressive and trying to help my team,” Brown said. “I wanted to be a big factor.”
After the game, Brown told reporters that he usually feels more comfortable attacking the basket, but against Boston College was instead “open and shooting the ball well.”
While pleased with the shooting of his freshman forward, Coach Manning still criticized Brown’s performance, saying he would have liked to have seen Brown be more aggressive by taking the ball to the basket to create free throw opportunities.
Brown wasn’t the only one in old gold and black that had trouble finding the chance to visit the charity stripe. The Deacs shot just 15 free throws for the afternoon, the first coming with two minutes left in the first half.
Conversely, the Eagles seemingly won the game from the free throw line, converting on 26 of their 35 attempts.
Wake Forest led by as many as eight points in the first half and entered the locker room after the first 20 minutes tied at 35 with Boston College.
Averaging nearly 40 minutes a game, the Deacs thought they would eventually wear down Eagles’ guard duo Ky Bowman and Jerome Robinson as the second half progressed. To the misfortune of Wake Forest, this did not seem to happen, as the pair played the game’s entirety, scoring a combined 36 points.
Junior forward Doral Moore was in foul trouble most of the afternoon and ended the game with three points in 21 minutes.
Bryant Crawford struggled but was instrumental in leading the charge in the game’s final minute to give the Deacs a chance at an improbable comeback.
As a team, the Deacs made just five shots in the first 18:59 of the second half, shooting less than 20 percent. But in the game’s final 61 seconds the Deacs hit just as many, three of which came from Crawford.
Wake Forest, now 1-2 in conference play, will travel back to Winston-Salem to host Virginia Tech on Wednesday, Jan. 10. The Hokies defeated Pittsburgh on Saturday for their first conference victory of the season but will likely be slight underdogs on the road at the Joel.
The Deacs will hope to have leading scorer Keyshawn Woods back in the rotation Wednesday, which would be a tremendous lift to an offense that struggled to knock down shots at Boston College.
Tip off will be at 7:00 p.m.
