Wake Forest at No. 2 Virginia, 2:30 p.m. NBC29 (not confirmed by TV guide but should be on somewhere local)
For the second straight game Wednesday, Virginia gritted out a defensive-minded win, this time over N.C. State, by a score of 51-47. Last Saturday, the 'Hoos downed Louisville, 52-47. Now, UVa is set to take on a Wake Forest team at John Paul Jones Arena that doesn't have a great record but that I think could be dangerous. Here's more on the Demon Deacons:
Record: 12-13, 4-8 ACC
Scorers in double figures: Junior guard Codi Miller-McIntyre (14.2) and junior forward Devin Thomas (12.9)
Leading rebounders: Thomas (9.6), Miller-McIntyre (5.0), and freshman forward Konstantinos Mitoglou (4.7)
Assist leaders: Miller-McIntyre (4.0) and junior guard Madison Jones (3.4)
Notable: Wake Forest doesn't have many scorers in double figures, but it does have an additional six players who average at least five points per game. I remember when I was looking at balanced scoring in the ACC as I was putting together a by the numbers graphic for the UVa hoops preview section this year at The Daily Progress, only Wake Forest had a leading scorer last year that scored a lower percentage of his team's points than Virginia's leading scorer, Malcolm Brogdon, did. The Deacons appear to be pretty balanced once again.
Best win: Their most recent one over Miami.
Other wins: UNC Asheville, Tulane, Nicholls State, Mount St. Mary's, Samford, Bucknell, Richmond, Princeton, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, N.C. State
Best loss: 73-65 vs. Duke at home Jan. 7
Worst loss: Home vs. Delaware State
Other losses: Arkansas, Iona, Minnesota, N.C. State, Florida, Louisville, Syracuse, North Carolina, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech
What Wake Forest does well: Like Louisville, Wake Forest is a strong rebounding team, ranked 15th in the country in that category. The Deacons can also put up some points, ranking 90th nationally in that category (71.2).
What Wake Forest doesn't do well: Play defense. The Deacons rank last in the ACC points allowed per game (70.7) and second-to-last in field-goal percentage defense (44.1). And despite putting up some respectable
offensive numbers, Wake is 232nd in the country in shooting percentage (42.4) and 14th in the ACC (out of 15) in free-throw percentage (64.4), meaning Wake must get up a lot of shots and isn't very efficient. However, the Deacons' 3-point percentage is more middle-of-the-pack (33.6) and they have hit on 22 of their 43 (51.2 percent) treys in the last two home games while before that, they had hit on 26 of 96 (27.1 percent) in their first five ACC home games. On the road, however, where they still haven't picked up an ACC victory, the Deacons have hit 30.7 percent of their 3s.
Why Virginia shouldn't be worried: The Cavs survived their first complete game without Justin Anderson and it was on the road against a presumably better-than-Wake-Forest N.C. State team, despite the Deacons downing the Wolfpack recently.Now back at home, Virginia is facing a team that isn't on the NCAA tournament bubble like N.C. State is. Plus, at home, UVa played a whole half against a great Louisville team without Anderson and still came out with a win. Wake will be desperate for an ACC road win, and maybe that will cause the players to throw up some careless shots, which would play right into Virginia's defensive philosophy. If UVa can compete on the boards, it should win the other battles because wake is not very efficient offensively and doesn't play great defense. Virginia, meanwhile, has been playing terrific defense of late.
Why Virginia should be worried: Wake is desperate for a road win and maybe it will be throwing up some lucky shots that go in. Hitting 3s is one of the only ways Wake knows it will compete in this game. Another way is hitting the boards hard. The Deacons' prowess on the glass scares me a little because that could counteract their shooting woes. Plus, with Anderson gone, as we saw against State, his replacements just aren't the rebounders he is.
I think it will be tough for Virginia to get much separation in games without Anderson, especially early on. Maybe in the second half, Virginia can pull away (and maybe after a few more games when UVa has things figured out a little more) but my feeling this could be a another nail-biter. Hopefully, with one game without Anderson under their belt, the Cavaliers look better on offense in this game than the past couple. If the defense can remain stifling, 55 points might be able to win the game. Wake has no reason not to throw the kitchen sink at the Wahoos in this contest, so I imagine they will come out firing. Thomas and Miller-McIntyre are very good players capable of taking over games. Wake's potential has been noticed this season in fits and spurts but recently, the Deacons have really nice victories over N.C. State and Miami to show for the progress they've made under first-year head coach Danny Manning, who came over from Tulsa in the offseason after the firing of Jeff Bzdelik.
Gut feeling: Virginia wins by 1-5.
For the second straight game Wednesday, Virginia gritted out a defensive-minded win, this time over N.C. State, by a score of 51-47. Last Saturday, the 'Hoos downed Louisville, 52-47. Now, UVa is set to take on a Wake Forest team at John Paul Jones Arena that doesn't have a great record but that I think could be dangerous. Here's more on the Demon Deacons:
Record: 12-13, 4-8 ACC
Scorers in double figures: Junior guard Codi Miller-McIntyre (14.2) and junior forward Devin Thomas (12.9)
Leading rebounders: Thomas (9.6), Miller-McIntyre (5.0), and freshman forward Konstantinos Mitoglou (4.7)
Assist leaders: Miller-McIntyre (4.0) and junior guard Madison Jones (3.4)
Notable: Wake Forest doesn't have many scorers in double figures, but it does have an additional six players who average at least five points per game. I remember when I was looking at balanced scoring in the ACC as I was putting together a by the numbers graphic for the UVa hoops preview section this year at The Daily Progress, only Wake Forest had a leading scorer last year that scored a lower percentage of his team's points than Virginia's leading scorer, Malcolm Brogdon, did. The Deacons appear to be pretty balanced once again.
Best win: Their most recent one over Miami.
Other wins: UNC Asheville, Tulane, Nicholls State, Mount St. Mary's, Samford, Bucknell, Richmond, Princeton, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, N.C. State
Best loss: 73-65 vs. Duke at home Jan. 7
Worst loss: Home vs. Delaware State
Other losses: Arkansas, Iona, Minnesota, N.C. State, Florida, Louisville, Syracuse, North Carolina, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech
What Wake Forest does well: Like Louisville, Wake Forest is a strong rebounding team, ranked 15th in the country in that category. The Deacons can also put up some points, ranking 90th nationally in that category (71.2).
What Wake Forest doesn't do well: Play defense. The Deacons rank last in the ACC points allowed per game (70.7) and second-to-last in field-goal percentage defense (44.1). And despite putting up some respectable
Why Virginia shouldn't be worried: The Cavs survived their first complete game without Justin Anderson and it was on the road against a presumably better-than-Wake-Forest N.C. State team, despite the Deacons downing the Wolfpack recently.Now back at home, Virginia is facing a team that isn't on the NCAA tournament bubble like N.C. State is. Plus, at home, UVa played a whole half against a great Louisville team without Anderson and still came out with a win. Wake will be desperate for an ACC road win, and maybe that will cause the players to throw up some careless shots, which would play right into Virginia's defensive philosophy. If UVa can compete on the boards, it should win the other battles because wake is not very efficient offensively and doesn't play great defense. Virginia, meanwhile, has been playing terrific defense of late.
Why Virginia should be worried: Wake is desperate for a road win and maybe it will be throwing up some lucky shots that go in. Hitting 3s is one of the only ways Wake knows it will compete in this game. Another way is hitting the boards hard. The Deacons' prowess on the glass scares me a little because that could counteract their shooting woes. Plus, with Anderson gone, as we saw against State, his replacements just aren't the rebounders he is.
I think it will be tough for Virginia to get much separation in games without Anderson, especially early on. Maybe in the second half, Virginia can pull away (and maybe after a few more games when UVa has things figured out a little more) but my feeling this could be a another nail-biter. Hopefully, with one game without Anderson under their belt, the Cavaliers look better on offense in this game than the past couple. If the defense can remain stifling, 55 points might be able to win the game. Wake has no reason not to throw the kitchen sink at the Wahoos in this contest, so I imagine they will come out firing. Thomas and Miller-McIntyre are very good players capable of taking over games. Wake's potential has been noticed this season in fits and spurts but recently, the Deacons have really nice victories over N.C. State and Miami to show for the progress they've made under first-year head coach Danny Manning, who came over from Tulsa in the offseason after the firing of Jeff Bzdelik.
Gut feeling: Virginia wins by 1-5.
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