Wake Forest Athletics
Men's Basketball Gears up for Coastal Carolina
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
December 15, 1998
WAKE FOREST (7-2)
vs
COASTAL CAROLINA (2-5)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest returns to its Joel Coliseum homecourt for the first time in nearly three weeks here this evening as the Demon Deacons entertain Coastal Carolina of the Big South Conference. Coach Dave Odom's squad has been on the road for three straight contests since defeating Davidson here on November 27th.
Tonight's game begins a busy period in Joel for the Deacs, who have won six of their last seven. Wake hosts East Tennessee State here Saturday evening (7:30), then takes on 20th-ranked Arkansas one week from tonight in a nationally televised (ESPN) game (7:30).
PROBABLE DEMON DEACON LINEUP
No. Name Pos. Ht. Cl. Key Statistics (*leads team) Career Starts (98-99)
3 Broderick Hicks G 6'1 Fr. 6.1 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 52.4 FG% 4 (4)
4 Robert O'Kelley G 6'1 So. 16.1 ppg*, 1.9 rpg, 19 asts* 28 (9)
25 Darius Songaila F/C 6'9 Fr. 10.2 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 8 blks*
11 steals*, 52.5 FG%* 7 (7)
44 Josh Shoemaker F 6'9 So. 4.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg*, 50.0 FG% 22 (5)
11 Joseph Amonett F 6'5 Sr. 4.3 ppg, 1.9 rpg 14 (4)
TOP RESERVES
10 Jim Fitzpatrick G 6'0 Jr. 1.7 ppg, 1.7 rpg 1 (1)
42 Craig Dawson G/F 6'5 Fr. 7.8 ppg, 2.4 rpg
52.2 FG%, 51.6% on 3pters* 1 (1)
41 Rafael Vidaurreta C 6'8 So. 5.2 ppg, 5.6 rpg 27 (6)
34 Antwan Scott F/C 6'8 Fr. 6.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg 0
31 Ervin Murray F 6'5 Fr. 1.9 ppg, 1.4 rpg 0
HEAD COACH - Dave Odom (10th year at Wake Forest) / Won 189, Lost 95 (13th year overall) / Won 227, Lost 137 THE LINEUP - After starting the same lineup in the first two games this season, the Demon Deacons have utilized eight different starting lineups the past eight games. That includes the starting five listed above who opened Saturday night's win at Virginia Tech. Ten different Deacs have started at least one contest. Eight have started four times or more. The only player who has started all nine game is ROBERT O'KELLEY.
PERSONNEL UPDATE - Two individuals who have been a part of the starting lineup during the first month of the season, however, are no longer available. Sophomore forward NIKI ARINZE, who had started 28 of the 35 games he had played in a WFU uniform, will miss the remainder of the 1998-99 campaign due to a shoulder injury. He underwent arthroscopic surgery yesterday. Sophomore guard JAMES GRIFFIN, a starter in four outings this season, has decided to transfer.
THE HEAD COACH - Now in his 10th season at Wake Forest, DAVE ODOM has built the Demon Deacon program into one of the nation's best. The Deacs made seven consecutive NCAA appearances from 1991 through 1997, then extended their string of postseason tourneys to eight in a row by playing in last year's NIT.
Odom is a three-time ACC Coach of the Year (1991, 1994, 1995). From 1993 through 1998, his Wake Forest teams won 20-or-more games each season. Since a losing record in his first year with the Deacs, his teams have won nearly 70% of their games, averaging 21 wins per season over the last eight years. Wake Forest won back-to-back ACC titles in 1995 and 1996, establishing a school record for wins (26-6) each year, and in 1997 spent 10 weeks as the nation's #2-ranked team.
NOTING THE DEMON DEACONS
DEACS VS CHANTICLEERS - The only two previous meetings between Wake Forest and Coastal Carolina occurred during the 1987 and 1988 seasons. The Demon Deacons easily won the first-ever contest in the series, 80-55, but were upset by the Chanticleers in December of 1987, 106-104 in overtime. Both games were played here in Winston-Salem, but in old Memorial Coliseum.
DEACS IN THE "O-DOME" - Wake Forest moved into its current Lawrence Joel Coliseum home for the 1989-90 season. The Demon Deacon record here is an excellent 112-26 (81.2% winning pct) the past 10 seasons (including the current 98-99 campaign). That mark includes a 64-4 record against non-ACC foes.
Non-conference losses suffered by the Demon Deacons in Joel Coliseum came to Colorado in January of 1991, California in December of 1993, and Utah and Vanderbilt (in the NIT) last season. Wake is a perfect 4-0 in this building this season.
TIME SHARING - Nine current Deacon players are averaging double figures in minutes played per game (a figure that was as high as 11 before the loss of Arinze and Griffin's departure). Guard ROBERT O'KELLEY (32.2 mins per game) has seen the most court time, but no other Deacon is playing more than 25 minutes per game.
DOUBLE DIGIT DEACONS - Six different Deacons have scored in double figures this season, but only two (ROBERT O'KELLEY & DARIUS SONGAILA) are averaging more than 10 points per contest. O'Kelley has reached double digits in seven games and leads the team in scoring overall at 16.1 ppg. He has been the team's leading scorer in seven of nine dates and now has scored in double figures in 31 of his last 34 games dating back to last season. SONGAILA has been in double digits in five of the last seven games and is averaging 10.2 ppg. His 15 points topped the WFU attack at Maryland.
PLAYING FROM BEHIND - Wake Forest has trailed in the second half of eight of its nine games, including six of its seven wins. In three victories (Mercer, William & Mary and Davidson), the Deacs were behind at halftime. The largest deficit that they have overcome to date was 13 points (27-14) in the first half against Davidson. Saturday night at Virginia Tech, Wake was behind the Hokies, 42-41, with 5:29 left in the game before finishing with an 11-5 spurt to gain the victory.
Wake's youthful squad first displayed its comeback ability in the very first game this season when it trailed Illinois by five points (61-56) with 2:18 remaining in the game, and by six (70-64) with 2:32 left in overtime, before rallying for the win.
BOTH LOSSES TO TOP TEN - Both Wake Forest losses this season have come to teams ranked in the national Top Ten at the time of the game. Temple was #7 when it defeated the Demon Deacons in the "Coaches vs Cancer Classic" in New York. Maryland was rated #2 when the Deacs lost in College Park on December 3rd. Wake has yet to defeat a nationally ranked opponent this season.
FOUR CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS - Wake Forest has, however, defeated three of the four defending conference champions it has met this season. Those three '98 league winners include Davidson (Southern Conference title-holders a year ago), Illinois (co-champs of Big Ten), and William & Mary (Colonial regular season co-champs). Wake has lost to Temple, champs of the Atlantic 10 East Division in 1998.
DEACS UNDER 40% BUT STILL WIN - Wake Forest has yet to shoot 50% from the floor in a game this season but had not been below 40% in any outing until Saturday night when the Deacons made only 14 of 43 field goal attempts (32.6%) in their win in Blacksburg. A 49.1% shooting effort in an 82-45 win over UNC Greensboro is the best single game percentage by the Deacs through nine contests.
Last year Wake Forest shot below 40% 12 times in 30 outings, and won only three of those games. The 14 field goals made by the Deacons at Virginia Tech were the fewest that a WFU team had totaled in a winning cause since a 55-49 victory over Clemson in February of 1997. The Deacs were 13-for-40 from the floor that night.
OPPONENTS UNDER 40% SIX TIMES - Wake Forest has limited six of its nine opponents to under 40% shooting from the floor on six occasions this season. Only Temple, which shot 34.0% versus the Demon Deacons, is the only one of those six foes to gain a win.
AT THE LINE - Wake Forest has struggled at times with its free throw shooting this season, entering to-night's contest at just 64.5% from the charity stripe on the year. The Demon Deacon win at Virginia Tech, though, came about largely because of accurate free throw shooting. Wake was 18 for 25 for the game (72%), but stayed in the contest by hitting 11 of its first 12 charity tosses during the first 15 minutes of the second half.
The Deacons have shot more free throws than their opponent in all seven wins this season. In the team's two losses, the opposition has gone to the line more times. In fact, Wake opponents have averaged fewer than 15 free throws per game in the seven Deacon wins, while Temple and Maryland shot 53 free throws (26.5 per game).
THREE-POINT STREAK - Wake Forest has made at least one three-point field goal in 208 consecutive games. The last time that Wake did not make a three-pointer was in a 1992 homecourt victory over Tulane.
OFF THE GLASS - Wake Forest is 5-0 when it out-rebounds its opponent.
TURNOVER TURNAROUND - In the first six games this season, Wake Forest was forcing nearly 20 turnovers per game (119 in six contests/19.8 per game). In the last three games, however, Demon Deacon opponents have committed only 40 turnovers (13.3 per game), and in each outing the Deacs have lost the ball more often--Wake has committed 61 turnovers (20.3 per game) during those three dates, although that does in-clude a season-high 26 ball-handling errors at Maryland.
ARINZE OUT FOR SEASON - Sophomore forward NIKI ARINZE has been lost for the season due to a shoulder injury. Arinze dislocated his left shoulder on October 26th during preseason practice. After three weeks of rehabilitation (and two missed games in New York), he returned to action and was a starter in four of five contests.
The 6'5 Nashville product re-injured the shoulder on November 30th in the first half of Wake Forest's win at VMI. He underwent arthroscopic surgery on the shoulder yesterday. Rehab from the surgery will be several months, but Arinze is expected to be fully recovered by next fall.
Having played in only five regular season contests, Arinze should qualify for a medical hardship ruling and not lose a year of eligibility. Wake Forest will make that appeal following the season.
