Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest Overcomes Adversity To Reach NIT Final
3/30/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 30, 2000
By DENNIS WASZAK Jr.
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - Two months ago, Wake Forest couldn't have imagined being in this position.
After recovering from a midseason slump in which the Demon Deacons lost nine of 13 games and saw their postseason hopes slipping away, Wake Forest is one victory from its first National Invitation Tournament championship.
The Demon Deacons (21-14) play Notre Dame (22-14) in the NIT final at Madison Square Garden tonight. It will be the schools' first meeting in basketball.
"In January, we were a good team playing bad," Demon Deacons coach Dave Odom said. "We didn't tailspin. We took a nosedive."
On Dec. 29, Wake Forest was 9-2, including impressive victories over Temple and Wisconsin. And the team could have easily been 11-0 if not for one-point losses to Georgia and Oregon.
But then, the team slumped badly and its confidence disappeared.
"The two brutal losses to Georgia and Oregon on last-second shots deflated the team," Odom said. "I didn't realize at that time the team couldn't push forward simply because they didn't know how. They had never been through something like that before."
Odom cites a 76-67 loss at Virginia on Jan. 30 as the turning point of the season.
"That was when the team hit rock bottom," Odom said. "At that point, we had to rebuild the team. We moved Robert O'Kelley off the point and inserted Ervin Murray. We still struggled, but I could see improvements in practice. In February, we steadily improved."
Wake Forest has won seven of eight, and its last two losses were to Duke - including in the second round of the ACC tournament. During that stretch, the team beat conference rivals Georgia Tech, Virginia and North Carolina before being invited to play in the NIT.
"You would never think these kids could overcome it, but they did," Odom said. "One door closes and another opens."
The Demon Deacons won at Vanderbilt, beat New Mexico at home and defeated defending NIT champion California on the road to get to Madison Square Garden.
The Demon Deacons outrebounded conference rival North Carolina State 46-31 and held it to 29.5 shooting (18-for-61) in their 62-59 overtime victory in the semifinals Tuesday night.
Wake Forest's turnaround has come with a young team. There are only two seniors, and both are reserves. Odom starts one freshman (forward Josh Howard), two sophomores (Murray and forward Darius Songaila) and two juniors (O'Kelley and center Rafael Vidaurreta).
"I think the whole thing about us being young is very overrated," Odom said.
Wake Forest provides matchup problems for Notre Dame, particularly inside.
The Demon Deacons use three 6-foot-9 players - Songaila, Vidaurreta and backup Josh Shoemaker - to dominate the boards. They outrebounded the Wolfpack 46-31. At 6-9, Troy Murphy is the only Notre Dame starter taller than 6-6.
"It'll be interesting to see how the game is officiated, because if they let a lot of things go, the game will go Wake Forest's way," Notre Dame coach Matt Doherty said. "But if they call it tight, it will help us. Wake runs a lot of set plays, and we'll see how that goes against our zone."
The Irish have used a tough, physical style, combined with its stifling zone defense to get to their fourth NIT final, and first since losing to Virginia in 1992. Notre Dame beat Michigan, Xavier and Brigham Young, all at home, to get to New York.
The Irish got 18 points and eight rebounds from Murphy, the Big East player of the year and an AP first-team All-America selection, and held Penn State to just 33 percent shooting in their 73-52 rout in the semifinals.
"Playing zone on defense helps Murphy on offense because he doesn't have to run around after the ball, and that allows him to play offense," Odom said. "He's a great player - one of the five best players in the country."
Notre Dame is hoping to have starting point guard Jimmy Dillon, who sprained his left ankle Tuesday night, in the lineup.
"His ankle's pretty bad, and it's being treated," Doherty said. "But we don't know at this time whether he'll be able to play or not."
Odom acknowledged one thing his team might not be able to control tonight - the crowd.
"Every Irish Catholic that can get a ticket will be in Madison Square Garden," Odom said. "I don't think there are too many Southern Baptists in New York."
N.C. State (20-13) and Penn State (18-16) play in the third-place game that precedes the final.
