Wake Forest Athletics
Prosser Looking For Better Performance From Demon Deacons
1/30/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 30, 2002
RALEIGH, N.C. - Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser is frustrated, and he'll look for his players to provide him with some relief when the Demon Deacons meet North Carolina State on Wednesday.
The 24th-ranked Demon Deacons (14-6, 4-3 ACC) are coming off an 87-74 win over conference rival Georgia Tech on Saturday, but Prosser was unhappy because Wake could not put the Yellow Jackets away until the game's closing minutes.
"It was frustrating for us because we weren't able to put them away, but a lot of teams have had struggles trying to put Georgia Tech away," Prosser said.
While the Demon Deacons may have let the Yellow Jackets hang around longer than Prosser would have liked, they did pick up a much-needed conference win. They had lost to Virginia, Duke and Maryland - all of whom are ranked in the top 10 - in a span of eight days.
"We came off the deck and played more confidently," Prosser said after the Georgia Tech win. "We needed a win and we needed to improve for State."
Junior forward Josh Howard scored 20 points, including the 1,000th of his career, to lead Wake on Saturday. Senior forward Darius Songaila, who averages a team-high 16.5 points, added 17.
N.C. State is the only ACC team Wake has not faced yet.
"This will be our last game in the run through the league," Prosser said. "It is a very tough league. There are no easy wins and this will still be a big challenge."
The Wolfpack (16-4, 5-2) are on a four-game winning streak, coming off an easy 80-61 victory over Temple on Saturday.
"In the second half, we got things going with our press and our defense became our offense," N.C. State coach Herb Sendek said. "We really got out in transition and I thought our intensity level was as good as it's been."
With the win, the Wolfpack improved to their best start after 20 games in the past 26 seasons.
Senior guard Anthony Grundy was named the ACC player of the week on Monday after averaging 20.5 points on 64 percent shooting in the Wolfpack's wins over North Carolina and Temple last week.
Grundy leads N.C. State with 21.5 points, 4.8 assists and 3.3 steals per game.
N.C. State leads the all-time series with Wake Forest 122-88, but the Demon Deacons have won the last four meetings.
