Exams Next For Deacons, Then SMU
12/7/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 7, 2003
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Game #6
#18/16 Wake Forest Deacons (5-0) vs. SMU Mustangs (3-1)
Monday, Dec. 15 / 8:05 p.m. (ET) / Moody Coliseum (8,998) / Dallas, TX / No TV
Exams Up Next For Deacs, Then SMU
Wake Forest, 5-0 after beating visiting Richmond 81-66 Saturday, takes a break for final exams next week before playing back-to-back road games.
The Demon Deacons outscored Richmond 17-7 in the final 4:16 to secure the win over the Spiders. Three players -- Eric Williams, Taron Downey and Chris Paul -- scored 17 points each to lead Wake.
Wake's next game is Dec. 15 at SMU, followed by the ACC opener Dec. 20 at North Carolina.
SMU, 3-1, won on the road at Baylor Dec. 3, 66-62, for its second straight win. On Dec. 2, the Mustangs beat Texas Tech, 62-59.
Neither team will play again until the Dec. 15 game at SMU's Moody Coliseum.
Wake does not play at home again until Dec. 30.
Noteworthy
- Wake Forest's home court win streak is at 20. The Deacons haven't lost a game in Joel Coliseum since Feb. 21, 2002, vs. Duke.
- The Deacons hope to be closer to full strength in mid-December. Kyle Visser (ankle), Vytas Danelius (ankle) and Todd Hendley (stomach virus) all missed one game each recently. Chris Ellis, who broke a bone in his foot on the first day of practice, will be closer to seeing his first action of the season.
- The Deacons go to SMU with a four-game winning streak on the road, including a win at Yale Nov. 29.
- The Dec. 15 game will be just the second meeting between the Deacons and Mustangs. Wake Forest beat SMU last season in Winston-Salem, 73-49.
Deacons Shake Pesky Richmond, 81-66
Wake Forest finally pulled away from Richmond in the final four minutes for an 81-66 win in Winston-Salem Dec. 6.
The Demon Deacons, 5-0, trailed by as many as six points in the first half and led by just five points (64-59) with 4:16 left.
Eric Williams, Taron Downey and Chris Paul scored 17 points each to lead Wake Forest. Jamaal Levy added 12 points and nine rebounds.
Wake Forest shot 55.2 percent in the second half and 48.2 percent for the game, while holding the Spiders to 35.9 percent shooting. The teams were even on the boards, 37-37.
More From The Win Over Richmond
- Wake Forest beat Richmond for the 12th consecutive time.
- The Deacons played most of the game without sophomore Trent Strickland and freshman Todd Hendley, who were ejected for leaving the bench during an altercation.
- Freshman Chris Paul had identical numbers against Richmond and Indiana last week -- eight assists, five steals and one blocked shot.
- Junior Taron Downey scored in double figures for the first time since the season opener with the help of three 3-point field goals. - Wake Forest's 81 points were a season low.
- Richmond shot a perfect 14-of-14 from the free throw line, tying a Lawrence Joel Coliseum record. The Spiders, in fact, made more free throws while shooting 100 percent than any team in the history of the facility.
Deacons May Be Getting Healthier
Wake Forest has seen four key members of the roster miss games this year with a variety of injuries and illnesses. However, all but sophomore Chris Ellis appear to be healthy now.
Ellis broke a bone in his right foot during Wake's first practice of the season on Nov. 18. He has not played this season and is hopeful of returning in the next two weeks. Previous injuries that sidelined Deacon players:
Freshman Kyle Visser (twisted his left ankle) did not play against Indiana.
Junior Vytas Danelius (sprained left ankle and foot) did not play against Elon
Freshman Todd Hendley (stomach virus) did not play in the Nov. 29 game at Yale.
Scoring Hasn't Been A Problem
With the ACC's leading scorer from a year ago -- Josh Howard -- now in the NBA, Wake Forest has managed to put plenty of points on the board:
- The Deacons lead the ACC and rank seventh in the nation in scoring offense (89.8 ppg.) even though just one Wake Forest player (Eric Williams, 10th) ranks among the top 10 in the ACC in scoring.
- Wake's lowest scoring total of the year was 81 points (Dec. 6 vs. Richmond). - While Wake's scoring average will certainly go down, the 89.8 points per game is 2.0 points higher than the school record of 87.8 set in 1976.
- When Wake Forest scored 100 points Dec. 2 against Indiana, it marked the 60th time in school history the Deacons have hit the century mark.
- The Deacons have scored 100 points or more in Lawrence Joel Coliseum just six times. Five of those have come under coach Skip Prosser.
- The 100 points against Indiana broke an ACC/Big Ten Challenge record for single-game points.
Comparing This Season To Last Season
The biggest question surrounding this year's edition of the Wake Forest basketball team was: How will the Deacons be without Josh Howard?
Certainly, Wake Forest has a different look without the 2003 unanimous ACC Player of the Year. The biggest differences:
Balance -- five players average scoring between 10.8 and 16.2 points per game and the Deacons no longer have one person to look to during crunch time.
Turnovers -- this year's team takes better care of the basketball, ranking first in the ACC in assist-turnover ratio and turnover margin. Last year's team ranked eighth in turnover margin.
Rebounding -- last year's team led the nation, and while this year's team has a +4.2 rebound margin, it hasn't dominated the boards like the 2002-03 squad.
Accuracy -- so far the Deacons are shooting a higher field goal percentage including an ACC-leading 40.0 percent from three-point range.
Deacons Are A Balanced Bunch So Far
- Five different Deacons average scoring in double figures and eight players average at least 5.4 points per game.
- Eight different players have scored in double figures at least once and three different Deacs have scored 20 or more points in a game.
- Ten different Deacons have made at least one three-point field goal.
Deacon-Mustang Series History
- Wake Forest leads the all-time series, 1-0.
- Last year's meeting -- a 73-49 Deacon victory in Winston-Salem -- was the first ever meeting between the two teams.
- This is the first of two Deacon road trips to the Lone Star State this season. Wake plays at Texas Jan. 13.
- Wake Forest is 6-2 all-time against teams currently in the Western Athletic Conference. The Deacons have played every WAC team except for San Jose State and Tulsa.
- Wake Forest head coach Skip Prosser is 1-0 all-time against SMU.
- SMU head coach Mike Dement is 0-4 all-time against Wake Forest. His Cornell team, in 1989-90, lost to Wake Forest in the first year Lawrence Joel Coliseum was open. Dement's UNC Greensboro teams lost to the Deacons to open the 1991-92 and 1994-95 seasons.
Wake Forest-SMU Connections
- Josh Howard, Wake's 2003 first team All-American, now calls Dallas home as a member of the NBA's Mavericks.
- Deacon sophomore Chris Ellis' father, Dale Ellis, played in the NBA with the Dallas Mavericks.
- Wake Forest senior walk-on Alan Williams was born in Dallas and now his family calls Big D home.
- Wake's Vytas Danelius and SMU's Donatas Rackauskas both hail from Lithuania. Rackauskas attended the same prep school in New Hampshire (New Hampton) as former Deacon Lithuanian standout Darius Songaila.
- Mustang coach Mike Dement has many ties with the state of North Carolina. He was born in Henderson (NC), attended Louisburg College and graduated from East Carolina. From 1991-92 to 1994-95, he served as head coach at UNC-Greensboro.
- SMU assistant coach Coleman Crawford is familiar with the ACC after previously serving five years as an assistant coach at Florida State.
- Crawford and Wake's Skip Prosser both previously served as head coaches in Ohio. Crawford guided Akron from 1990-95. Prosser was the head coach at Xavier.
- Mustang assistant coach Robert Brickey played four seasons at Duke.
- Wake head trainer Greg Collins and SMU head trainer Scott Kelly are both Kansas State graduates.
Wake 18th, 16th In National Polls
Wake Forest remained at No. 18 in the Associated Press poll and moved up from No. 18 to No. 16 in the ESPN/USA Today poll this week.
The Deacons have been ranked in the AP poll for 17 consecutive weeks dating back to last season. Wake has been ranked in the AP poll 31 times in 38 weeks under Skip Prosser.
At this point last year, Wake Forest was not ranked. The Deacons debuted in the polls on Dec. 23 last year and stayed in the top 25 the rest of the season.
Three Wake Forest opponents are ranked in the top 10 -- (6) Duke, (8) Texas and (10) North Carolina. Deacon opponents Georgia Tech (13th) and Cincinnati (19th) are also in the AP poll. Maryland is ranked 25th in the ESPN/USA Today poll.
Not Used To Trailing
In three games this season, Wake Forest led the game wire-to-wire, never trailing in wins over Elon, Yale and Indiana.
In wins over Memphis (Nov. 13) and Richmond (Dec. 6), the Deacons trailed briefly in the first half but never faced a deficit in the second half.
Wake Forest's biggest deficit of the season was six points -- 24-18 against Richmond in the first half. The latest in a game the Deacons trailed was 28-26 with 3:39 left in the first half of the Richmond game.
The Deacons have a knack of scoring the game's first bucket. They've done it 42 times in Skip Prosser's 70 games at Wake and the Deacons are 36-6 in those games.
Homecourt Streak At 20
Wake Forest has not lost a home game since Feb. 21, 2002 -- a streak of 20 consecutive wins. The Deacons went 16-0 at home last season and are 3-0 this year.
The 20-game streak is the fourth-longest current streak in Division I.
The Wake Forest school record for consecutive home court wins is 25 from 1995-97.
Deacons Rank 4th Nationally In Scoring
- Wake Forest leads the ACC in six different statistical categories -- scoring (89.8), scoring margin (+24.8), three-point field goal percentage (.400), steals (12.5), turnover margin (+9.0), assist-turnover ratio (1.41) and offensive rebounds (16.2).
- Two of the top four players in the ACC in assist-turnover ratio are Chris Paul (2nd) and Taron Downey (4th).
- The Deacons lead the ACC and rank fourth nationally in scoring.
- Wake Forest leads the ACC and is fourth nationally in scoring margin (+27.2).
- Paul leads the ACC and is tied for seventh nationally in steals per game (3.8).
Milestones On The Horizon
- Junior Vytas Danelius is two rebounds away from his 400th career rebound.
- Danelius needs seven blocked shots to reach 50 career rejections.
- Sophomore Justin Gray is 10 assists away from his 100th career assist and five rebounds away from his 100th career board.
- Gray is two three-point field goals away from his 50th career trifecta.
- Freshman Chris Paul needs 12 steals to have the 10th-most steals by a Wake Forest freshman.
- Paul needs 25 assists to have the ninth-most assists by a Deacon freshman.
If They Play Like Dad...
On Dec. 20, Wake Forest will play North Carolina and sophomore center Sean May, the son of former Indiana All-American and Olympian Scott May.
On Dec. 2, Wake Forest hosted Indiana and Hoosier freshman Patrick Ewing, Jr. Ewing, of course, is the son of the former Georgetown and New York Knicks great. The younger Ewing was a teammate of Wake Forest's Chris Ellis back in Marietta, Ga.
On Nov. 29, Wake Forest played Yale and Bulldog guard John Shumate. Shumate is the son of the former Notre Dame and NBA standout by the same name. The elder Shumate is now head coach of the WNBA Phoenix Mercury.
Wake Forest's own Chris Ellis is the son of former Tennessee and NBA standout Dale Ellis.
Last season Wake played against Moses Malone, Jr., who scored 18 points for South Carolina State.
1,300 In Sight
With 1,288 all-time victories, Wake Forest is 12 wins shy of reaching the 1,300-win milestone. The Deacons are 1,288-991 all-time.
Downey Climbs In Record Books
Junior guard Taron Downey, at his current pace, will have his name in the Wake Forest record books.
Downey's career free throw percentage (.841) is the fourth-highest in Wake Forest history. He is shooting 87.5 percent from the stripe this season.
He is 12 three-point field goals away from becoming the 11th player in school history to make 100 career three-pointers.
With 209 career assists, Downey will eventually become just the eighth player in Wake Forest history to record 300 career assists.
Gray Is Streaking
Guard Justin Gray may be a sophomore, but remember, he has played in just 28 career games.
After missing 10 games last season with a broken jaw, Gray has made at least one three-point field goal in every game (17 consecutive games). Over his last six games, dating back to last season, Gray has made 15 three-point field goals.
Gray also ranks among the ACC leaders with 13 consecutive games scoring in double figures.
Paul One Of Nation's Top Rookies
Chris Paul is quickly establishing himself as one of the nation's top freshmen and one of the top point guards in a conference loaded with talented players at that position. Consider:
- He leads the ACC and is tied for seventh nationally in steals per game (3.50). n Paul leads the team, leads all ACC freshmen and ranks fifth in the ACC overall in assists per game (5.8).
- With 29 assists and just seven turnovers, he ranks second in the ACC in assist-turnover ratio.
- After making the first 14 free throw attempts of his career, Paul is now shooting 87.5 percent from the line, ranking among the ACC leaders. That percentage would be the highest ever by a Deacon freshman.
- He has started every game and leads the team in minutes played (30.6 mpg.).
- Paul is shooting a solid 52.9 percent from the floor.
- He has made four three-point field goals over the last three games (on seven attempts).
- The Wake Forest freshmen records for assists (147) and steals (53) are in jeopardy. Paul already has 29 assists and 19 steals.
- Paul's five steals against both Indiana (Dec. 2) and Richmond (Dec. 6) tie for the second-most ever by a Wake Forest freshman.
- Paul's eight assists against both Indiana (Dec. 2) and Richmond (Dec. 6) tie for the fourth-most ever by a Deacon freshman.
- The shortest player on the roster, Paul is tied for the team lead in blocked shots (4).