Deacons Back In Action Tuesday Night vs. Gardner-Webb
12/18/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 18, 2006
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Deacons Have Home Games Tuesday And Friday Before Christmas Break
After playing three of its last four games on the road -- each in a different time zone -- Wake Forest hopes a return to Lawrence Joel Coliseum will help end a four-game losing streak.
The Demon Deacons, 5-4 overall and 1-0 in the ACC, host Gardner-Webb Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in the first-ever meeting between the two teams (webcast on ACCSelect.com).
Wake Forest is coming off a disappointing 63-60 loss at Virginia Tech Sunday in the ACC opener for both teams. The Deacons led 31-27 at halftime but went 0-for-9 from three-point range in the second half, helping the Hokies come from behind for the win.
Senior center Kyle Visser (19.6 ppg and 8.8 rpg) scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds in Sunday's loss. Visser, one of only two seniors on the Deacon roster, has enjoyed one of the ACC's best early-season performances. He leads the league in field goal percentage (.677) and ranks second in the ACC in both scoring and rebounding.
Gardner-Webb, 2-7, continues to play one of the nation's most difficult early-season schedules. The Runnin' Bulldogs opened the season against Bobby Knight's Texas Tech team (86-74 loss) and have also played road games at North Carolina (L, 103-50), NC State (L, 88-76) and Georgia (L, 96-67).
Gardner-Webb is coming off a 65-51 loss at High Point on Saturday. Prior to that game, the Bulldogs earned an impressive 74-73 overtime win over Western Carolina.
Senior Chris Gash (12.3 ppg) and sophomore Ricky McPhee (11.4 ppg) have led Gardner-Webb.
The Wake Forest and Gardner-Webb campuses are separated by just 127 miles, yet Tuesday's game marks the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
Wake Forest's homestand continues Friday night against Richmond at 7 p.m.
Deacons Want To Snap Out Of Funk
To say Wake Forest needs a win to stop the bleeding may be a little harsh. After all, the Deacons' four-game losing streak has come at the hands of good basketball teams -- Air Force, Georgia, DePaul and Virginia Tech.
Still, a victory would prevent any historically significant streaks, and a win would provide some much-needed confidence for a young Wake Forest team.
-- Wake Forest, 4-1 at home this season, is trying to avoid losing two home non-conference games in the same season for the first time since 1997-98.
-- Under Skip Prosser, the Deacons are 43-3 in non-conference home games with their only losses coming to Cincinnati (without an injured Josh Howard in 2002), DePaul last season and Georgia on Dec. 2.
-- The Deacons are trying to avoid losing back-to-back home non-conference games for the first time in the 18-year history of Joel Coliseum.
-- Wake Forest has never lost a game in Joel Coliseum to a non-ACC team from North Carolina.
-- Wake is trying to avoid having five losses before Christmas Day for the first time since 1967-68.