Basketball Gameday - Wake Forest at Richmond
12/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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| Wake Forest at Richmond Wednesday, Dec. 29 | Richmond, Va. | Robins Center |
Wake Forest Game Notes  | Richmond Game Notes | | Radio: Listen Live | TicketsTV: Live streaming video on RichmondSpiders.com |
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Fresh off a seven-day holiday break, Wake Forest will face its second road test in three games when the Demon Deacons take on the Richmond Spiders on Wednesday at the Robins Center in Richmond.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. The game will not be televised but can be heard on the Wake Forest Sports Network from IMG College.
The Demon Deacons (6-6) are coming off a 66-64 loss to Presbyterian on Tuesday, Dec. 21 in Winston-Salem. The Blue Hose hit a layup with eight seconds left in the game to post their first-ever win over the Deacons.
Gary Clark led four players in double figures with 14 points. Travis McKie fell just shy of a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds, while J.T. Terrell had 11 points off the bench.
For Clark, it was his sixth double-figure scoring performance in his last nine games. The senior ranks fourth on the team with 11.7 points per game and is shooting 65.6 percent (21-32) from 3-point range.
McKie and fellow freshman J.T. Terrell are the ACC's top-scoring rookies so far this season. Terrell leads the way with 14.0 points per game, while McKie is close behind at 13.0 points per. McKie also leads all ACC freshmen in rebounding (8.5 rpg) and double-doubles (4).
Richmond comes in at 10-3 on the year following its 69-61 win at Seton Hall on Sunday. The Spiders have won four of their past five games and are a perfect 5-0 at the Robins Center this season.
Wake Forest leads the all-time series with Richmond 38-9. The Deacons have won 17 straight in the series since 1990-91, including seven straight games at the Robins Center. Wake and Richmond are meeting for the 10th time in the past 11 seasons. The Deacons earned a 74-68 overtime win over the Spiders last season in Winston-Salem, as well as an 86-79 win in Richmond in 2008-09.
Next Up...
Wake Forest will ring in the New Year by hosting Gonzaga on Sunday, Jan. 2, at 1 p.m. It will mark the Bulldogs' first-ever trip to Winston-Salem and the teams' second-ever meeting. The game will be televised nationally on FSN. The Deacons will wrap up the non-conference portion of their schedule by hosting Triad-rival High Point on Wednesday, Jan. 5, at 7 p.m. Wake opens ACC play on Jan. 8 at NC State.
Last Time Out
Presbyterian's Al'Lonzo Coleman scored 20 points and Khalid Mutakabbir made the game-winning layup with eight seconds remaining as the Blue Hose nipped Wake Forest 66-64 on Tuesday, Dec. 21, at the Joel Coliseum.
| STATISTICAL COMPARISON | ||
| Wake | Richmond | |
| Overall Record | 6-6 | 10-3 |
| Conference Record | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Scoring Offense | 73.6 | 71.0 |
| Scoring Defense | 73.4 | 59.4 |
| Scoring Margin | +0.2 | +11.6 |
| Rebounding Offense | 35.9 | 33.7 |
| Rebounding Defense | 35.7 | 34.0 |
| Rebound Margin | +0.3 | -0.3 |
| FG Percentage | .465 | .488 |
| 3-pt FG Percentage | .423 | .415 |
| FT Percentage | .748 | .632 |
| FG Percentage Defense | .432 | .388 |
| 3-Pointers Per Game | 6.8 | 7.9 |
| Assists Ger Game | 11.8 | 15.5 |
| Turnovers Per Game | 16.5 | 11.7 |
| Turnover Margin | -4.4 | +1.8 |
| Assist/Turnover Ratio | 0.7 | 1.3 |
| Steals Per Game | 5.3 | 6.3 |
| Blocked Shots Per Game | 6.7 | 3.8 |
The Blue Hose had led by as many as many as 14 points in the second half, but the Deacons staged a furious comeback, capped off by a J.T. Terrell 3-pointer that tied the game at 64-64 with 43 seconds to play.
After Mutakabbir gave Presbyterian the lead, the Blue Hose, who had two fouls to give, fouled twice on the final Wake Forest possession, leaving the Deacons without enough time to get a final shot off.
Gary Clark led Wake Forest with 14 points, while Travis McKie was close behind with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Terrell notched 11 points, all in the second half, and C.J. Harris chipped in 10 points, six rebounds and four assists.
PC shot 50 percent (24-of-48) from the field, 50 percent (8-of-16) from behind the arc and a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line. The Blue Hose were the first team to go perfect from the charity stripe with at least 10 attempts against Wake Forest since Florida State went 11-of-11 from the line against the Deacs in 2003.
The Deacons shot 46 percent (26-of-57) from the field, but went only 2-of-10 from long distance, their fewest 3-pointers made of the season.
Wake Forest held a 32-25 advantage on the boards and the Deacons' reserves outscored the Presbyterian bench 23-3.
Deacons Getting Big Bench Contributions
Despite limited depth, Wake Forest has been getting significant contributions out of its bench so far this season. The Deacons are averaging 22.9 points off the bench on the year.
The Deacon bench has scored 20+ points in four straight games and eight times overall this season.
Wake's reserves scored a season-high 45 points on Dec. 18 at Xavier. The total was buoyed by J.T. Terrell's 27 points, which stands as the most points scored off the bench by an ACC player in 2010-11 and the ninth-most in ACC history.
Gary Clark has three of the top 10 bench-scoring performances in the ACC this season, including 23 vs. Winthrop, 20 vs. UNC Wilmington and 17 vs. Elon.
Terrell leads Wake with 14.5 points per in four games off the bench, while Clark has averaged 13.3 points in six games.
What's Up Next...
Following the Richmond game, Wake Forest will welcome in the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the teams' second-ever meeting on Sunday, Jan. 2. The Bulldogs are making the return trip east after the Deacons earned a 77-75 win at The Kennel in Spokane last season.
Gonzaga is 7-5 on the season entering Wednesday's game against Lafayette. The Bulldogs will also host Oklahoma State on New Year's Eve before heading to Winston-Salem.
Following the Gonzaga game, the Deacons will wrap up the non-conference portion of their schedule by hosting Triad-rival High Point on Wednesday, Jan. 5.
High Point is 5-5 on the year entering its Dec. 31 game at Charleston Southern. The Panthers will also play at Coastal Carolina on Jan. 2 before facing the Deacons.
Wake Forest is 11-1 all-time against High Point, with the only setback coming in 1935. The Deacons defeated the Panthers, 83-60, last season at the Joel Coliseum.
Road Warriors in Non-Conference Play
The Deacons have proved their mettle over the past several years with non-conference wins in hostile environments--no matter the size of the school.
Since 2001-02, Wake Forest has played 14 games in the home venues of non-BCS conference schools, going 13-1 in those games.
Wake Forest's only loss during the stretch came earlier this season at Atlantic-10 foe Xavier.
Wake has not been shy about hitting the non-conference road in-state with a game at ECU in 2008-09 and contests at UNC Wilmington and UNC Greensboro last season.
Wake Forest has also played at and won in historically hostile environments such as Gonzaga and BYU.
Last season, the Deacons made the 5,000-mile roundtrip journey to Spokane and handed Gonzaga only its fourth loss ever at The Kennel.
In 2008-09, the Deacons faced an equally-tough task of playing BYU at the 23,000-seat Marriott Center in Provo. Wake Forest came away with a gritty 94-87 victory, snapping the Cougar's 53-game homecourt winning streak.
For more on non-BCS road games, see chart on page 3 of game notes.
Rusty LaRue Advances in Shots From the Heart
Wake Forest assistant coach Rusty LaRue advanced to the Sweet 16 of CollegeInsider.com's "Shots From the Heart" tournament, which is a free throw shooting contest designed to raise awareness for the growing problem of heart disease and to honor the memory of the late Skip Prosser.
Demon Deacon head coach Jeff Bzdelik came up just short in his second-round matchup, falling to Xavier head man Chris Mack.
Competing in the assistant coaches tournament, LaRue picked up a narrow victory over Holy Cross' Dan Englestad. LaRue made all 25 of his free throws for 31 points, while Englestad missed one to finish with 30 points.
LaRue now advances to the round of 16 to be contested during the month of January. He will face either Iowa State's Elwyn McRoy or Longwood's Tim Fudd.
Bzdelik went 22-for-25 for 27 points in his second round matchup. Mack made 23-of-25 for 28 points to edge Bzdelik.
Bzdelik had made all 25 of his free throws in the first round to advance past Colorado State's Tim Miles.
LaRue went 24-of-25 in the first round, missing his final attempt worth three points, to finish with 28 points. He handily defeated Davidson's Jim Fox in the opening round.
