Wake Forest-Seton Hall Preview
12/9/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 9, 2011
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - After conquering one of the craziest road crowds of the season at triad-rival High Point, the Wake Forest men's basketball team will head north to visit Seton Hall on Saturday, December 10 in its final away test before a week-plus respite for final exams.
The game is scheduled for an 8:00 p.m. tip at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J and will be broadcast live via ESPN3.com.
A road win is a road win, and the Demon Deacons will gladly take another anywhere they play. Even after nearly squandering two 15-point leads on Wednesday, Wake's early season progress was evident as the Deacs held on for an ultimate 87-83 triumph.
"We're taking steps in the right direction," said head coach Jeff Bzdelik. "It's a collection of guys that are serious and care for one another. Again, this is a young team just gaining experience little by little."
Seton Hall enters the tilt 7-1 overall and on a four-game winning streak, but all those victories have come at home as the Pirates have yet to play a true road contest in 2011. The team's lone loss came at the hands of Northwestern, 80-73, in the 2011 Charleston Classic Championship game.
Herb Pope leads the way for the Pirates with averages of 21.4 points and 11 rebounds per game. A 6-8 force in the post with 25 career double-doubles, Pope will look to create interior problems for the Deacs, who have been out-rebounded in 8-of-9 games this season.
"[Pope's] been around awhile," said Bzdelik. "And he's a handful down there."
The Pirates also lean on a pair of backcourt standouts in senior Jordan Theodore and sophomore Fuquan Edwin. Theodore ranks in the top-10 nationally with 7.6 assists per contest while also pouring in 14.9 points per game. Edwin is a pesky defender, leading the Big EAST with 24 steals while averaging 14 points per game and pacing the Pirates in three-point field goal percentage (.407).
"Rebounding is going to be an issue for us against a team that's got some size and bulk," said Bzdelik. "Every game we seem to give our opposition more possessions because we fail to rebound the ball and that comes back to bite you. Nobody's good enough to give teams double-digit-more possessions... They'll be a good challenge for us."
Another interesting storyline for Saturday is the impending return of senior 7-foot center Ty Walker from a semester-long suspension, which was incurred after an unspecified violation of the Wake Forest student code of conduct. Already ranked 13th all-time in school history with 92 blocks, the veteran center hopes to help provide interior depth for a squad that has had some trouble on the glass - that is, of course, once he gets back into the rotation.
Asked how he would work Walker into Saturday's game, Bzdelik turned the tables saying Walker would have to, "walk the talk," and work himself back into the lineup. But the second-year head coach has been encouraged thus far by what he has seen in practice.
"I've seen a more serious side to him that I've never seen before," said Bzdelik. "I think there's an urgency to him, at this point in time, that's never been there before."
Facing a Seton Hall team anchored inside by Pope, who leads the Big EAST in scoring and rebounding this season, the Deacs will need all the interior help they can get in order to avoid surrendering second-chance points to the Pirates.
On offense, the Deacs will look to keep rolling after knocking down 13 three-pointers at High Point - the most by a Wake Forest team since March 8, 2007, when the Deacs hit 16 triples in a double overtime win against Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament - and shooting 58.3 percent from the field. One of four Deacs in double figures, sophomore guard Tony Chennault posted a career-high 20 points and nailed three from beyond the arc to double his career total.
According to Bzdelik, smart guard play will be also be paramount against the Pirates' tricky combination of defensive schemes.
"They play both a man and a zone and mix it up with no rhyme or reason. We're going to have to do a good job of recognizing what defense they're in," said Bzdelik. "We haven't played much 2-3 zone this year. [High Point] showed us two possessions of it, but we banged a three and banged a three and got out of it."
It will take another total team effort to emerge with a 3-0 record, but after Saturday the Deacs will face an idle week for finals before getting back on the court Sunday, Dec. 18, against in-state rival Gardner-Webb at 1 p.m
Three Points
• Wake Forest will be looking for its third straight road win at Seton Hall. The Deacs have not won back-to-back-to-back away affairs since Dec. 5-28, 2009 when they took down Gonzaga, UNC Wilmington and UNC Greensboro in consecutive order.
• Ty Walker will likely make his season debut on Saturday. The senior center has not appeared in a game for the Deacs since March 10, 2011 versus Boston College when he blocked a shot and grabbed a rebound in six minutes of action. The Wilmington, N.C. native posted averages of 3.6 points and 3.5 rebounds per game to go with 79 blocks last season.
• Travis McKie (18.8 points per game) and C.J. Harris (18.6) are ranked second and third, respectively, in the ACC in scoring after the season's first nine games. They trail only Maryland's Terrell Stoglin, who is averaging 22.5 points per game.
