Basketball Gameday: Wake Forest at Illinois
11/29/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeWBB)
| ACC/Big Ten Challenge Gameday Central | Wake Forest at Illinois | |
| at Illinois | Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 8:00 p.m. ET |
| Location | Champaign, Ill. (State Farm Center) - Facility Information |
| Game Coverage | Big Ten Network + | Live Stats | @WakeWBB  |
| Game Info | Wake Forest Game Notes  | Buy Tickets |
Deacs, Illini Meet in Annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge
• Wake Forest continues its three-game road swing at Illinois on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET when it battles the Fighting Illini in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
• Wednesday is the third all-time meeting between the two programs, all of which have come in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Illinois has won each of the first two matchups.
Last Time Out
• The Demon Deacons battled Elon on the road and shot 81.8 percent in the fourth quarter to come away with the 78-68 victory. The Deacs scored 28 points in the fourth quarter, the second-most in a single quarter in program history.
• Five Deacons scored in double figures, led by Ariel Stephenson's 20 points. Amber Campbell and Milan Quinn added 15 in the winning effort and Quinn pulled down 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. Elisa Penna and Alex Sharp each contributed 10 points in the win.
• The win is the first road win of the season for the Demon Deacons. While going 6-7 away from LJVM Coliseum in 2015-16, the Deacs were 0-10 in 2014-15.
Scouting the Fighting Illini
• Illinois enters the game with a 2-3 record after falling last time out to Mercer, 51-33. The Illini lead the Big Ten in free throw percentage (83.1 percent) and are second in the conference with 4.8 blocks per contest.
• Fifty percent of Illinois' scoring has come from its freshman class, but sophomore Alex Wittinger leads the Illini with 15.2 points per game thus far and has shot 55.6 percent from the floor on 35-of-63. Ali Andrews is the next-closest scorer at 7.6 points per game, but seven players in all for Illinois average 6.0 points per game or more.
• Illinois has played each of its first five games at home and will play one more to open the season after Wednesday night before going on the road to George Washington.
Finding the Touch
• Through six games this season, Wake Forest is shooting 43.7 percent. The number is good for seventh-best in the conference just behind Pittsburgh at 44.2 percent and in front of Virginia at 43.3. percent.
• A season ago, Wake Forest shot 39.0 percent and shot better than 50 percent once in 33 games. While shooting 53.2 percent in the ACC Tournament against Georgia Tech, Wake Forest's next best shooting night was 46.9 percent at Pitt.
• Already this year, Wake Forest has shot 54.1 percent against Navy, 50.9 percent at Elon, 50 percent against Eastern Michigan and 47.1 percent at LSU.
• Last time out against Elon, Wake Forest shot 81.8 percent with 28 points in the final quarter to defeat Elon 78-68. The percentage is the best all-time for the Deacs in a quarter and the 28 points is the second-most in a quarter. The Deacs scored 32 points in the third quarter against Eastern Mich. on Nov. 20.
#WACCB1G Challenge Info
• Wednesday opens the 10th-annual Challenge and the ACC owns a 62-46 edge over the Big Ten in the 108 games played thus far.
• In the previous nine years of the Challenge, the ACC has never lost (6-0-3).
• Overall, Wake Forest is 2-5 in the Challenge with three-straight losses at Illinois (2012), at Michigan (2014) and home against Wisconsin (2015). The two Deacon wins came in 2009 at Northwestern (60-45) and at home vs. Minnesota (82-65) in 2011.
Next Time Out
• The Demon Deacons will close their three-game road trip at Seton Hall on Sunday, Dec. 4, at 2 p.m. The game can be seen on Pirate Sports Network.
• After facing Seton Hall, the Demon Deacons will come home for four in a row starting Dec. 8 against Xavier at 7 p.m. inside LJVM Coliseum.
