Wake Forest University
3-6,0-6ACC
North Carolina
9-5,4-3ACC
Deacs Record Career Night Against Tar Heels
1/20/2021 10:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Isaiah Mucius and Daivien Williamson set career highs with 27 points each.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Wake Forest men's basketball team was led by juniors Daivien Williamson and Isaiah Mucius in the 80-73 loss at North Carolina. Each recorded a career-high 27 points and sophomore Ody Oguama pulled down a season-best seven rebounds.
Williamson and Mucius combined for 54 of the team's 73 points as the duo shot 17-of-31 from the field and 10-of-18 from deep. Williamson netted 3-of-6 from behind the arc and 8-of-10 attempts at the charity stripe, while Mucius hit a career-best seven three-pointers.
Mucius' seven treys are the most three-pointers recorded by a Demon Deacon in a single game since Brandon Childress matched that tally against Georgia Tech on Jan. 5, 2019. Additionally, he is now one of ten players in program history to connect on seven threes in a game.
Williamson also led the team in assists (five) and steals (two), and Mucius grabbed a team-high-tying seven rebounds.
After entering halftime with a 33-31 advantage, Wake Forest faltered early in the second half, allowing a 14-2 run out of intermission. The Demon Deacons responded with an emphatic 18-8 run that featured six straight 3-pointers to tie the score at 53 with 10:12 remaining.
The Demon Deacons continued to battle, but couldn't catch up to the Tar Heels before the end of regulation.
Wake Forest's defense allowed just three made 3-pointers from the Tar Heels, the fewest since the Deacs allowed just one in their 74-57 victory over North Carolina in Winston-Salem last season. All three of the Tar Heels buckets from range came in the first half.
Additionally, the Deacs hit the boards hard, holding the Tar Heels to just 38 total rebounds, tying their third-lowest mark of the season (29 vs FSU, 37 twice, 38 vs Kentucky). North Carolina entered the game third in the nation with an average of 43.9 rebounds a game.
How It Happened
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Graduate guard Jonah Antonio opened up scoring for the Deacs with his 16th 3-pointer of the season with 17:34 remaining.
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Wake Forest retook the lead (7-5) with an Emmanuel Okpomo layup at the 14:20 mark off an assist from Williamson.
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At the under-12 timeout, the Demon Deacon defense held North Carolina to 3-13 (23.1%) shooting from the field and caused five turnovers.
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With the score tied up at 9 minutes, Ody Oguama stepped to the line and converted a pair of free throws to kick off a 7-0 run featuring a layup from Williamson and a 3-pointer from Mucius. That run boosted the Deacs to a 16-9 lead halfway through the first half.
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Williamson ended an 11-2 Tar Heel run at the charity stripe, converting both to tie the score at 20 with 5:24 remaining.
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Mucius knocked down his second 3-pointer of the night off an assist from Isaiah Wilkins to give the Deacs a 23-21 lead with 3:50 left in the first.
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Williamson knocked down his first 3-pointer of the game with 1:57 remaining to give the Deacs a 28-26 lead. Just over a minute later, he hit his second 3-pointer to give the Deacs a five point lead (33-28) with 27 seconds remaining.
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Wake Forest hit three of their final four shots of the half and entered halftime leading North Carolina 33-31.
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The Deacs entered halftime out-rebounding the Tar Heels 20-17 with nine forced turnovers.
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The lead changed sides nine times in the first half.
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Mucius responded to a 12-0 Tar Heel run early in the second half by embarking on a 9-2 run of his own. The junior knocked down three consecutive 3-pointers to cut the deficit down to three (47-44) with 13:00 left.
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After the Tar Heels built the lead back up to seven (51-44), the Deacs produced another 9-2 run to tie the score at 53 behind 3-pointers from Mucius, Williamson, and Jalen Johnson.
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Trailing by six points (60-54), Johnson brought the score back to single digits by hitting his second 3-pointer with 6:40 remaining.
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Williamson ended a 7-0 North Carolina run at the stripe, splitting a pair of free throws to bring the deficit back to single digits (69-60) with 4:29 remaining.
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The Deacs cut the Tar Heel lead to single digits (73-65) thanks to Mucius' career-high seventh 3-pointer with 3:26 left. The trey gave him a career-high 25 points.
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Williamson upped his point total to 25, a new career-best, after knocking down a pair of free throws that cut the Tar Heel lead to ten with 1:46 remaining.
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The Deacs eventually fell to the Tar Heels 80-73 and Mucius and Williamson finished with 27 points a piece.
Key Moment
After a 12-0 North Carolina run early in the second half, Isaiah Mucius went nuclear. The East Patchogue, NY native knocked down three 3-pointers in a row, single handedly bringing a 10-point deficit (45-35) down to three with 13 minutes left in the game.
Mucius would go on to knock down two more 3-pointers in the second half en-route to scoring a career high 27 points - 19 of which came in the second half.
Stats of the Game
Wake Forest's 13 made 3-pointers against the Tar Heels are the team's most against an ACC opponent since January 13th, 2016, when the team hit 13 against Virginia Tech.
In addition to their lights out shooting, the Deacs were strong on the glass, grabbing 36 (10 offensive) rebounds - their most thus far in conference play, and the most North Carolina has allowed in conference play.
Wake Forest also held the Tar Heels to 38 rebounds, despite entering the game averaging 43.8 rebounds per game, the third best mark in the country.
Straight From Forbes
"I thought North Carolina did a really good job of staying with their plan. They wore us down a little bit in the second half, and I told the team at halftime two things - they couldn't have more than 10 offensive rebounds for the game and we couldn't have more than 15 turnovers. We kept them at 10 (offensive rebounds), even though they got some timely ones to get the lead when we had gotten it close in the second half. But we had 20 turnovers. They were good at capitalizing off our turnovers.
I thought (Armando) Bacot was really good inside, he was patient. We were doing a good job of digging in there and playing off the other big, but he was good. I think he was 8-for-10 for the game. I thought Caleb Love made some really timely shots when they needed it. So credit to North Carolina. I messed up the game at the end of the first half. We should've had a five-point lead at halftime. We should have fouled coming up, but I didn't know we were not in the bonus yet, and also I could have called a timeout, so that's on me and I told the team that.
I thought we got tremendous performances from Daivien and Isaiah. They played outstandingly. We made 13 threes, that's awfully good, 38 percent from three, 82 from the line. We were challenged around the basket so the twos weren't coming very easy, and then just giving up way too many points off turnovers. It's a 40-minute game, and I feel for my players because they battle, they try hard, and they're hurting. But I've told them this, I think good things happen when you keep playing hard and reward the game the way it should be rewarded. I believe good things are around the corner for this team as long as we keep together and keep fighting."
Up Next
Wake Forest will host Pitt on Saturday night for a 6 p.m. tip at Lawrence Joel Veteran's Memorial Coliseum that will be broadcast on ACC Network.
