Wake Forest University
3-1,0-1ACC
Georgia Tech
6-3,2-1ACC
Wake Forest Drops ACC Opener at Georgia Tech
1/3/2021 8:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Junior forward Isaiah Mucius posted a career-high 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting in the road loss to the Yellow Jackets.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – In their Atlantic Coast Conference opener, Wake Forest fell to Georgia Tech, 70-54, on Sunday evening in Atlanta.
Wake Forest (3-1, 0-1 ACC) put together another strong defensive performance, grabbing nine steals and turning Georgia Tech (6-3, 2-1 ACC) over 14 times. The Demon Deacons defense also held the Yellow Jackets to their second-lowest point total on the season.
Additionally, Wake Forest was strong on the glass, allowing only three offensive rebounds (season-best mark) to Georgia Tech. Six Deacons had three or more rebounds for Wake Forest, headlined by Carter Whitt, Ody Oguama, and Isaiah Mucius who each had five.
Offensively, Mucius scored a career-high 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting, improving on his previous career-best of 19 points against Pitt in the 2020 ACC tournament. Additionally, Oguama scored in double figures for the third time in his career (12 points) and also tallied five rebounds, one assist and two steals.
How It Happened
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Guard Jahcobi Neath scored five of the Demon Deacons first seven points, capped off by his first three-pointer of the season at the 16:45 mark of the first half. The bucket gave Wake Forest an early 7-5 advantage.
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Georgia Tech answered with an 8-0 run over the next 3:14, which was snapped by an Isaiah Mucius layup.
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At the under-12 media timeout with 10:30 remaining in the first half, Wake Forest trailed 18-11 and the Yellow Jackets had seven points off five Demon Deacon turnovers.
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Additionally at this point in the contest, Coach Forbes' squad forced four GT turnovers and turned those into four Demon Deacon points.
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Georgia Tech continued its good shooting and defense and grew its lead to 12 points (25-13) before Daivien Williamson downed a triple with 7:35 left in the half.
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The Yellow Jackets and Demon Deacons went back-and-forth for the remainder of the half before the score settled at 35-21 at intermission.
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Neath and Mucius combined for 16 of Wake Forest's 21 first-half points. Additionally, Mucius led the Deacs on the glass with four rebounds (three offensive) during the first stanza.
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Wake Forest opened the scoring in the second half with an Ody Oguama jump-hook in the lane. Undaunted, Georgia Tech answered with a 14-2 run over the next 3:30.
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Georgia Tech's lead grew to as many as 26 points (57-31) with 12:35 left in the contest.
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After that time, Wake Forest was able to trim the deficit to 16 points three times with five minutes (62-46), 1:09 (68-52) and 11 seconds (70-54) remaining in the second half, respectively.
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Georgia Tech downed Wake Forest on Sunday evening, 70-54.
Key Moment
Daivien Williamson knocked down a three-pointer with 7:35 remaining in the first half to cut the Yellow Jackets lead to nine points (25-16). However, the Deacons were held to just one field goal during the next 7:12 of game play. During that span, Georgia Tech's lead grew to 17 points.
Wake Forest was not able to cut the deficit to single digits for the remainder of the game.
Stat of the Game
Junior forward Isaiah Mucius posted a career-high 21 points on an efficient 9-of-16 shooting from the field.
Straight From Forbes
"I thought Georgia Tech did a really good job of turning defense into offense. I think they got 26 points off turnovers. You know, they have a veteran team and they played like it. They trust each other. They can take you deep into a shot clock, make you guard long possessions and then get good shots. Obviously, the zone gave us a lot of problems. And we went 3-for-20 from three. It's going to be hard for us to win when we go 3-for-20 from three.
"In the first half I thought we did a really poor job of recognizing our looks against the zone. I was imploring them to drive the ball and play off the post. They were playing behind Ody (Oguama) in the post and we just didn't get it to him. In the second half I think you saw us get the ball in there more and better things happened. That's my fault. I've got to do a better job of preparing them for the zone. Obviously, we don't play a lot of zone, so this is really the first time that they were seeing it in a game situation. In the half court defense I thought we were tough. We didn't get beat on the glass. We were even. But we got caught up a few times not communicating on the Princeton actions, and those are hard to guard. They got some wide open looks, got us in the blender and got good looks. They have a good team. They're well coached, and I can see why they've won the games that they've won."
Up Next
Wake Forest will continue ACC play against Virginia on Wednesday, Jan. 6 in Charlottesville. Tipoff is scheduled for 9 p.m. and the contest will broadcast on Fox Sports South.
