Saturday, December 4
Blacksburg, VA
2 p.m.
Wake Forest University
8-1,1-0ACC
80
at
61
Virginia Tech
6-3,0-1ACC
1
2
F
Wake Forest
38
42
80
Virginia Tech
34
27
61
Photo by: Jaylynn Nash LLC
Wake Forest Dominates in ACC Opener at Virginia Tech
12/4/2021 5:31:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Williamson and Walton combined for 36 points and the Deacs shot a blazing 63.5 percent from the field in the victory.
BLACKSBURG, Va. - Wake Forest earned a 80-61 victory against Virginia Tech in their ACC opener in Blacksburg, marking the first time the Deacs have won their ACC opener since the 2013-14 season.
The Demon Deacons (8-1, 1-0) never trailed in the victory, and the team's 80 points are the most scored against the Hokies (6-3, 0-1) so far this season. Virginia Tech owned the No. 2 defense in the country coming into the game, giving up only 52.9 points per game to opponents.
Overall, Wake Forest shot 33-of-52 (63.5 percent) from the field, the 16th-best shooting performance in program history and best shooting performance against an ACC opponent since the 2006-07 season. Additionally, the 19-point margin of victory is the largest against an ACC opponent since the 2016-17 season.
Four Demon Deacons finished in double figures, led by Daivien Williamson's 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting and Dallas Walton's season-high 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Jake LaRavia and Alondes Williams followed with 10 apiece on a combined 7-of-14 shooting.
Williams also finished with seven rebounds and nine assists - besting the Milwaukee native's previous best of five assists set earlier in the season against Charleston Southern. Overall, seven of eight Deacs to see the floor logged an assist, as the team compiled 17 assists on 33 field goals.
On the defensive end, Wake Forest held Virginia Tech to their second-lowest scoring output of the season and worst three-point shooting performance of the season (8-of-27, 29.6 percent). The Deacs also out-rebounded the Hokies by a margin of 28-25.
How It Happened
Key Moment
With 14 minutes left to play in the second half, the Deacs outscored the Hokies 15-5 en route to creating a 66-52 lead with eight minutes left in the contest. During the run, five players found the net and the team shot 7-of-8 from the field while holding Virginia Tech to 2-of-8 shooting and forced three turnovers.
The run gave Wake Forest a lead that would not dip below 12 points for the remainder of the game.
Stat of the Game
Coach's Comments
"This was an outstanding, well-played game by my team today. We knew defensive rebounding was going to be very important and having a next play mentality. Good or bad, we had to move on to the next play, and I knew it was going to be a forty-minute tussle. Mike Young's teams are always very physical, they play really hard, they run great offense and are hard to defend. My team was really locked in for forty minutes on the defensive end. Then, we shot the ball really well. I'm really pleased - there's not going to be a lot of teams that come in here and win. This is a really hard place to play. Credit to them, they had an unbelievable crowd but we've grown up a lot in one week.
Dallas Walton played a tremendous game, and you can really see where the added strength has helped Daivien with how he drove the ball. They all played well. The bench helped us, we outscored them 15-to-7 on the bench and Cameron, Carter, and Khadim played at a really high level. It was a great team win, and we're really excited." - head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
The Demon Deacons return to LJVM Coliseum on Saturday, December 11 for a non-conference matchup against USC Upstate.
Tip-off against the Spartans is set for 7 p.m. ET and the game will air live on Regional Sports Networks.
The Demon Deacons (8-1, 1-0) never trailed in the victory, and the team's 80 points are the most scored against the Hokies (6-3, 0-1) so far this season. Virginia Tech owned the No. 2 defense in the country coming into the game, giving up only 52.9 points per game to opponents.
Overall, Wake Forest shot 33-of-52 (63.5 percent) from the field, the 16th-best shooting performance in program history and best shooting performance against an ACC opponent since the 2006-07 season. Additionally, the 19-point margin of victory is the largest against an ACC opponent since the 2016-17 season.
Four Demon Deacons finished in double figures, led by Daivien Williamson's 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting and Dallas Walton's season-high 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Jake LaRavia and Alondes Williams followed with 10 apiece on a combined 7-of-14 shooting.
Williams also finished with seven rebounds and nine assists - besting the Milwaukee native's previous best of five assists set earlier in the season against Charleston Southern. Overall, seven of eight Deacs to see the floor logged an assist, as the team compiled 17 assists on 33 field goals.
On the defensive end, Wake Forest held Virginia Tech to their second-lowest scoring output of the season and worst three-point shooting performance of the season (8-of-27, 29.6 percent). The Deacs also out-rebounded the Hokies by a margin of 28-25.
How It Happened
- Daivien Williamson scored the game's first points with a three-pointer on the opening possession.
- Shortly after, Williamson connected on his second triple to put the Deacs up 8-3 just over three minutes into the game.
- Wake Forest held a 16-12 lead going into the under-16 timeout, and opened the contest shooting 7-of-11 (0.636) from the field. Dallas Walton and Williamson combined for 14 of the Deacs' first 16 points.
- Coming out of the under-12 timeout, Wake Forest opened up a 7-0 run thanks to baskets from Khadim Sy and Cameron Hildreth to give the team its first double digit lead (23-12) with 10:08 to play until the half.
- Isaiah Mucius ended a 7-0 Hokie response with his second bucket in the post, putting the Deacs up 25-19 with just under seven minutes until the intermission.
- Alondes Williams dished out his sixth and seventh assists of the first half to Isaiah Mucius for a layup and triple, the latter bringing the score to 32-26 with four minutes to go in the first half.
- His seven assists in the opening half set a new career-high.
- Wake Forest entered halftime leading Virginia Tech 38-34. The Deacs shot 60.8 percent from the floor compared to 48.1 percent for the Hokies.
- Walton (10), Mucius (9), and Williamson (8) led the team's first-half scoring effort. Nine of Wake Forest's 17 first-half field goals were assisted upon, including a career-high seven from Williams.
- Walton and Jake LaRavia opened up the second half with consecutive triples, extending the lead to 44-36 early in the second half.
- Williamson answered a pair of Hokie baskets with two jumpers of his own, his second giving the Deacs a 48-41 lead with 16:44 left to play.
- A 10-2 run spanning nearly four minutes with buckets from Walton, Williamson, Williams and LaRavia put Wake Forest up 59-47 with 10:33 until the buzzer.
- Williams' first triple of the day gave the Deacs their largest lead of the afternoon, at 66-52 with eight minutes remaining in the game.
- Walton and LaRavia extended the lead at the line, collectively going 4-for-4 to bring the score to 72-54 with 6:35 left to play.
- Williams rolled in a layup, giving Wake Forest a 20-point (74-54) lead with under four minutes remaining in the contest.
- Wake Forest went on to defeat Virginia Tech 80-61.
Key Moment
With 14 minutes left to play in the second half, the Deacs outscored the Hokies 15-5 en route to creating a 66-52 lead with eight minutes left in the contest. During the run, five players found the net and the team shot 7-of-8 from the field while holding Virginia Tech to 2-of-8 shooting and forced three turnovers.
The run gave Wake Forest a lead that would not dip below 12 points for the remainder of the game.
Stat of the Game
- This afternoon's shooting performance of 63.5 percent from the field marks the 16th best single-game shooting performance in program history and fourth-best against an ACC opponent.
- Wake Forest last shot greater than 63 percent against an ACC opponent against Georgia Tech in the 2007 ACC Tournament, in which the team shot 64.2 percent from the field in a double-overtime victory.
Coach's Comments
"This was an outstanding, well-played game by my team today. We knew defensive rebounding was going to be very important and having a next play mentality. Good or bad, we had to move on to the next play, and I knew it was going to be a forty-minute tussle. Mike Young's teams are always very physical, they play really hard, they run great offense and are hard to defend. My team was really locked in for forty minutes on the defensive end. Then, we shot the ball really well. I'm really pleased - there's not going to be a lot of teams that come in here and win. This is a really hard place to play. Credit to them, they had an unbelievable crowd but we've grown up a lot in one week.
Dallas Walton played a tremendous game, and you can really see where the added strength has helped Daivien with how he drove the ball. They all played well. The bench helped us, we outscored them 15-to-7 on the bench and Cameron, Carter, and Khadim played at a really high level. It was a great team win, and we're really excited." - head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
The Demon Deacons return to LJVM Coliseum on Saturday, December 11 for a non-conference matchup against USC Upstate.
Tip-off against the Spartans is set for 7 p.m. ET and the game will air live on Regional Sports Networks.
Team Stats
Wake
Hokies
FG%
.635
.411
3FG%
.438
.296
FT%
.583
.875
RB
28
25
TO
10
12
STL
5
3
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
19
FGM
8
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
17
FGM
7
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
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