Balanced Scoring Paces Deacs to Home Win Over Bulldogs

Friday, November 11

Winston-Salem, N.C.

TBA

Wake Forest University

Georgia

Team	1	2	F
Georgia	22	49	71
Wake Forest	41	40	81

Photo by: Trevor Bowens

Balanced Scoring Paces Deacs to Home Win Over Bulldogs

11/11/2022 11:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Daivien Williamson and Tyree Appleby controlled the tempo from start to finish.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Boosted from an efficient first half, the Wake Forest men's basketball team (2-0) maintained a comfortable lead for much of Friday evening (Nov. 11) en route to defeating SEC foe Georgia (1-1) for its second home win of the season.

The Demon Deacons once again displayed balanced scoring, as three individuals recorded double-digits in scoring. The backcourt of Daivien Williamson and Tyree Appleby led the way with 24 and 22 points, respectively. Williamson poured in 15 points in the first half, his highest total in a half since scoring 15 in the second half against NC State last season during the team's Senior Night on March 2, 2022. The team captain also had four rebounds and four assists. Appleby added six rebounds and six assists to his line.

Davion Bradford controlled the paint, finishing on a perfect 5-of-5 clip from the field to tally 11 points while grabbing four rebounds and making two blocks.

Cameron Hildreth again acted as a spark plug, nearly reaching a double-double. The sophomore guard ended with eight points and 11 rebounds.

Andrew Carr plugged in nine points. As a team, Wake Forest shot over 50% from the field and scored 34 points in the paint.

How It Happened

Carr opened the scoring for the Demon Deacons with a converted and-one layup 52 seconds into the contest.
Appleby knocked down a couple of free throws to give Wake Forest a 5-4 lead at the 18:07 mark.
Williamson ended a three-and-a-half-minute field goal drought for Wake Forest with a tough spinning layup through contact. He proceeded to knock down the additional free throw out of the media timeout to put the Deacs up a couple with 15:24 to go in the first half.
Appleby found Williamson in the corner a few minutes later, as the Winston-Salem native knocked down the triple to extend the Wake Forest lead to five.
The graduate guard scored his 10th point of the contest just six minutes in with a driving layup following a Keller steal.
Williamson stayed hot, as he knocked down a three and converted on a fast-break layup on back-to-back possessions.
Bradford grabbed an offensive rebound for a putback dunk in the midst of a 12-2 Wake Forest run with 6:34 remaining in the first half.
Fresh out of a Wake Forest timeout, Carr knocked down a triple.
Klintman and Hildreth made back-to-back layups in the final minute of the opening 20 to give the Deacs their largest lead of the half (20).
Wake Forest led Georgia, 41-22, at the break.
- As a team, the Demon Deacons shot 53.8 percent from the floor and 38.5 percent from beyond the arc.
- Defensively, Wake Forest held the Bulldogs to just 30.0 percent shooting and 13.3 percent from three.
- Williamson led the way with 15 points in addition to three rebounds over the first 20 minutes.
- Appleby finished the half with seven points, four rebounds and three assists.
The Florida transfer scored on the opening possession of the second half with a driving layup.
Williamson knocked down another corner three after a nice find by Appleby in traffic at the 18:12 mark.
Appleby put a stop to a 7-0 Georgia run with a three of his own as 14:28 remained in the contest.
Hildreth became the fifth Demon Deacon to notch a three-point make, as Williamson found him in the corner to give Wake Forest a 14-point advantage at the 12:07 mark.
Williamson scored his 20th point of the game with a tough driving finish as the shot clock expired.
A Hildreth second-chance layup and a three-pointer from Carr kickstarted an 11-1 Wake Forest run to give the Deacons a 22-point lead with just over six minutes remaining in the contest.
Earning their way into the bonus and making the most of opportunities at the charity stripe, the Deacs fended off a late Georgia run to take down the Bulldogs, 81-71.

Stat of the Game

Davion Bradford controlled the paint, finishing on a perfect 5-of-5 clip from the field to tally 11 points while grabbing four rebounds and making two blocks.

Coach's Comments
"I talked to the team today about Veterans Day. This building is named after Lawrence Joel. He earned the medal of honor in November of 1965. I was born in March of '65. I was talking to them about how he was the first medic in the United States history to get the medal of honor and he was also from Winston-Salem. I wanted them to understand not only the impact of what Veterans Day is, but also the impact of the building that they're playing in and who it's named after. I thought they represented themselves and Lawrence Joel tonight in a really good way.

The first half was about as good as we could play defensively. We were really locked in, but I wasn't surprised because that's the way we practice. We were flawless in pick-and-roll coverage and that caused them a lot of problems. I kind of went away from it, actually went more middle pick-and-roll in the second half; it's kind of a tale of two halves. We got sloppy when we were up big and then just got careless. When Ty checked out of the game with 5:18 to go, we were up 20. The game turned a little bit there. We have some young guys that probably didn't make very good decisions, but I thought we did a really good job for the most part. We rebounded the ball, finished possessions, and like I said, the pick-and-roll defense was great. They had us spread out in transition late in the game, that's the one way they were going to get back in it, to drive it. You have to give them credit, they didn't go away. They have some good players, and you know they'll continue to get better. I thought it was a really good win for our team, especially for our second game of the year. We played two really good opponents, and both were different and that will pay off down the road." - head coach Steve Forbes

Up Next
Wake Forest will host the Utah Valley Wolverines in Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Tuesday, Nov. 15 before departing for the Jersey Mike's Jamaica Classic in Montego Bay.

Tip-off against the Wolverines is set for 7 p.m. and the game will stream live on ACC Network Extra.