Williamson Reaches Career Milestone Against Panthers

PITTSBURGH, Penn. – Two fast-scoring tempos matched up in Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) action on Wednesday evening (Jan. 25), as the Wake Forest men's basketball team visited the Pittsburgh Panthers. After trailing by double-figures at the halftime break, the Demon Deacons worked to cut into the deficit through the next 20 minutes before ultimately suffering a 81-79 setback.

Wake Forest now stands at 14-7 overall in 2022-23, with a 6-4 mark in conference play.

The contest featured a new career milestone reached by Daivien Williamson, as the Deacons' team veteran notched the 1,500th point of his collegiate career. He is now the 21st player in program history to hold over 1,500 points. Williamson finished the night with 14 points – his second-highest single-game total of the year.

Tyree Appleby and Cameron Hildreth led the offense with 15 points apiece. Appleby also chipped in seven assists and four rebounds, while Hildreth snagged seven boards and shot over 66 percent from the field.

Andrew Carr posted 14 points and seven rebounds on a 50.0 percent shooting clip. Damari Monsanto plugged in nine points.

The Deacs scored 19 points off seven turnovers by the Panthers and capitalized on paint possessions, outscoring Pittsburgh 34-16. For the game, Wake Forest finished with a 50.9 field goal percentage.

Wake Forest returns home this weekend to face Big Four foe the NC State Woldpack on Saturday (Jan. 28). Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. ET inside LJVM Coliseum and the game will air live on ACC Network. Tickets for the game can be purchased here.

Standout Stats

Wake Forest shot 50.9 percent from the field Wednesday night.
- That mark is the highest field goal percentage by an ACC opponent against Pitt this season.
Wake's 79 points against Pitt are the second-most the Panthers have allowed in conference play this season.
Daivien Williamson reached over 1,500 career points on Wednesday night.
- Williamson is now 21st on the all-time Wake Forest scoring list, holding 1,506 career points.

How It Happened

Hildreth connected on the first Wake Forest basket of the contest at the 18:15 mark and kick-started an 8-0 run.
Monsanto and Appleby both knocked down a three-pointer over a 45-second span to give the Deacs an 8-6 advantage with 16:59 remaining in the first half.
Appleby found Marsh open in the paint for a slam with 13:41 left in the half.
Carr earned his way to the line and went 2-for-2 for his first points of the contest.
Hildreth capped off a quick 6-0 run with a driving layup to bring Wake Forest to within two with 12:32 remaining.
Carr connected on a corner three on an assist from Hildreth.
Hildreth picked up his second-consecutive assist as he found Keller for a layup and sent the Deacs into the second media timeout down 21-22.
Keller grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked it out to Williamson for three with 9:07 to go in the first half.
Hildreth gave the Deacs a 26-25 lead with a driving layup on a fast break.
Williamson knocked down a stepback jumper with 7:17 left in the half.
Appleby made his way to the rim for a tough layup in traffic.
- The Deacs opened the contest out-scoring Pitt 14-8 in the paint.
Monsanto connected on a stepback three-pointer for his second triple of the contest with 3:20 remaining in the half.
Carr fought through contact for a layup and converted the three-point play opportunity with 38 seconds to go.
Hildreth picked off a pass and found Carr in the paint for a dunk to close out the first half.
- The Deacs held the Panthers scoreless over the final 2:34 of the half.
Wake Forest trailed Pitt, 39-49, at halftime.
- Carr led the way with 10 points, including the final five points of the first half, in addition to four rebounds and an assist.
- Hildreth finished an all-around first half performance with eight points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal.
Appleby recorded a steal and found Monsanto on the fast break for a dunk for the first Wake Forest points of the second half.
- The graduate guard found Hildreth open for a corner three on the next possession.
Appleby picked up his third-and-fourth-consecutive assists to open the second half as he found Marsh for back-to-back slams.
Hildreth cut the deficit to seven as he went 2-for-2 from the charity stripe with 15:32 remaining.
Williamson connected on his second triple of the contest to bring Wake Forest to within five as Appleby picked up his fifth assist of the half.
- The three-pointer put the Winston-Salem native right at the 1,500 mark for career points.
A Carr steal led to an open slam for Appleby to cut it to 56-59 with 12:23 to go.
Bradford got on the board with a hookshot before the media timeout.
Carr slammed home an Appleby lob to cut the deficit to two at the 11:01 mark.
Bradford and Appleby made back-to-back layups and forced Pitt to take a timeout with 8:33 to go.
Williamson connected on back-to-back three-pointers to keep Wake Forest within three at the under-eight media timeout.
Hildreth knocked down a mid-range jumper to make 72-73 with 5:25 remaining.
Carr gave Wake Forest the lead with a pair of free throws to cap off a 7-0 run.
Appleby brought it to a four-point game with a corner three at the 2:12 mark.
- The graduate guard cut it to a one-possession game from the free throw line with 1:05 to go.
Wake Forest fell to Pitt, 79-81.

Coach's Comments
"Congrats to Pitt, they played an outstanding offensive game tonight. They had 22 assists on 29 baskets and made 18 threes. They are a very unselfish team, they have good size and those guys all shoot the ball with confidence. We did a good job of guarding Burton, but Hinson and Elliot dinged us up from three, I don't think they shot a two the entire game. I really like Jeff's team, I think they're really good. That's why our league is good, because we have a lot of good teams.

We can't come out and defend like that in the first half, that's on me. We didn't play hard enough. They did a really good job early of getting the ball quick out on the ball screen and getting across the midline. We were doing a poor job, our guards did a really poor job, of guarding the tag, tagging the rollers and getting back out. You have to do both, and either we weren't there or we were there and they drove around us. In the second half, we adjusted the ball screen. We went to drop, we were in ice in the first half. We did better with that. The bigs did a good job. It's not on the bigs, it's on the guards. The 1-3-1 helped us get back in the game and they banged us a couple of times there late. We have to clean up our ball-screen defense.

We fought hard, like against Virginia. We got down and came back. This time we took the lead. We had a chance to win it on the last play, it was a high-screen roll, we call it high chest, with Andrew and Ty. The options were Ty coming off, if they don't switch, Andrew pops, you got a wide-open shot to win the game. Or you can come off and shoot it or come off drive it. Looking at it, Drew was open, I thought, but I wasn't standing right there. Ty got a good look, I'll take that every time. I have no problem with Ty's shot, by no means" - head coach Steve Forbes

Upcoming

Saturday, January 31 - vs NC State - 1 p.m. // ACC Network
- Tickets can be purchased here.
Tuesday, January 31 - at Duke - 7 p.m. // ESPN
Saturday, February 4 - at Notre Dame - 1 p.m. // Regional Bally Sports Networks

Next Event

Team Stats

Tyree Appleby

Cameron Hildreth

Daivien Williamson

Andrew Carr

Players Mentioned

Tyree Appleby

Andrew Carr

Cameron Hildreth

Damari Monsanto

Daivien Williamson

Players Mentioned

Tyree Appleby

Andrew Carr

Cameron Hildreth

Damari Monsanto

Daivien Williamson

Wake Forest Athletics