Wake Forest University
10-5,2-2ACC
North Carolina
10-5,2-2ACC
Deacs Fall on Road in Big Four, Midweek Outing at North Carolina
1/5/2023 12:10:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Four individuals scored 10 or more points on Wednesday night.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – On the road for its second Big Four matchup of the winter, the Wake Forest men's basketball team fought hard on Wednesday night before ultimately suffering an 88-79 setback at North Carolina (10-5, 2-2).
A quartet of players paced the Demon Deacons' (10-5, 2-2) scoring tempo, as each finished in scoring double-digits.
Damari Monsanto had a team-high 17 points while snagging seven rebounds and scooping three steals. His rebounding total was the most thus far in his Wake Forest tenure.
Tyree Appleby came close to a double-double, plugging in 16 points and dishing out nine assists. The graduate guard additionally went 3-of-5 from three-point territory and grabbed four rebounds.
Andrew Carr had one of his most versatile performances of the year, posting 16 points, nine rebounds, and five assists, the latter of which was a season-high.
Daivien Williamson scored 12 points for the second game in a row, shooting 4-of-7 from the field.
Wake Forest finished with the upper hand in rebounding, tallying a 33-28 advantage and becoming only the third team to win the battle of the boards against the Tar Heels in 2022-23.
The Deacs saw their bench contribute 22 points and shot over 47 percent from beyond the arc. Bobi Klimtnan had six points and three rebounds in 12 minutes of action.
Standout Stats
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Wake Forest once again displayed its collecting scoring firepower, as four of its own scored 10 or more points on Wednesday:
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Damari Monsanto - 17 points
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Tyree Appleby - 16 points
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Andrew Carr - 16 points
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Daivien Williamson - 12 points
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How It Happened
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Appleby opened the scoring for Wake Forest with a three-pointer at the 18:01 mark with an assist from Carr.
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The Demon Deacons held North Carolina to just 1-for-5 from the floor and forced three turnovers in the first three minutes of action.
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Carr picked up his second assist as he found Williamson open for three to give the Deacs a 7-4 lead with 16:16 remaining in the first half.
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Williamson knocked down his second three-pointer of the contest, courtesy of an Appleby assist, with 13:55 to go in the half.
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Monsanto recorded a steal and sprinted down the court for his first basket of the contest just 20 seconds before Williamson turned defense into offense as well to bring the Deacs to within a point with 12:07 left in the first half. Appleby picked up assists on both baskets.
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Wake Forest recorded assists on its first five field goals.
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Bradford got on the board with a layup to make it three-consecutive made field goals for Wake Forest.
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Appleby knocked down a corner three off an inbound pass from Carr to cut it to 22-19 at the 9:15 mark.
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Klintman went on a personal 6-0 run with two three-point plays in just over a minute of action to make it a one-point game with seven minutes left in the first half.
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Williamson became the first Deacon to double-digit points as he knocked down a pair of free throws at the 4:43 mark.
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Hildreth earned his way to the line and converted both free throws to even the game at 33-33.
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Bradford gave Wake Forest the lead with 2:30 remaining in the half with a dunk assisted by Carr.
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Hildreth drew a charge which resulted in a Monsanto three on the next Wake Forest possession to give the Deacs a 38-36 lead with just under a minute to go in the first half.
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The Demon Deacons led, 38-37, as the teams headed into the locker room.
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Wake Forest held North Carolina to zero field goals over the final 5:31 of the first half.
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Williamson led the Deacs with 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting, including a pair of three-pointers.
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Appleby finished the first half with seven points, in addition to three assists and two rebounds.
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Monsanto recorded seven points, five rebounds and a team-high +9 plus/minus in 15 minutes of action.
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Appleby opened the second-half scoring for Wake Forest with an open three-pointer off a Monsanto assist.
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Monsanto and Carr each knocked down a three on back-to-back possessions as the Deacs held a one-point advantage at the 17:32 mark.
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Appleby made a layup and Carr recorded a dunk on the next two Wake Forest possessions as the Deacs took a 51-50 lead into the first media timeout.
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Monsanto hit his second three-pointer of the half and Appleby converted a fast-break layup to extend the lead to five.
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Appleby found Carr inside for an easy layup with 12:39 remaining in the contest.
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Wake Forest opened the second half shooting 9-for-11 (82%) from the floor and 4-for-4 from beyond-the-arc.
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Carr reclaimed the lead with a layup off another Appleby assist with 11:12 remaining.
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Appleby picked up his eighth assist of the contest as he found Carr for a corner three to cut the deficit in half with 7:43 remaining.
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Marsh recorded a pair of dunks off assists from Hldreth and Appleby to keep the Deacs within six with four minutes left.
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A dunk from Carr and a layup from Williamson with under a minute to go closed out the scoring for the Deacs.
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Wake Forest well to North Carolina, 79-88.
Coach's Comments
"Credit to North Carolina. What a tremendous environment. I've played at about every big time environment there is a college basketball, and that crowd is really loud and impressive. We had it going our way, obviously, going into halftime. We had the lead, we were really happy about that. The first five minutes of the second half were going to be really important. We came out and we made shots, and we didn't stop them and they made shots. So, the first ten minutes was just everybody making shots. Nobody was getting stops. I thought the last ten minutes they really turned up the intensity on defense and got much more aggressive. I thought that rattled us. I thought we caved to the pressure of the intensity of the defense. We had unforced turnovers. We only had eight at halftime, we were in good shape. I think we had four atomic bombs in the second half in the last eight minutes, we just totally went down and dumped it. We can't do that. (RJ) Davis is a really good player. He got going in the second half and he's just really good -- he's got great pace. We just couldn't get the ball. Those things all just kind of all add up. It's a tough loss because it was there for the taking. To win on the road, you can't turn it over and you have to get stops, and we didn't do that." - head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
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Saturday, January 7 - at Louisville - 3 p.m. ET - ACC Network
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Wednesday, January 11 - vs Florida State - 9 p.m. ET - ACC Network
