Sunday, October 29
Winston-Salem, N.C.
1:00 p.m.
Wake Forest University
88
vs
80
Alabama (Exhibition)
Wake Forest Defeats Alabama Sunday in Charity Exhibition Game
10/29/2023 4:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Demon Deacons defeated Alabama, 88-80, in a charity exhibition to support stroke research at the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Stroke Center.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Behind big performances from guards Cameron Hildreth and Hunter Sallis the Wake Forest men's basketball team defeated Alabama in an exhibition game, 88-80, Sunday afternoon at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
As a team, Wake Forest shot 30-for-62 (48 percent) from the floor and 8-for-23 (35 percent) from beyond-the-arc. The Demon Deacons also shot an impressive 20-for-26 (77 percent) from the free throw line.
At the end of the first half the Deacs trailed Alabama 52-39. Wake Forest went on a 23-4 run during the first eight minutes of the second half. The Demon Deacons run not only cut into the lead but gave the Deacs a seven-point lead and Wake Forest kept the lead through the end of the game.
The Deacs lead climbed to double digits twice during the second half as the free throw line helped close out the game, hitting 11-of-16 in the half.
The Demon Deacons were led by an impressive offensive performance from junior guard Cameron Hildreth, who finished the contest with a game-high 38 points on 10-of-18 shooting, including a 16-for-19 clip from the free throw line. The England-native also hauled in five rebounds and tallied two assists and two steals in 36 minutes of action.
Playing all 40 minutes, newcomer Hunter Sallis finished his Joel debut with 27 points while shooting 11-for-20 from the floor and 3-for-8 from deep in addition to three rebounds and two assists.
Senior Andrew Carr made his presence known on the defensive side of the floor. Carr recorded a game-high four blocks on the day for the Deacs. The Westchester, Pa. native controlled the glass for the Deacs with 10 rebounds.
Also making their first appearances for Wake Forest were freshmen Marqus Marion (six points, two assists and two rebounds), Aaron Clark (one steal) and Parker Freidreichsen (six points and two rebounds). Freidrichsen also finished with a game-high +17 plus/minus in 31 minutes of work.
How It Happened
"Well, first and foremost, I want to thank everybody for coming today and taking part in this charity game. I want to thank Alabama for coming up here, bringing their team, providing our fans with a great opportunity to see a great game and raise money for Stroke Awareness today. I didn't know this until this morning, but today is World Stroke Day. I'm gonna give you just a couple things and then we'll get to the game.
33,425 people are going to have a stroke today, and only 1,000 people are going to get life-saving treatment. So what we did here today is something that's really really important to help people that can't afford health care, can't afford getting the right treatment or don't live in the right place. If you're with somebody who has a stroke, you have to be fast. You have to check their balance, check their eyes, which was one of the problems with my wife, facial droop, which she didn't have until she got to hospital, arm or leg weakness, which she definitely had problems with, and speech. Those are telltale signs and when you see those things you have to act. You have to call 911 right away. Every minute that a stroke goes untreated, you lose two million neurons in your brain. Only three percent of the people in the world have access to life-saving treatment. What that treatment is, is clot-busting medication which my wife had, and clot extraction, which she didn't. Many low-income countries do not have specialists. Racial and ethnic minorities in the United States are a lot less likely to receive this type of treatment. The World Health Organization predicts that by 2030, strokes will become the leading cause of global disability. It can happen to anybody at any age at any time. My wife had very low cholesterol, very low blood pressure. and she swims every day, but it happened. There's an urgent need to reorganize healthcare systems to provide stroke treatment, secure adequate funding, which we worked on today, and a well-trained workforce to make treatment accessible. These are things that are really important not only to the world, but to me personally. I appreciate everybody coming here today and taking part in it.
It was a tale of two halves. It wasn't really complicated. At halftime, it was real simple. 'Hey, listen, we have to quit giving up offensive rebounds, quit turning it over and we have to guard the ball a little bit better. It's not always hieroglyphics. Our strength coach (Mike Starke) said that they are the most mature group of players we've ever had, when it comes to talking through their issues and what they needed to fix before we even came in there at halftime. I think that's obviously a credit to them. We didn't have a lot of depth. They pressed us and tried to make it hard on us. Our guards did a fabulous job of taking care of the ball and getting us on offense. Hunter Sallis, Cameron Hildreth, I mean what a day they had. Parker Freidrichsen had some big moments in the second half. Marqus Marion is gonna be a really good player. Andrew Carr is just so steady. Andrew and Matthew Marsh did a much better job in the ball-screen defense in the second half in the drop, forcing them to take tough twos and we got the rebound. I was really pleased with the way we defended in the second half and I thought it was important because it's away from the bench too, and that shows maturity." - head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Wake Forest officially opens the 2023-24 regular season Monday, November 6th at LJVM Coliseum against Elon.
Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. and the game will stream live on ACC Network Extra.
Ticket Information
Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Wake Forest is 31-5 inside LJVM. During that time, Wake Forest won 15-straight games inside Joel Coliseum, which was the longest home-win streak since the Deacs went 22-0 during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. Wake Forest was the first ACC school to reach 31 home wins during the two seasons. With the Jan. 17 win over Clemson, Steve Forbes has defeated every ACC team at least once in less than three seasons.
Full season ticket packages for the 2023-24 season are now available! Starting at just $150, you can catch the full Wake Forest men's basketball season inside LJVM Coliseum. In an effort to create the Best Fan Experience in North Carolina, Wake Forest has two package options for fans.
Visit GoDeacs.com/tickets to shop all men's basketball ticket options.
The full 2023-24 Wake Forest men's basketball season schedule can be found here.
As a team, Wake Forest shot 30-for-62 (48 percent) from the floor and 8-for-23 (35 percent) from beyond-the-arc. The Demon Deacons also shot an impressive 20-for-26 (77 percent) from the free throw line.
At the end of the first half the Deacs trailed Alabama 52-39. Wake Forest went on a 23-4 run during the first eight minutes of the second half. The Demon Deacons run not only cut into the lead but gave the Deacs a seven-point lead and Wake Forest kept the lead through the end of the game.
The Deacs lead climbed to double digits twice during the second half as the free throw line helped close out the game, hitting 11-of-16 in the half.
The Demon Deacons were led by an impressive offensive performance from junior guard Cameron Hildreth, who finished the contest with a game-high 38 points on 10-of-18 shooting, including a 16-for-19 clip from the free throw line. The England-native also hauled in five rebounds and tallied two assists and two steals in 36 minutes of action.
Playing all 40 minutes, newcomer Hunter Sallis finished his Joel debut with 27 points while shooting 11-for-20 from the floor and 3-for-8 from deep in addition to three rebounds and two assists.
Senior Andrew Carr made his presence known on the defensive side of the floor. Carr recorded a game-high four blocks on the day for the Deacs. The Westchester, Pa. native controlled the glass for the Deacs with 10 rebounds.
Also making their first appearances for Wake Forest were freshmen Marqus Marion (six points, two assists and two rebounds), Aaron Clark (one steal) and Parker Freidreichsen (six points and two rebounds). Freidrichsen also finished with a game-high +17 plus/minus in 31 minutes of work.
How It Happened
- Hildreth got the Deacs on the board first followed by a layup from Sallis to give Wake the early 4-0 lead.
- A second-chance layup from Hildreth put the Deacs up 6-3 lead with 17:11 remaining.
- Hildreth continued his hot streak with a back-own jumper, scoring eight of Wake's first 10 points.
- Back-to-back jumpers from Sallis put Wake up, 14-12, with 13:43 to play in the first half.
- Three-point and-one from Sallis 11:41
- He converted the and-one to tie the game at 18-18
- One possession later, Hildreth drilled a three to put the Deacs in front, 21-18.
- The Wake Forest defense frustrated the Crimson Tide early as Alabama turned the ball over seven times in the opening 10 minutes of the game.
- A 10-0 run from Alabama forced a Wake Forest timeout at 8:43 with the Deacs down 28-21.
- Out of the timeout, Hildreth sank two free throws to cut the deficit.
- An and-one conversion from Hildreth ended another Alabama run.
- Another layup from Hildreth cut the deficit to single digits, 38-29, with 4:57 to go in the half.
- Carr notched back-to-back layups out of the under-four media timeout.
- Four more free throws from Hildreth gave him 19 points with under two minutes to play in the half.
- Marion scored his first collegiate points with a putback layup in the final minute of the first half.
- The first half ended with two more free throws from Hildreth.
- Wake Forest went into the locker room down 52-39.
- Hildreth led all players with 21 points.
- Sallis had 12, Carr had four and Marion had two.
- Sallis started the second half scoring for Wake with a jumper in the paint.
- Marsh made his first trip to the charity stripe and converted the and-one to get the Deacs within nine.
- Sallis continued the 8-0 scoring run for the Deacs from downtown to cut the deficit, 53-47.
- Hildreth made it a 10-0 run with a fastbreak layup on the very next possession.
- Friedrichsen drained his first three-pointer as a Demon Deacon to extend the run 13-0 and get Wake within one, 53-52, in less than three minutes into the half.
- Hildreth made it a 15-2 run with another bucket on the next possession to keep the Deacs within one, 55-54.
- By the first media timeout of the second half, the Deacs took a 57-55 lead thanks to another three from Friedrichsen, extending it to an 18-3 scoring run for Wake Forest.
- The Deacs did not let up, as Sallis drained one from downtown to go up 60-55 and extend the run to 21-3.
- Marion added to the offensive efforts with a jumper from the paint ahead of the under-12 media timeout to give Wake the 62-57 lead with 11:44 left to play.
- A pair of three throws from Hildreth out of the media timeout extended the lead, 64-57.
- On the next possession, Marion sank another layup to maintain the lead.
- A Sallis steal and slam gave Wake the nine-point lead.
- With under seven minutes to play, the Wake Forest defense held Alabama to just 15 points compared to the Deacs 35.
- A three-pointer from Carr with under six to play put the Deacs back up nine, 77-68.
- Out of the final media timeout, a pair of free throws from Hildreth and an and-one conversion from Sallis put the Deacs up 82-76 with 2:42 left to play.
- Hildreth's 33rd and 34th points came off a driving layup with under a minute to go.
- Free throw numbers 15 and 16 from Hildreth gave Wake Forest the 88-78 advantage with under 30 seconds to play.
- Wake Forest defeated Alabama 88-80.
"Well, first and foremost, I want to thank everybody for coming today and taking part in this charity game. I want to thank Alabama for coming up here, bringing their team, providing our fans with a great opportunity to see a great game and raise money for Stroke Awareness today. I didn't know this until this morning, but today is World Stroke Day. I'm gonna give you just a couple things and then we'll get to the game.
33,425 people are going to have a stroke today, and only 1,000 people are going to get life-saving treatment. So what we did here today is something that's really really important to help people that can't afford health care, can't afford getting the right treatment or don't live in the right place. If you're with somebody who has a stroke, you have to be fast. You have to check their balance, check their eyes, which was one of the problems with my wife, facial droop, which she didn't have until she got to hospital, arm or leg weakness, which she definitely had problems with, and speech. Those are telltale signs and when you see those things you have to act. You have to call 911 right away. Every minute that a stroke goes untreated, you lose two million neurons in your brain. Only three percent of the people in the world have access to life-saving treatment. What that treatment is, is clot-busting medication which my wife had, and clot extraction, which she didn't. Many low-income countries do not have specialists. Racial and ethnic minorities in the United States are a lot less likely to receive this type of treatment. The World Health Organization predicts that by 2030, strokes will become the leading cause of global disability. It can happen to anybody at any age at any time. My wife had very low cholesterol, very low blood pressure. and she swims every day, but it happened. There's an urgent need to reorganize healthcare systems to provide stroke treatment, secure adequate funding, which we worked on today, and a well-trained workforce to make treatment accessible. These are things that are really important not only to the world, but to me personally. I appreciate everybody coming here today and taking part in it.
It was a tale of two halves. It wasn't really complicated. At halftime, it was real simple. 'Hey, listen, we have to quit giving up offensive rebounds, quit turning it over and we have to guard the ball a little bit better. It's not always hieroglyphics. Our strength coach (Mike Starke) said that they are the most mature group of players we've ever had, when it comes to talking through their issues and what they needed to fix before we even came in there at halftime. I think that's obviously a credit to them. We didn't have a lot of depth. They pressed us and tried to make it hard on us. Our guards did a fabulous job of taking care of the ball and getting us on offense. Hunter Sallis, Cameron Hildreth, I mean what a day they had. Parker Freidrichsen had some big moments in the second half. Marqus Marion is gonna be a really good player. Andrew Carr is just so steady. Andrew and Matthew Marsh did a much better job in the ball-screen defense in the second half in the drop, forcing them to take tough twos and we got the rebound. I was really pleased with the way we defended in the second half and I thought it was important because it's away from the bench too, and that shows maturity." - head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Wake Forest officially opens the 2023-24 regular season Monday, November 6th at LJVM Coliseum against Elon.
Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. and the game will stream live on ACC Network Extra.
Ticket Information
Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Wake Forest is 31-5 inside LJVM. During that time, Wake Forest won 15-straight games inside Joel Coliseum, which was the longest home-win streak since the Deacs went 22-0 during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. Wake Forest was the first ACC school to reach 31 home wins during the two seasons. With the Jan. 17 win over Clemson, Steve Forbes has defeated every ACC team at least once in less than three seasons.
Full season ticket packages for the 2023-24 season are now available! Starting at just $150, you can catch the full Wake Forest men's basketball season inside LJVM Coliseum. In an effort to create the Best Fan Experience in North Carolina, Wake Forest has two package options for fans.
- Bojangles 4-Packs: A fan favorite from Wake Forest football is now available for all Wake Forest men's basketball games (with the exception of the Duke game on Feb. 24). Bojangles 4-Packs include four tickets and a parking pass to a game as well as a $20 Bojangles gift card and give you the greatest value starting at only $29. Make sure to purchase now before prices increase on November 1!
- FLEX Plan: New this season, Wake Forest will offer a single FLEX plan for Wake Forest men's basketball games that includes 10 admissions to be used in any combination throughout the season (with the exception of the Duke game on Feb. 24). These FLEX plans start at just $199. Whether you use all 10 tickets at one game or one ticket across 10 games, the FLEX plan gives fans the ultimate flexibility to watch the Demon Deacons on the schedule that works best for them.
Visit GoDeacs.com/tickets to shop all men's basketball ticket options.
The full 2023-24 Wake Forest men's basketball season schedule can be found here.
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
C
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballMatt Barrie SportsCenter at Wake Forest with Demond Claiborne
Wednesday, September 10
Matt Barrie SportsCenter on Wake Forest Campus (Arnold Palmer Complex)
Wednesday, September 10
Football Media Availability (9/9/25)
Wednesday, September 10
Wake Forest Football vs Western Carolina | Cinematic Recap
Tuesday, September 09