Wednesday, November 29
Winston-Salem, N.C.
7:15 p.m.
Wake Forest University
4-3,0-0ACC
82
vs
71
Florida
4-3,0-0SEC
1
2
F
Florida
36
35
71
Wake Forest
32
50
82
Photo by: © Abby Smith
Two-Way Play Powers Deacs Past Gators in Inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge
11/29/2023 10:41:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Hunter Sallis tied a career high in points, as four total Demon Deacons scored 11 or more.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - An enthusiastic, 'Tie Dye' crowd, fast-paced play, and competitive effort on both ends throughout a full 40 minutes all headlined Wednesday evening (Nov. 29) for Wake Forest men's basketball (4-3), as the team downed Florida (4-3) in the first-ever ACC/SEC Challenge, finishing on an 82-71 victory inside Lawrence Joel Veterans Coliseum.
The win moved Wake Forest to 34-5 overall inside LJVM Coliseum since the start of the 2021-22 season, also now standing at 23-0 on its home floor against non-conference opponents dating back to December 2018.
After trailing at the halftime break, the Demon Deacons outscored the Gators 50-35 during the second 20 minutes and ultimately forced 15 turnovers by the visitors. Wake Forest held Florida to its second-fewest points scored this season with 71 (70 vs. Virginia on Nov. 11.).
The Deacs were led by junior Hunter Sallis, who tied his career high of 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting (53.3 percent), in addition to four assists and four rebounds. It was his fourth 20-point performance of the season. Additionally, Sallis leads the team over the first seven games of the season with 19.1 points per game.
Senior forward Andrew Carr continued to close in on the 1,000 career points milestone, as he finished his 40th-career appearance in a Wake Forest uniform with 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting (61.5 percent). It was his second-highest point total of the year thus far. The West Chester, Pa. native also led the team with three blocks and six rebounds.
The backcourt duo of junior Cameron Hildreth and redshirt sophomore Kevin Miller added 29 combined points against the Gators. The former tallied six rebounds and four assists, both tied for a team high.
Wake Forest remains in Winston-Salem for the next five games of 2023. The Deacs will next face Rutgers inside LJVM Coliseum next Wednesday (Dec. 6).
Tip is set for 6:00 p.m. and the game will air live on ACC Network.
How It Happened
Stats of the Game
Key Moment
Coach's Comments
"Really, really proud of our team. We beat a really good team tonight, Florida has a nice team. They are going to win a lot of games and have a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament. Down the road this will end up being a very good win. It was an identity win. Richard Hendrix, a great player I coached against at Alabama, asked me an interesting question tonight. He asked, 'What is your team's identity?' I responded, 'That's a good question'. Because I hadn't been happy about where we were at with our identity. But I said, 'I want teams that haven't seen us play to think that we play hard, smart and together. That we share the ball and are really gritty, grimey and tough on defense. That we rebound with two hands and we execute.' No matter what we do and what we run, if we do those things we have a good chance to win.
That was an identity win tonight. We checked off all five of those boxes. There were three big areas that I was concerned about coming into the game. Number one was defensive transition, they are very uptempo. We did a great job with defensive transitions. We didn't give up easy baskets. Florida is fourth in rebounds and they average about 18 offensive rebounds a game. We held them to seven offensive rebounds. That's gritty, grimey, tough and that is rebounding the ball with two hands. Matt Marsh and Zach Keller did a great job blocking out and grabbing rebounds. We got nine rebounds out of our fives tonight. We did a great job of playing from homebase. What does that mean? Our guards cannot drive the ball down the lane or elbows, I call them drive boxes. Florida shot 56 percent from two, we held them to 44 percent from two.They are also one of the most efficient offenses in the country like we are. They came in averaging 1.14 points-per-possession, we held them to .92.
We didn't finish the half very well in the middle eight. We got careless with the ball at the end of the half and we didn't start off well at the beginning of the second half. I called timeout in to settle them down, we came right back out and not only did we score but we got stops. Those stops were huge. We forced 10 turnovers in the second half. Offensively, we got to the paint. We were 22-41 from two. We did a great job sharing the ball. Hunter and Andrew carried us there for a little bit. But it's a team game, Boopie and the rest of the team made some plays. I'm really proud of them. Hunter had a big three and some good strips and rips during the game. Just a great team win there. " - head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Wake Forest remains in Winston-Salem for the next five games of 2023. The Deacs will next face Rutgers inside LJVM Coliseum next Wednesday (Dec. 6).
Tip is set for 6:00 p.m. and the game will air live on ACC Network.
The win moved Wake Forest to 34-5 overall inside LJVM Coliseum since the start of the 2021-22 season, also now standing at 23-0 on its home floor against non-conference opponents dating back to December 2018.
After trailing at the halftime break, the Demon Deacons outscored the Gators 50-35 during the second 20 minutes and ultimately forced 15 turnovers by the visitors. Wake Forest held Florida to its second-fewest points scored this season with 71 (70 vs. Virginia on Nov. 11.).
The Deacs were led by junior Hunter Sallis, who tied his career high of 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting (53.3 percent), in addition to four assists and four rebounds. It was his fourth 20-point performance of the season. Additionally, Sallis leads the team over the first seven games of the season with 19.1 points per game.
Senior forward Andrew Carr continued to close in on the 1,000 career points milestone, as he finished his 40th-career appearance in a Wake Forest uniform with 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting (61.5 percent). It was his second-highest point total of the year thus far. The West Chester, Pa. native also led the team with three blocks and six rebounds.
The backcourt duo of junior Cameron Hildreth and redshirt sophomore Kevin Miller added 29 combined points against the Gators. The former tallied six rebounds and four assists, both tied for a team high.
Wake Forest remains in Winston-Salem for the next five games of 2023. The Deacs will next face Rutgers inside LJVM Coliseum next Wednesday (Dec. 6).
Tip is set for 6:00 p.m. and the game will air live on ACC Network.
How It Happened
- A three from Sallis got the Deacs on the board first for the early 3-0 lead a minute into the contest.
- A pair of free throws from Miller on the next possession made it 5-0.
- Two possessions later, Hildreth extended the lead, 7-3.
- A Hildreth-Sallis fast-break play put the Deacs up 9-3 on the next possession.
- A jumper from Miller and a driving layup from Hildreth on back-to-back plays helped the Deacs pull away after a short Florida run, 15-8.
- A putback from Marsh made it 17-14, with 12:35 to go in the half.
- After a Florida run, Carr tied it at 20 with a left-wing three from Hildreth.
- Another three from Sallis at the top of the key put the Deacs back up, 23-22, with 7:44 left in the half.
- A few possessions later, Carr hit a corner three to get the Deacs within one, 27-26, and on the next play Hildreth layed up to stay within one, 29-28.
- A turnaround jumper from Carr on the nex possession put Wake back in front, 30-29, with 4:21 to go in the half.
- Carr hit a hook shot from the right side of the lane for the lead again, 32-31.
- Wake Forest went into the half down 36-32.
- Carr led all scorers with 12 points and grabbed six rebounds.
- Carr got the Deacs on the board to start the second half, getting Wake within two, 36-34.
- Two possessions later Miller kept Wake Forest within two with a jumper in the paint, 38-36.
- A jumper from Sallis ended a Florida run and kept the Deacs within single digits, 45-38, with 15:13 to play.
- Free throws from Sallis and a jumper from Hildreth put Wake within five, 47-42, with 13:21 to go.
- Sallis kept the Deacs within five, 49-44, on the next possession.
- Carr capitalized on an and-one and the Deacs got a defensive stop to get within two points after Sallis drained a right-wing jumper, 51-49, with 11:31 to play.
- The Deacs' 6-0 run got them within one point after Sallis made a free throw.
- A Hildreth-to-Carr slam tied it at 52 with 10 minutes to play.
- A one-and-one opportunity for Hildreth turned into two quick points to keep it tied at 54.
- A defensive stop and a three-pointer from Carr from the top of the key put the Deacs back in front for the first time since the first half with 8:30 to play.
- Friedrichsen got his first points of the game on a left-wing three to extend Wake's lead, 60-56.
- A fadeaway baseline jumper from Sallis extended Wake Forest's lead, 62-56.
- Florida tied it at 64 with 4:55 to play.
- A jumper from the right wing by Marsh put Wake Forest back up, 66-64.
- A free throw from Hildreth put Wake Forest up by one, 67-66, with 3:35 to play.
- Back-to-back buckets from Hildreth and Miller had the Deacs up 71-66 with 2:04 remaining.
- An and-one conversion from Sallis kept the Deacs up, 74-67, with 1:32 to go.
- A driving layup from Miller on the next possession kept Wake Forest up, 76-67.
- Four free throws from Hildreth had Wake Forest up 80-69 with 50 seconds to play.
- Wake Forest defeated Florida, 81-71.
- Florida did not record a field goal for the final 3:43 of game time.
Stats of the Game
- With 22 points and six rebounds against the Gators, Andrew Carr is just 73 points away from 1,000 and 22 rebounds away from 500.
- The senior also recorded at least one block for the seventh-consecutive game to open the season with three against Florida, and is now two blocks away from 100 in his career.
- He entered the game fourth in the ACC in blocks per game (2.3).
- Making his 40th appearance in a Wake Forest uniform, Wednesday night marked his second 20-point performance of the season (Elon). He also finished with a team-high plus/minus of +17.
- The senior also recorded at least one block for the seventh-consecutive game to open the season with three against Florida, and is now two blocks away from 100 in his career.
- With the win, Wake Forest is now 34-5 inside LJVM Coliseum since the start of the 2021-22 season, and is 23-0 in LJVM against non-conference opponents dating back to December 2018.
- The Demon Deacons have had at least one player with 20-or-more points in each of the first seven games this season:
- Cameron Hildreth - 33 points vs. Elon (11/6)
- Andrew Carr - 24 points vs. Elon (11/6)
- Kevin Miller - 22 points vs. Georgia (11/10)
- Hunter Sallis - 20 points vs. Utah (11/16)
- Hunter Sallis - 24 points vs. Towson (11/17)
- Kevin Miller - 25 points vs. Towson (11/17)
- Hunter Sallis - 22 vs LSU (11/19)
- Cameron Hildreth - 21 vs Charleston Southern (11/24)
- Andrew Carr - 22 vs Florida (11/29)
- Hunter Sallis - 24 vs Florida (11/29)
- It also marked the sixth time this season that four Demon Deacons recorded double figures.
- Hunter Sallis - 24 points
- Andrew Carr - 22 points
- Cameron Hildreth - 18 points
- Boopie Miller - 11 points
Key Moment
- Hunter Sallis went on a personal spurt of eight points in just under nine minutes into the second half before Andrew Carr evened the scoreboard at 52-52 with a dunk at the front of the rim.
- After Cameron Hildreth netted a pair of free throws, Carr gave Wake Forest its first lead of the half with a three-pointer from the top of the key at the 8:48 mark.
Coach's Comments
"Really, really proud of our team. We beat a really good team tonight, Florida has a nice team. They are going to win a lot of games and have a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament. Down the road this will end up being a very good win. It was an identity win. Richard Hendrix, a great player I coached against at Alabama, asked me an interesting question tonight. He asked, 'What is your team's identity?' I responded, 'That's a good question'. Because I hadn't been happy about where we were at with our identity. But I said, 'I want teams that haven't seen us play to think that we play hard, smart and together. That we share the ball and are really gritty, grimey and tough on defense. That we rebound with two hands and we execute.' No matter what we do and what we run, if we do those things we have a good chance to win.
That was an identity win tonight. We checked off all five of those boxes. There were three big areas that I was concerned about coming into the game. Number one was defensive transition, they are very uptempo. We did a great job with defensive transitions. We didn't give up easy baskets. Florida is fourth in rebounds and they average about 18 offensive rebounds a game. We held them to seven offensive rebounds. That's gritty, grimey, tough and that is rebounding the ball with two hands. Matt Marsh and Zach Keller did a great job blocking out and grabbing rebounds. We got nine rebounds out of our fives tonight. We did a great job of playing from homebase. What does that mean? Our guards cannot drive the ball down the lane or elbows, I call them drive boxes. Florida shot 56 percent from two, we held them to 44 percent from two.They are also one of the most efficient offenses in the country like we are. They came in averaging 1.14 points-per-possession, we held them to .92.
We didn't finish the half very well in the middle eight. We got careless with the ball at the end of the half and we didn't start off well at the beginning of the second half. I called timeout in to settle them down, we came right back out and not only did we score but we got stops. Those stops were huge. We forced 10 turnovers in the second half. Offensively, we got to the paint. We were 22-41 from two. We did a great job sharing the ball. Hunter and Andrew carried us there for a little bit. But it's a team game, Boopie and the rest of the team made some plays. I'm really proud of them. Hunter had a big three and some good strips and rips during the game. Just a great team win there. " - head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Wake Forest remains in Winston-Salem for the next five games of 2023. The Deacs will next face Rutgers inside LJVM Coliseum next Wednesday (Dec. 6).
Tip is set for 6:00 p.m. and the game will air live on ACC Network.
Team Stats
UF
WF
FG%
.400
.491
3FG%
.333
.375
FT%
.789
.690
RB
33
34
TO
15
13
STL
9
8
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
24
FGM
8
3FGM
2
FTM
6
Pts
22
FGM
8
3FGM
3
FTM
3
Pts
18
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
8
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
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