Wednesday, February 22
Raleigh, NC
9 p.m.

Wake Forest University

17-11,9-8ACC

74
at
90

NC State

22-7,12-6ACC

1
2
F
Wake Forest
46
28
74
NC State
52
38
90
Tyree Appleby
Photo by: Trevor Bowens

Deacs Battle, Suffer Setback to Wolfpack in Final Big Four Regular-Season Showing

2/23/2023 12:22:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Action in PNC Arena featured efficient, quick scoring throughout Wednesday night.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Continuing its slight road stretch, the Wake Forest men's basketball team battled with Big Four foe NC State during Wednesday night (Feb. 22), inside PNC Arena. Despite an explosive first-half performance from the Demon Deacons, the team fell to the Wolfpack (22-7, 12-6) in a 74-90 decision.
 
The Demon Deacons moved to 17-11 on the season, and now hold a 9-8 record through Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) play.
 
Wake Forest came out of the gates firing, as the team opened the contest shooting 10-for-11 from the floor and 5-for-6 from three. Tyree Appleby connected on three triples on three attempts over the first five minutes of action. He finished the game with a team-high 19 points, four assists and three rebounds. Additionally, the performance marks the 13th time this season Appleby led the Deacs in both points and assists.
 
Cameron Hildreth and Andrew Carr both recorded solid outings, as the pair finished with 13 points apiece. Hildreth scored 11 of his total in the first half, while adding five rebounds and a pair of assists.
 
For the fifth time this season, Matthew Marsh led the Deacs on the glass, with seven rebounds in addition to eight points on 4-of-5 shooting with a pair of dunks.
 
The Deacs ultimately ended on a strong 51.9 shooting mark – the second-highest percentage the Wolfpack have allowed in conference play this season.
 
Wake Forest returns home Saturday night (Feb. 25) for the penultimate home game of the season against Notre Dame. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET in LJVM Coliseum and the game will air live on ACC Network.
 
Standout Stats
  • Wake Forest's 51.9 field goal percentage is the second-highest percentage the Wolfpack have allowed in conference play this season.
  • Wake is the only ACC team to make more than nine threes and only team this season to make more than 10 from deep against State.
 
How It Happened
  • Carr opened the scoring on the first possession of the contest with a layup following an assist from Marsh.
  • Hildreth gave Wake Forest a 4-2 lead at the 18:15 mark with a driving layup.
  • Appleby knocked down his first basket of the evening with a triple before Hildreth extended the lead to five with another finish at the rim on the following possession.
  • The graduate guard connected on back-to-back three pointers to make it 15-10 with 15:38 remaining in the first half as he opened the contest 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.
  • Carr recorded his second layup and Monsanto opened his account with a triple as the Deacs' continued their hot offensive start and took a 20-14 lead.
    • Wake Forest shot 8-for-9 from the floor and 4-for-5 from deep over the first six minutes of action.
  • Hildreth and Marsh traded layups on consecutive possessions as the Deacs held a 25-20 advantage at the under-12 media timeout.
  • Carr became the third Demon Deacon to open the game 3-for-3 from the floor as he knocked down a triple off an Appleby assist.
  • Williamson found Klintman open for a deep three-pointer and regained a 31-29 lead with 7:55 to go in the half.
  • Appleby and Marsh connected for an alley-oop at the 5:05 mark.
  • Marsh finished a second-chance layup and Monsanto knocked down his second three-pointer to bring the Deacs back to within a point with 2:44 remaining in the half.
  • Hildreth tied the game at 41-41 with his first triple of the contest.
    • The sophomore guard was the first Demon Deacon to reach double-digit scoring with a pair of free throws at the 1:45 mark.
  • Monsanto connected on his third three-pointer on four attempts to close out the first-half scoring for Wake Forest.
  • The Demon Deacons trailed, 46-52, as they headed into the locker room.
    • Hildreth led the Deacs with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
    • Appleby finished the half with nine points, two rebounds and two assists.
    • As a team, Wake Forest shot 17-for-26 (65.4 percent) from the floor and 9-of-15 (60 percent) from beyond-the-arc.
  • Appleby opened the second-half scoring just 15 seconds in with a two-point jumper.
  • Marsh remained a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor with a dunk off of Appleby's third assist.
  • Carr worked his way to the rim for a layup before an Appleby steal led to a Williamson triple at the 15:55 mark as Wake Forest quickly cut a 10-point deficit in half.
  • Carr earned his way to the line and went 2-for-2 and Hildreth finished a fast-break layup as the Deacs trailed 59-66 with 8:49 to go.
  • Appleby got fouled on a three-point attempt and knocked down all three from the charity stripe and connected from deep a few possessions later.
  • Carr and Williamson connected on a pair of two-point jumpers on consecutive possessions before the graduate guard closed out the contest with a triple as the Deacs fell to the Wolfpack, 74-90.
Coach's Comments
"NC State's got a really good basketball team. I think Kevin's done an unbelievable job with his team this year. They are going to make some noise in the ACC tournament and then the NCAA tournament. They definitely have a team that can win games. They are very athletic, their guards are really quick with their feet and they're physical. They kind of wore us down after both teams stopped playing horse out there and they started playing a basketball game. We were really impressed with the way Joiner moves his feet. We knew he could score, but he was the best player on the court.
 
We did a really poor job handling the ball. I have to give NC State credit for that some, but we don't get enough shots when we turn the ball over like that because we don't turn people over a lot so it puts us in a tough situation. So that hurt us. The biggest play of the game for us is when we cut it to eight. Ty made three free throws coming out of the eight-minute media and we cut to eight, went down and turned them over. We had a play called in the huddle for Andrew to slip to the basket. He did, but we turned it over. Then they went down and we didn't guard the best player on the court, and he made a three. That was the ball game to me. We had a good chance, and we're still fighting. The team's got a good fight, but Burns played a good game. He's a hard guy to guard. We did a better job guarding him in this game than we did the last game. When we did trap him and get the baseline cut off we did a good job. When we didn't, we didn't. Again, congrats to Kevin and his team. I think they're going to be really, really good in postseason play." - head coach Steve Forbes

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