Demon Deacons Battle at NC State

RALEIGH, N.C. - On the road for its first Big Four outing of the 2023-24 regular season, Wake Forest men's basketball (12-5, 4-2) visited NC State on Tuesday evening (Jan. 16). The two sides competed both ways for a full 40 minutes before the Demon Deacons ultimately fell in an 83-76 decision.

Andrew Carr erupted for a new career high in points, tallying 28 on a remarkable 10-of-13 shooting clip. The performance included a fourth showing of 20 or more points by the senior forward this season.

Kevin Miller recorded 21 points while dishing out four assists and grabbing three rebounds. The Chicago native went a stellar 15-of-15 from the free throw line, tied for the third-most makes without a miss in program history, along with Bryant Crawford against Duke in 2017.

Hunter Sallis chipped in 12 points and six rebounds in 28 minutes of game action. Efton Reid III added seven points and seven rebounds.

The Deacons held NC State to zero made three pointers, marking the first time a Wake Forest team did so since Jan. 31, 2004 against Virginia.

Wake Forest returns home for the fourth-straight Saturday contest inside Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial (LJVM) Coliseum this weekend. The team will host the Louisville Cardinals on Jan. 20. Tip is set for Noon and the game will air live on ESPNU.

How It Happened

Sallis got the Deacs an early 2-0 lead with a jumper from the top of the lane.
- Another jumper from nearly the same spot, this time by Carr, had the Deacs up 4-0.
Miller found Carr under the basket on the next play and Wake went up 6-3.
A corner three from Sallis put Wake up by four.
- The Deacs scored on four straight possessions to open the game.
After two free throws from Sallis, Wake went into the first media timeout with the 11-9 lead.
Hildreth hit a turnaround jumper out of the timeout to extend the lead back to four.
NC State tied it at 14, but a corner three from Carr put Wake back in front, 17-14, with 12:18 to go in the first half.
Out of the timeout, Carr found the basket and Wake went up five.
On the next possession, Reid hit his first three-pointer of the game from the top of the key to give the Deacs the 22-14 lead.
Miller hit another jumper from the lane and the Deacs were back up eight, 24-16, with 10:18 to play in the half.
Reid found Carr in the lane for a slam so the Deacs could maintain their eight-point lead after the defense held the Wolfpack scoreless for two and a half minutes.
Friedrichsen drove the lane for a layup to keep Wake in front.
Carr's second three of the game put Wake back up by six with 5:20 left in the first half.
Miller found the open lane for a bucket and a Marsh block kept Wake up by six with 3:23 to go in the half.
Four free throws from Miller off an NC State technical gave Wake its biggest lead of the game at the time, 39-29.
Carr finished in the lane to extend Wake's lead to 12 in the midst of a 12-2 run.
Two more free throws from Miller maintained Wake's 12-point lead.
Wake Forest went into halftime with the 45-35 lead.
- Carr led all scorers with 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting.
- Miller went 8-of-8 from the free throw line in the first 20 minutes.
Hildreth took it coast to coast early in the second half to maintain the Wake Forest lead.
Reid backed one down two plays later to keep the Deacs in front.
Miller capitalized on an and-one to put Wake back up 10 with 16:30 to play.
After a short scoring drought, Sallis found Reid inside to keep the Deacs up six with 12 minutes to play.
Sallis hit a right-wing three and Wake went back up by nine.
- On the next play, Sallis hit a fadeaway jumper on the baseline to get the Deacs back up by double digits.
Out of the timeout, a layup from Hildreth maintained Wake's lead with 7:18 to play.
Miller hit two free throws to end a scoring drought and keep the Deacs in front, 64-61, with 5:24 to play.
A jumper from Carr kept Wake ahead , 66-63, and after State cut it to one, Carr hit a corner three to keep the lead.
NC State tied it at 69 with 2:48 to go.
NC State took the 73-69 lead and Carr capitalized on an and-one to get the Deacs within one, 73-72, with 1:14 to go.
Wake Forest fell to NC State, 83-76.

Stats of the Game

Wake Forest's 45 first-half points mark its most in the first frame this season and most since the road NC State game last season on Feb. 22, 2023.
The Deacs held NC State to zero made three pointers, marking the first time a Wake Forest team did so since Jan. 31, 2004 against Virginia.
Miller went a stellar 15-of-15 from the free throw line, tied for the third-most makes without a miss in program history, along with Bryant Crawford against Duke in 2017.
Entering the game, Wake Forest had three Demon Deacons inside the top 10 of scoring during ACC play, the only team with more than one.
- 4th - Kevin Miller - 19.0
- 5th - Hunter Sallis - 17.0
- 9th - Cameron Hildreth - 15.5

Coach's Comments
"We lost our composure on offense and defense in the second half. We got whipped on both ends of the court. I thought we played selfishly. In the first half the ball was zinging and moving and we had wide open shots. In the second half we over dribbled, we didn't play for each other and we couldn't score the ball. We also couldn't get any stops.

Credit to NC State and their guards, their guards outplayed ours. NC State played a lot more; they were physical and guarded us better in the second half and we played into their hands. As bad as the game was, we had the lead with 3:31 left to go coming out of a timeout. We missed the front end of a one-and-one and went down and fouled them. Then it turned into either them getting easy baskets or us committing fouls. I think NC State went 20-for-21 down the stretch. It seemed like they made them all. Again, credit to their players and their team for sticking together. I told the team at halftime that you don't win the game at half. They don't give out awards for the first half. So we had to go play the second half and we didn't, which was disappointing. We've let our fans down as well by losing an in-state game like this." - head coach Steve Forbes

Up Next
The Deacs return home for the fourth-straight Saturday contest inside Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial (LJVM) Coliseum this weekend. The team will host the Louisville Cardinals on Jan. 20. Tip is set for Noon and the game will air live on ESPNU.

Next Event

Team Stats

Andrew Carr

Kevin Miller

Hunter Sallis

Efton Reid III

Players Mentioned

Andrew Carr

Cameron Hildreth

Kevin Miller

Efton Reid III

Hunter Sallis

Wake Forest Athletics