Wake Forest Battles Pittsburgh on the Road

PITTSBURGH, Penn. - Making a return to game action for the first time in nine days, the Wake Forest men's basketball team (13-7, 5-4) visited Pittsburgh (13-8, 4-6) on Wednesday (Jan. 31) for an evening matchup inside Petersen Events Center. The Demon Deacons ultimately fell short in a 77-72 finish.

Hunter Sallis led the scoring output with 22 points. The performance was the junior guard's seventh of the season, along with the fourth time in Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) play, in which he has totaled 20 or more.

Efton Reid III tied his season high in points, ending with 14 on the night and making 7-of-11 shots from the field. The big man additionally hauled in 10 rebounds to notch his third double-double of the winter.

Kevin Miller and Andrew Carr chipped in 11 and 10 points, respectively, as the latter shot 4-of-8 from the field and led the team with three blocks. Cameron Hildreth snagged seven rebounds.

As a team, the Deacons posted an 83.3 mark in free-throw percentage and outrebounded the Panthers, 35-29.

Wake Forest returns home Saturday night (Feb. 3) to host the Syracuse Orange inside LJVM Coliseum. Tip is set for 7:45 p.m. and the game will air live on The CW.

This will be the first home game for the Deacs since the Jan. 20 win over Louisville. Get your tickets now at GoDeacs.com/tickets or call the ticket office at 336-758-3322.

How It Happened

Efton Reid III found the basket first to put the Deacs up 2-0.
On the next possession, Reid found Hunter Sallis on the right wing for a three and the 5-2 lead.
Reid dished out another assist, this time to Andrew Carr, for the layup to keep Wake in front four minutes in.
Carr hit his first three of the game on the next possession from the left corner off a dime from Cameron Hildreth.
- After a defensive stop, Sallis hit another right-wing three for the 13-7 lead.
On the next defensive play, Sallis got the rebound and took it coast-to-coast for the layup.
Wake went into the first media timeout with the 15-12 lead, having made six of their past eight shots.
After a defensive stalemate, Sallis hit a jumper in the lane to keep Wake in front, 17-12.
- The Wake Forest defense held Pitt without a basket for over five minutes.
Reid went to work in the paint and made his second bucket and put Wake on a 7-0 run and up by 10.
Out of the timeout, Damari Monsanto found Carr in the paint for a layup and the 24-15 lead.
- Two threes in a row from the Panthers cut Wake's lead to three.
Sallis found the bucket for his fifth made basket and put Wake back up by five.
- On the next possession Sallis found Reid for the slam to maintain the Deacs' lead.
- Kevin Miller took it to the rim next for a layup.
Out of the timeout, the Deacs got three defensive stops and Miller hit a free throw to put Wake up four with under two minutes to go in the half.
On the next two possessions, Miller hit two jumpers and Wake was back up by eight.
Wake ended the half making five of their last seven field goals and on a 7-0 run with the 37-27 lead.
- Sallis led all scorers with 14 first-half points.
- Sallis and Hildreth each had a game-high four rebounds in the opening 20 minutes.
- The Deacon defense held Pitt without a basket for the final four minutes of the half.
The Deacs started the second half with a block from Reid and two free throws from Miller for the 12-point lead.
Reid worked the paint for another bucket to keep Wake up by double-digits.
Parker Friedrichsen ended a Pitt run with a corner three, his first of the game, to get Wake back up by seven.
Out of the timeout, Reid hit a backdown layup to maintain Wake's lead.
Monsanto hit his first three of the game from the left corner and the Deacs went back up by five.
After Pitt tied it at 49, Reid backed down Federicko to stay in front, 51-49 with 9:46 to play.
- Another one from Reid on the next possession and Wake went up by three.
A fadeaway jumper from Sallis again pulled Wake away after Pitt tied it at 53.
- Free throws from Pitt tied it again at 55 with 7:56 to play.
Sallis hit a jumper from the baseline to keep it notched at 57.
Pitt took a seven-point lead with 4:42 on the clock.
A driving layup from Hildreth ended the Pitt run and put Wake within five.
Miller ended a Pitt run to make it 68-61 Pitt with 1:51 to play.
Pitt took a 10-point lead with 1:18 to play.
Hildreth sank a layup to make it eight points with 48 seconds to go.
Two free throws from Friedrichsen cut it six with 34 seconds to go.
Sallis took it coast-to-coast to keep the Deacs within six.
Carr hit a three to get Wake within five points with 16.4 seconds to go and Forbes called his final timeout.
Wake Forest fell to Pitt, 77-72.

Stats of the Game

Hunter Sallis continued his streak of 20 consecutive games to open his Wake Forest career with double-digit scoring, as the junior added 22 points in addition to six rebounds and three assists.
- He entered the contest sixth in the ACC in scoring and is now averaging a team-high 18.0 points per game.
- Wednesday marked Sallis' seventh game of the season with 20-or-more points and fourth time in ACC play.
In the first half, the Demon Deacons held Pitt to its fourth-fewest points in a first frame this season. It marked the sixth time overall the Panthers were held to under 30 in the first half this campaign.
Wake Forest added 38 points in the paint against Pitt, the second-most allowed by the Panthers in an ACC game this season.
- It also marked the most points in the paint in ACC play by Wake Forest this season.

Coach's Comments

"Pitt did a really good job early in the second half driving our guards getting us in foul trouble. They got in the bonus really quickly. Playing on the road has been a problem. We fouled too much in the second half.

The nine offensive rebounds were killers and the majority of that would be on our guards for not rebounding down and getting the ball. We had five kills in the first half, and we had one in the second. I think they scored 13 out of 15 possessions from the 16 minute mark to the five minute mark. We just can't win that way.

It's disappointing, but you have to give credit to Pitt. Hinson made some tough shots, Carrington was really good, he played 40 minutes and scored eight points at the line. Leggett played very well, I know he's a good player. We had our fours on him because we were trying to guard Hinson with a guard, so he took advantage of him. He made some tough shots and he made some open shots. I have to give credit to him. They have good players, they have a good team and they're on a little bit of a roll right now. We've got to go home and get this fixed. But ultimately, we can't give up 50 points in the second half. We can't give up nine offensive rebounds and you can't have 15 turnovers. We had eight turnovers in the first half and I told them it would have to be under 12 and we finished with 15. Those are just losing plays and losing numbers and credit to Pitt for winning the game." - head coach Steve Forbes

Up Next

Wake Forest returns home Saturday night (Feb. 3) to host the Syracuse Orange inside LJVM Coliseum. Tip is set for 7:45 p.m. and the game will air live on The CW.

This will be the first home game for the Deacs since the Jan. 20 win over Louisville. Get your tickets now at GoDeacs.com/tickets or call the ticket office at 336-758-3322.

Next Event

Team Stats

Hunter Sallis

Efton Reid III

Kevin Miller

Andrew Carr

Players Mentioned

Andrew Carr

Parker Friedrichsen

Cameron Hildreth

Kevin Miller

Damari Monsanto

Efton Reid III

Hunter Sallis

Wake Forest Athletics