Tuesday, November 19
Winston-Salem, N.C.
7:00 p.m.
Wake Forest University
5-1,0-0ACC
82
vs
69
Western Carolina
2-2,0-0SoCon
1
2
F
Western Caro.
34
35
69
Wake Forest
44
38
82
Photo by: Seth Seebaugh
Deacs Down Catamounts at Home, Sallis Reaches Career Milestone
11/19/2024 10:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Wake Forest remains undefeated at home for the 2024-25 season.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Back at home to open the third week of the 2024-25 season, Wake Forest men's basketball (5-1, 0-0 ACC) found a collective groove early versus Western Carolina (2-2, 0-0 SoCon), defeating the Catamounts in an 82-69 finish.
Leading the way with 20 points that tied for a game-high, Hunter Sallis reached over 1,000 for his career during the evening – becoming the 60th overall program individual to notch the milestone. The senior guard chipped in five assists and went a perfect 6-for-6 at the free-throw line.
Cameron Hildreth enjoyed a strong, all-around performance with 18 points, three rebounds, six assists and two steals while shooting 50 percent from the floor (6-of-12).
Parker Friedrichsen caught fire from behind the arc during the game's early portion, ultimately finishing with 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting from three-point territory. Tre'Von Spillers and Davin Cosby added nine and eight points, respectively, with the former also pulling down a team-best five rebounds.
Churchill Abass provided quality minutes as a reserve, playing 23 for the night and leading all individuals with three blocks.
As a unit, the Demon Deacons shot 42.9 percent from the field, 38.7 percent from three, and 84.2 percent from the line.
With the win, Wake Forest has now won 26 of their last 27 games against non-conference opponents inside Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, dating back to December 2018.
How It Happened
Stats of the Game
Key Moment
"First off, it was really great to honor Western Carolina with the shirts that we wore tonight. I have an affinity for Western Carolina and East Tennessee, because I spent probably 10 years of my life in that area. I have a lot of friends in Asheville and played the SoCon tournament there for five years. It's just devastating to see what happened there. My daughter lives in Johnson City and as a parent, I was really worried, but they were fine. But just south of there, in Unicoi County and Irwin, it's just devastation. Obviously Asheville as well and then Cullowhee. Talking to Coach Craft, I think they were okay, but there's a lot of healing that needs to be done in that area. Hopefully tonight we could help that a little bit.
We can't be a good defensive team, or a really good defensive team, unless we rebound the ball. It's demoralizing to your defense to get stops and then not get the ball. How does that happen? Well, some of us were not checking out, that's part of it. A big part of it too is our guards don't get in there and get the loose balls, the 50/50 balls. We also had some funky lineups tonight too, and they pinned their ears back and went. Just having one day to prepare kind of showed a little bit defensively. At the start of the game and the end of the game, we were not very sharp because of offensive rebounds. We did turn them over 21 times, and that's a big difference. We did a really good job moving the ball; we had 17 assists on 27 baskets and only eight turnovers, when we had 18 on Saturday. It was really good to see Parker [Friedrichsen] and Davin [Cosby] both make shots together and Churchill [Abass] brought tremendous energy off the bench.
Efton [Reid III] has spent a lifetime of fighting migraines. After the first five minutes, he just couldn't go. So he has a migraine, and Omaha [Biliew] had his surgery today, so we had some funky lineups. We had Cameron [Hildreth] and Juke [Harris] playing the four a lot, and Tre'Von [Spillers] playing the five, but that's just part of it. They did a good job adjusting. We ran a lot of stuff and there are several guys learning different positions. It's really hard for a freshman like Juke to have to learn two or three positions offensively. It's hard. Cameron's got to learn the one, the three and the four. I give credit to those guys for doing the best job that they could do on the fly and adjusting to the play calls that we ran and the stuff that we changed." - head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Wake Forest stays home this weekend for a Demon Deacon double-header Saturday, Nov. 23. The women's basketball team will face Davidson at 1 p.m. inside The Joel and the men's team will follow, facing Detroit Mercy.
Tip is set for 4 p.m. and the game will stream live on ACC Network Extra.
Leading the way with 20 points that tied for a game-high, Hunter Sallis reached over 1,000 for his career during the evening – becoming the 60th overall program individual to notch the milestone. The senior guard chipped in five assists and went a perfect 6-for-6 at the free-throw line.
Cameron Hildreth enjoyed a strong, all-around performance with 18 points, three rebounds, six assists and two steals while shooting 50 percent from the floor (6-of-12).
Parker Friedrichsen caught fire from behind the arc during the game's early portion, ultimately finishing with 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting from three-point territory. Tre'Von Spillers and Davin Cosby added nine and eight points, respectively, with the former also pulling down a team-best five rebounds.
Churchill Abass provided quality minutes as a reserve, playing 23 for the night and leading all individuals with three blocks.
As a unit, the Demon Deacons shot 42.9 percent from the field, 38.7 percent from three, and 84.2 percent from the line.
With the win, Wake Forest has now won 26 of their last 27 games against non-conference opponents inside Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, dating back to December 2018.
How It Happened
- Reid got the scoring started for the Deacs with a layup for the 2-0 lead in the first 30 seconds.
- Cosby followed it up with back-to-back three-pointers for the 8-2 lead.
- Friedrichsen made his first three of the night to tie it at 11 after a short Catamount run.
- Out of the timeout, the Deacs' defense was able to force the Catamounts into a timeout while unable to inbound the ball under the basket.
- A three from Harris, his first of the game, kept it tied at 14.
- A steal and a three from Friedrichsen ended a scoring drought and put the Deacs back in front.
- Hildreth followed that up with a steal of his and a driving layup for the 20-17 lead.
- Back-to-back blocks on the same defensive possession from Abass led to Friedrichsen's third three of the night to extend Wake's lead.
- The Wake Forest defense forced six Catamount turnovers over a six minute span to keep them scoreless.
- Harris hit his second three of the night, which was followed by an alley-oop from Hildreth to Spillers to put the Deacs on a 22-3 run over eight minutes of game time.
- Sallis extended the run with a three from the left wing and Hildreth followed it up with a steal and an and-one play.
- The back-to-back buckets put Wake on an 11-0 run and gave the Deacs the 14-point lead.
- Salles extended the run to 13-0 and scored his 1,000th career point with a driving bucket in the lane to beat the shot clock.
- Hildreth hit his first three of the game for the 39-25 Wake Forest lead with under four minutes to go in the half.
- Hildreth ended a short Catamount run with a turnaround layup and the and-one conversion to keep Wake in front with under two minutes to go in the half.
- Friedrichsen went 2-for-2 from the line to close out the half.
- Wake went into the locker room up 44-34.
- Hildreth and Friedrichsen led all scorers with 11 first-half points.
- Harris led the team with three rebounds in the first 20.
- Spillers started the second-half scoring with a layup to keep Wake ahead by double digits.
- Sallis got his third bucket of the game two possessions later and followed it up with two made free throws on the next possession.
- Sallis and Cosby each hit jumpers in the paint to keep Wake ahead by 10, 54-44, with 14 minutes left to play.
- Spillers got back on the board with a hook shot in the lane to keep the Deacs in front and put them on a 7-0 run.
- The Wake Forest defense forced three straight Catamount turnovers in the process.
- Hildreth hit his second three-pointer of the game from the right corner for the 15-point lead with 10 minutes to play.
- He followed it up two possessions later with a jumper from the left wing to put Wake on a 12-2 run over five minutes of game time.
- During that span, the Deacon defense forced four turnovers.
- A defensive rebound from Hildreth on the other end of the court led to Sallis taking it coast to coast for the slam dunk and the 68-49 lead with under eight minutes to go.
- Two free throws from Harris gave Wake its largest lead of the game, 70-49, with 6:20 left to play.
- Two more free throws from Sallis extended Wake's run to 17-2 over 7:50 of game time.
- Abass got his first field goal of the game on a backdown hook shot in the lane to extend Wake's lead.
- Ahead of the final media timeout, Sallis hit his second three from the left wing to keep the 20-point lead.
- Friedrichsen hit his fourth three-pointer of the game with one minute left on the clock.
- Wake Forest defeated Western Carolina, 82-69.
Stats of the Game
- The Wake Forest defense continued to apply pressure on the defensive end on Tuesday night, forcing 21 Catamount turnovers, including six turnovers in a 5:18 span in the first half.
- With his team-high 20 points, Hunter Sallis became the 6th Demon Deacon under Steve Forbes and the 60th in program history to reach the 1,000 point mark in his career.
- Parker Friedrichsen tallied a season-high 14 points during the evening, making four of eight tries from distance.
Key Moment
- With 5:24 remaining in the first half, senior Hunter Sallis connected on a tough drive to the basket to secure his 1,000th career point.
- The basket came as part of a 22-3 run over a 8:19 span in the first half to help the Deacs build up a 36-20 lead, which they would not relinquish the rest of the game.
- The basket came as part of a 22-3 run over a 8:19 span in the first half to help the Deacs build up a 36-20 lead, which they would not relinquish the rest of the game.
"First off, it was really great to honor Western Carolina with the shirts that we wore tonight. I have an affinity for Western Carolina and East Tennessee, because I spent probably 10 years of my life in that area. I have a lot of friends in Asheville and played the SoCon tournament there for five years. It's just devastating to see what happened there. My daughter lives in Johnson City and as a parent, I was really worried, but they were fine. But just south of there, in Unicoi County and Irwin, it's just devastation. Obviously Asheville as well and then Cullowhee. Talking to Coach Craft, I think they were okay, but there's a lot of healing that needs to be done in that area. Hopefully tonight we could help that a little bit.
We can't be a good defensive team, or a really good defensive team, unless we rebound the ball. It's demoralizing to your defense to get stops and then not get the ball. How does that happen? Well, some of us were not checking out, that's part of it. A big part of it too is our guards don't get in there and get the loose balls, the 50/50 balls. We also had some funky lineups tonight too, and they pinned their ears back and went. Just having one day to prepare kind of showed a little bit defensively. At the start of the game and the end of the game, we were not very sharp because of offensive rebounds. We did turn them over 21 times, and that's a big difference. We did a really good job moving the ball; we had 17 assists on 27 baskets and only eight turnovers, when we had 18 on Saturday. It was really good to see Parker [Friedrichsen] and Davin [Cosby] both make shots together and Churchill [Abass] brought tremendous energy off the bench.
Efton [Reid III] has spent a lifetime of fighting migraines. After the first five minutes, he just couldn't go. So he has a migraine, and Omaha [Biliew] had his surgery today, so we had some funky lineups. We had Cameron [Hildreth] and Juke [Harris] playing the four a lot, and Tre'Von [Spillers] playing the five, but that's just part of it. They did a good job adjusting. We ran a lot of stuff and there are several guys learning different positions. It's really hard for a freshman like Juke to have to learn two or three positions offensively. It's hard. Cameron's got to learn the one, the three and the four. I give credit to those guys for doing the best job that they could do on the fly and adjusting to the play calls that we ran and the stuff that we changed." - head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Wake Forest stays home this weekend for a Demon Deacon double-header Saturday, Nov. 23. The women's basketball team will face Davidson at 1 p.m. inside The Joel and the men's team will follow, facing Detroit Mercy.
Tip is set for 4 p.m. and the game will stream live on ACC Network Extra.
Team Stats
WCU
WF
FG%
.429
.429
3FG%
.344
.387
FT%
.909
.842
RB
37
28
TO
21
8
STL
4
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
20
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
6
Pts
18
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
4
Pts
14
FGM
4
3FGM
4
FTM
2
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
C/F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
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