Thursday, November 28
Orlando, Fla.
2:30 p.m.
Wake Forest University
6-2,0-0ACC
58
vs
75
Florida
7-0,0-0SEC
1
2
F
Florida
32
43
75
Wake Forest
28
30
58
Deacs Fall to No. 18 Gators During Day One of ESPN Events Invitational
11/28/2024 5:47:00 PM | Men's Basketball
KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Making its eighth season appearance on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 28), Wake Forest men's basketball (6-2, 0-0 ACC) faced No. 18 Florida (7-0, 0-0 SEC) for its first matchup of the 19th annual ESPN Events Invitational. Both sides gave scrappy effort throughout the contest before the Gators took a 75-58 victory.
Senior guards Hunter Sallis and Cameron Hildreth paced the Demon Deacons' offense with 15 points apiece. Hildreth totaled a 50.0 field goal percentage, making six of 12 attempts, and chipped in three assists while Sallis grabbed six rebounds.
Tre'Von Spillers earned his second double-double of the year, finishing with 14 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. The senior forward went 6-of-9 from the floor (66.7 percent) in 36 minutes of action.
Wake Forest went 13-for-15 from the free-throw line, good for an 86.7 percentage that stands as the team's second-best mark of the year in a single game.
Defensively, the Deacs held the Gators to a season-low 39.7 field goal percentage (23-for-58).
Wake Forest will now face Minnesota in the third-place game of the event on Friday (Nov. 29) at 1 p.m. ET.
How It Happened
Stats of the Game
Coach's Comments
"Congratulations to Florida. I knew coming in that they have a really good team. Todd (Golden) has a lot of pieces to his team - they have great size, really good guards, elite ball handlers, and finishers. So, I knew it was going to be a hard-fought game.
"I was worried about transition and offensive rebounding. They get 47 percent of their shots in transition during a game. We held them to 40 percent, but they were 1.5 points per possession in transition, along with 8-for-10 at the rim and 2-for-3 from three. We did a really good job in the halfcourt, as they were 0.91 there. But, they got 44 percent of their misses. So, it was just our inability to rebound the basketball and get back in transition.
"The start of the second half just put us in too deep of a hole. We came out and made a three but then missed two wide open shots at the rim. We turned it over and couldn't execute on an out-of-bounds play. That's when I called for a timeout, so we were fighting uphill from there. All the credit goes to Todd and his team. He's done a very good job and I think they're going to win a lot of games. It was a hard fought-game, we played hard, but just not smart enough to win." - head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Wake Forest will face Minnesota on Friday in the Deacs' final game of the event.
Tip will be set for 1 p.m. ET and the game will air live on ESPN2.
Senior guards Hunter Sallis and Cameron Hildreth paced the Demon Deacons' offense with 15 points apiece. Hildreth totaled a 50.0 field goal percentage, making six of 12 attempts, and chipped in three assists while Sallis grabbed six rebounds.
Tre'Von Spillers earned his second double-double of the year, finishing with 14 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. The senior forward went 6-of-9 from the floor (66.7 percent) in 36 minutes of action.
Wake Forest went 13-for-15 from the free-throw line, good for an 86.7 percentage that stands as the team's second-best mark of the year in a single game.
Defensively, the Deacs held the Gators to a season-low 39.7 field goal percentage (23-for-58).
Wake Forest will now face Minnesota in the third-place game of the event on Friday (Nov. 29) at 1 p.m. ET.
How It Happened
- Cosby hit the first bucket of the game for the Deacs with a three from the right corner for the 3-2 lead in the first minute.
- On the next possession, Spillers hit a turnaround hook for the 5-3 lead.
- Two plays later, Cosby found Spillers under the basket for the 7-6 lead.
- A three from Sallis from the top of the key extended Wake's lead to four.
- The Demon Deacon defense held Florida without a field goal for over 2:30 of game time heading into the first media timeout.
- Hildreth turned defense into offense out of the timeout with a steal and a layup for the five-point Wake lead.
- Harris got his first points of the game with a putback to keep the Deacs in front.
- Two free throws from Harris on the next possession put Wake back up seven points in front.
- Reid got his first points with a hook shot in the lane to keep Wake up by seven.
- Sallis followed it up with two free throws for the 20-11 lead with 10 minutes to go in the half.
- The Wake Forest defense held Florida to just three makes on 16 field goals.
- Out of the timeout Reid found Hildreth in the lane for a bucket and the four-point lead.
- The senior followed it up with two free throws to end a scoring drought and put Wake back in front by one.
- Sallis hit a pull-up jumper from the right wing to tie it at 26 with under two minutes to go in the half.
- He followed it up with two free throws with under 30 seconds left to cut the Deacs' deficit to four.
- Wake Forest went into halftime down 32-28.
- Sallis led the Deacs with 10 points in the first half.
- Spillers had a game-high seven rebounds after the first 20.
- The Deacs' first point of the second half came from a free throw by Spillers.
- On the next offensive possession, Sallis took it to the rim for his first points of the half.
- Out of the timeout, Hildreth took it to the lane for the bucket to get the Deacs within 10.
- On the next offensive possession, Hildreth saw Spillers at the rim for an alley-oop to get within eight.
- The Wake defense held Florida scoreless for over two minutes during the 6-0 run.
- A defensive block from Spillers led to a steal from Friedrichsen and his first three-pointer of the game and Wake got within seven with 13 minutes left to play.
- Friedrichsen found Spillers in the lane on the next offensive possession to keep Wake within single digits.
- On the next play, Spillers got a putback bucket.
- Hildreth bullied his way into the lane for another bucket and got Wake within six.
- The Wake defense held Florida scoreless again for over 2:30 of game time.
- Friedrichsen found Spillers under the basket on the fast break followed by a Sallis steal and dunk to end a Florida run.
- Friedrichsen followed with a steal of his own and found Sallis on the fast break for another bucket and put Wake back within single digits.
- After holding Florida scoreless for another span of over three minutes, Hildreth converted the and-one for a three-point play to keep Wake within single digits with just over five minutes left to play.
- Spillers and Hildreth each made free throws with under three minutes to go to end a Wake scoring drought.
- Hildreth followed with a driving layup with under a minute to go.
- Wake Forest fell to Florida, 75-58.
Stats of the Game
- Tre'Von Spillers led all individuals with 13 rebounds, adding 14 points for his second double-double of the year.
- Versus No. 18 Florida (11/28/24) – 14 points and 13 rebounds
- Versus NC A&T (11/7/24) – 15 points and 16 rebounds
- Three Deacons scored 14 or more points in the contest:
- Hunter Sallis – 15
- Cameron Hildreth – 15
- Tre'Von Spillers – 14
- Wake Forest forced 11 turnovers by the Gators and held them to a season-low 39.7 field goal percentage.
Coach's Comments
"Congratulations to Florida. I knew coming in that they have a really good team. Todd (Golden) has a lot of pieces to his team - they have great size, really good guards, elite ball handlers, and finishers. So, I knew it was going to be a hard-fought game.
"I was worried about transition and offensive rebounding. They get 47 percent of their shots in transition during a game. We held them to 40 percent, but they were 1.5 points per possession in transition, along with 8-for-10 at the rim and 2-for-3 from three. We did a really good job in the halfcourt, as they were 0.91 there. But, they got 44 percent of their misses. So, it was just our inability to rebound the basketball and get back in transition.
"The start of the second half just put us in too deep of a hole. We came out and made a three but then missed two wide open shots at the rim. We turned it over and couldn't execute on an out-of-bounds play. That's when I called for a timeout, so we were fighting uphill from there. All the credit goes to Todd and his team. He's done a very good job and I think they're going to win a lot of games. It was a hard fought-game, we played hard, but just not smart enough to win." - head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Wake Forest will face Minnesota on Friday in the Deacs' final game of the event.
Tip will be set for 1 p.m. ET and the game will air live on ESPN2.
Team Stats
UF
WF
FG%
.397
.375
3FG%
.296
.150
FT%
.778
.867
RB
44
30
TO
11
13
STL
10
7
Game Leaders
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
15
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
4
FGM
1
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
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