Deacs Battle No. 25 Clemson in First ACC Road Test

CLEMSON, S.C. – Out of state for its first Atlantic Coast Conference road contest of the season, Wake Forest men's basketball visited No. 25 Clemson on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 21) inside Littlejohn Coliseum. The Demon Deacons (9-4, 1-1 ACC) battled throughout but fell to the Tigers (10-3, 2-0 ACC) in a 73-62 finish.

Hunter Sallis led all players in scoring, racking up 26 points during the day on an 11-of-15 shooting clip (73.3 field goal percentage). The Omaha native has now notched five season performances of 20-plus points and posted his second consecutive showing of 26 or more points.

Cameron Hildreth chipped in 15 points and four rebounds for the Deacs in 33 minutes of action. Fellow senior Efton Reid grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and contributed seven points. Tre'Von Spillers pulled down six boards.

Wake Forest shot 50 percent from the floor for the second straight game, making 25 of 50 field goal attempts.

Entering the game ranked second in the league in field goal percentage defense, the Deacons held Clemson to a collective 39.3 team field goal percentage on 24-of-61 shooting for the afternoon.

How It Happened

Hunter Sallis started the game off with a baseline jumper to put the Deacs up 2-0 in the first minute.
- A steal from Sallis on the very next play led to another jumper for the 4-0 lead.
The Wake Forest defense held Clemson scoreless for the first four minutes of the contest.
Out of the timeout, Parker Friedrichsen got his first bucket off a jumper in the lane to keep the Wake lead, 6-4.
Sallis ended a scoring drought for the Deacs with another jumper to make it 9-8 Clemson with 12 minutes to go in the half.
Back-to-back steals and two free throws from Friedrichsen made it 12-10 Clemson.
- Efton Reid followed up with a free throw of his own to make it 12-11.
Cameron Hildreth took it to the basket two possessions later to keep Wake within two, 15-13.
Reid backed down his defender for a hook shot in the lane to end a short Clemson run.
Ty-Laur Johnson ended a Clemson run with a baseline drive for the bucket.
- On the next possession, Sallis found Tre'Von Spillers under the basket for a bucket and a Clemson timeout.
  - Wake Forest cut the deficit to 30-19 with 4:40 left in the half.
Wake came out of the timeout with a defensive stop and baseline three-pointer from Hildreth to cut it to eight.
A strip-and-rip from Johnson and Spillers led to a Sallis bucket to put Wake on a 9-0 run and within six.
The Deacs went into the media timeout off a defensive block from Spillers and a team rebound.
- Out of the timeout, Johnson hit a jumper to cut it to four.
After a Clemson run, two free throws from Johnson kept Wake within 10, 38-28, with a minute and a half to go before halftime.
Two plays later, Sallis capitalized on an and-one to cut it to seven, 38-31.
Wake Forest went into halftime down, 40-31.
- Sallis led the Deacs offensively with 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the field.
- Reid led all players in the first 30 minutes with four rebounds.
The second half started with a defensive steal by Friedrichsen that led to a baseline jumper from Hildreth to cut it to a seven-point deficit.
- On the next possession, Reid hit a layup to keep it at seven.
Sallis hit a three from the right wing to get Wake within six, 44-38.
- A jumper from Sallis on the next play cut it to four ahead of the timeout, 44-40.
  - Out of the timeout, Sallis capitalized on the and-one to get Wake within three.
- The Demon Deacon defense held Clemson without a field goal for three minutes of game time to open the second half.
Two free throws from Hildreth ended a short Clemson run to keep the Deacs within five.
After two defensive stops, Hildreth made a layup to end a Clemson run and keep Wake within eight.
Out of the timeout, Hildreth took it to the rim to end a Wake Forest scoring drought and make it 60-47, Clemson, with 8:50 left to play.
- Sallis hit a jumper in the lane to cut it to 14.
Another Clemson run out of the timeout made it 67-49 with 6:30 left to play.
- Sallis ended the run with a jumper in the lane.
Juke Harris bullied his way into the lane for a jumper to make it 71-53, Clemson.
- Reid followed with his own bully bucket in the lane.
Sallis hit a three from the left side of the top of the key to cut it 13 with just under two minutes left to play.
- Two plays later, Sallis drove the baseline for another bucket.
Wake Forest fell to Clemson, 73-62.

Stats of the Game

Hunter Sallis led all individuals on the scoring end with 26 points, going 11-for-15 from the floor to shoot just over 73 percent.
- Coming off a 27-point performance earlier this week (Dec. 17), the Omaha, Nebraska, native has totaled 53 points through his last two appearances.
Wake Forest shot 50 percent from the field, making 25 of 50 attempts.
- Saturday featured the third time this year in which the team tallied a field goal percentage of 50 percent or better.
Entering the game ranked second in the league in field goal percentage defense, the Deacs held Clemson to a 39.3 team field goal percentage on 24-of-61 shooting for the afternoon.

Coach's Comments
"Congrats to Brad [Brownell] and his team. They came out and ran a crisp offense. They're really good. They have good pace. They're really good passers, they get into their next action really quick, and they play unselfishly. Offensively, they were good. I thought they would have a chip on their shoulder coming into today because they've lost two games in a row. Obviously, they would play with a sense of urgency. We got off to a good start, but the turnovers cost us. It's hard to win anywhere when you throw it away and turn the ball over that many times.

They made seven more threes than us, six more free throws, and we had seven more turnovers than them. That's a bad combination. We only made three threes. We only made five against Boston College, but we got to the line 24 times. We only got to the line 12 times today, so that's a bad recipe. Defensively, we were pretty good. They're a top-30 or top-40 team efficiency wise and we help them to only 39 percent from the field and only 73 points and 32 percent from three. Obviously, their physicality and our lack of ability to pass the ball effectively led to our problems on offense." - head coach Steve Forbes

Up Next
Wake Forest returns to action on New Year's Eve in Syracuse, New York, when the Deacs face the Orange in the Carrier Dome.

Tip is set for 2 p.m. and the game will air live on ESPN2.

Next Event

Team Stats

Hunter Sallis

Cameron Hildreth

Efton Reid III

Ty-Laur Johnson

Players Mentioned

Parker Friedrichsen

Juke Harris

Cameron Hildreth

Ty-Laur Johnson

Hunter Sallis

Tre'Von Spillers

Wake Forest Athletics