Deacs’ Historic Comeback Effort Falls Short in ACC Quarterfinals

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Trailing by 19 points with 13 minutes left in the second half, the Wake Forest men's basketball team nearly completed a historic comeback Thursday afternoon before eventually falling to No. 4 seeded Pitt, 81-69, in the ACC Quarterfinals at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

An Efton Reid III layup with 12:10 left in the game ignited a 26-10 run that brought the Demon Deacons (20-13, 11-9 ACC) within three points of Pitt (22-10, 12-8 ACC) with 4:16 left in the game at 65-62. During the run, junior guard Hunter Sallis had 11 points while senior forward Andrew Carr added seven points during the stretch.

The Deacs were led in the scoring column by junior guard Cameron Hildreth, who notched 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting and added 5-of-7 from the free throw line. Thursday marked his first 20-point scoring effort since having 25 points against Florida State on January 9th. It was also his eighth-consecutive game with double-digit points and 26th time overall this season.

Hildreth is now just 16 points away from reaching 1,000 for his college career.

Sallis finished with 15 points, with 12 coming in the second half, in addition to four rebounds, four assists and four steals. He has scored double-digits in all but one of his 33 games in a Wake Forest uniform.

Carr nearly had his second double-double in as many days at the ACC Tournament, posting 13 points including going 7-of-9 from the free throw line while alo pulling down a game-high nine rebounds.

Reid III scored in double-digits for the fifth time in the last six games and seven of his last nine games, as he contributed 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting with five rebounds, a block and a steal. Over the last six games, he is averaging 11.3 points and 6.8 rebounds.

This is Wake Forest's 57th appearance in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals since the tournament's inception in 1954. It marked the first time since 2007 that Wake Forest made consecutive appearances in the quarterfinals. This is also the 32nd time in program history that the Demon Deacons have advanced in the ACC Tournament.

How It Happened

Hildreth took it coast-to-coast for the Deacs' first bucket after four straight defensive stops to make it 2-2.
A steal from Sallis led to a layup by Miller to tie at 4-4, four minutes in.
On the next possession, Reid hit his first three of the game to again tie it up 7-7.
Reid followed up the three with a reverse layup off a baseline cut.
A three from Hildreth out of the timeout kept it tied at 12 all.
After three defensive stops, Carr found the basket after working into the paint to make it 17-14, Pitt.
A steal from Miller led to a layup from Hildreth to cut Pitt's lead to 25-16.
Hilreth then found Reid in the paint for the alleyoop to make it 25-18.
Miller went coast-to-coast after a steal for the layup to keep Wake within seven, 27-20.
Hildreth took it to the basket again to get Wake back within nine, 32-23, with 2:25 to go in the first half.
Sallis hit a stepback three two possessions later to keep the Deacs within nine.
Wake Forest went into halftime down, 38-26.
- Hildreth led the team with 10 points in the opening 20 minutes.
- Reid had a game-high four first-half rebounds.
Hildreth went 3-of-3 to start the second half.
A Pitt turnover ended up in a bucket from Reid and the and-one conversion to get Wake back within nine.
- The Deacs opened the second half on a 7-0 run with another free throw from Sallis.
Hildrth fought his way into the lane for another bucket and Wake stayed within eight.
Reid ended a Pitt run with a hook shot from the baseline to make it 55-38, Pitt.
- On the next possession, Sallis took it to the basket to cut it to 15 with 11:15 to play.
Out of the timtout, Sallis hit a three from the right wing to cut it to 14.
- Another three from Sallis on the very next possession made it 57-46 Pitt and put the Deacs on a 6-0 run.
A layup and the and-one conversion from Hildreth made it a 9-0 run and got Wake back within single digits, 57-49.
Two free throws from Miller out of the timeout kept Wake within eight with 7:40 to play.
Sallis got a quick bucket on the next possession.
On the next trip down the court, Sallis found Carr in the lane via a bounce pass for a bucket and Carr converted the and-one to get Wake within five with 6:55 left to go.
Hildreth hit a corner three two plays later and made it 63-59, Pitt, with 5:17 to play.
Two free throws from Carr kept it a four-point game.
A free throw from Sallis made it a three-point game, 65-62, with under four minutes to play.
A putback bucket from Carr kept it a three-point game, 67-64.
A free throw from Carr got it back to four, 69-65.
- More free throws from Carr kept it at four, 71-67.
A bucket from Hildreth off a long ball from Sallis made it 77-69 with 52.5 seconds left.
Wake Forest fell to Pitt, 81-69, in the Quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.

Stats of the Game

For the first time since 2007, Wake Forest made back-to-back appearances in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.
This is Wake Forest's 57th appearance in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals since its inception in 1954.
- It marked the first time since 2007 that Wake Forest made consecutive appearances in the quarterfinals.
- This is also the 32nd time in program history that the Demon Deacons have advanced in the ACC Tournament.
- The victory on Wednesday against No. 12 seed Notre Dame marked the 46th ACC Tournament win all-time in program history.
Additionally, with the win Wednesday against Notre Dame, Wake Forest reached the 20-win mark for the second time in the last three years.
- The 64 wins over the last three seasons mark the most wins in a three-year stretch since the 2002-03 to 2004-05 run.
Cameron Hildreth is now 16 points away from reaching 1,000 for his college career, as he contributed a team-high 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting, in addition to three rebounds and two assists.
- It marked his fifth 20-point performance of the season and first since his 25-point game against Florida State on Jan. 9.
  - It was also his eighth-consecutive game with double-digit points and 26th time overall this season.
- He played 39 minutes against Pitt. This season, he averages 34 minutes per game, which ranks fourth in the conference.
- He chipped in five points from the free throw line. He entered the contest ranked 11th in the conference in free throw percentage (80.8 percent).

Coach's Comments
"That was a really hard-fought game between two really good teams. These two teams deserve to play in the NCAA Tournament. Just tough, hard-nosed teams. In the three games that we played, we had a really hard time guarding Leggett. It's a tough matchup for our team because we have to guard Hinson with Cameron. Cameron can't guard the whole team, he has to guard Hinson, which puts our four-man on Leggett. That's a problem and he exposed us today.

In the second half, we just had to go ahead and switch Cam back to him and that kind of took Efton off the floor, or Andrew, because we couldn't play both together, so that was hard. Credit to Hinson and Leggett for playing outstanding basketball. When we switched Andrew back on Hinson, I think he made a couple plays right away. We just had a hard time with him. We gave up 10 offensive rebounds that were killers and 15 turnovers. It's just a hard way to win. When we got it back to three, it was an unbelievable fight in our team. We just didn't get any crunch-time stops. They just bullied their way to the rim and shot layups and drew fouls.

I'm proud of my team. They got down 19 and cut it to three. We set a goal to cut it to 10 under 10, they did it and battled all the way down." - head coach Steve Forbes

Up Next
Wake Forest now awaits its potential selection into a postseason tournament. Selection Sunday is on Sunday, March 17 as Wake Forest is currently No. 36 in the NET rankings.

TNT Sports and CBS Sports will present the 2024 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Selection Show, featuring the exclusive live first-time announcement of the pairings for the 2024 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, on CBS.

Deacs’ Historic Comeback Effort Falls Short in ACC Quarterfinals

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Team Stats

Cameron Hildreth

Hunter Sallis

Andrew Carr

Efton Reid III

Players Mentioned

Andrew Carr

Cameron Hildreth

Efton Reid III

Hunter Sallis

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Deacs’ Historic Comeback Effort Falls Short in ACC Quarterfinals

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Cameron Hildreth

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Andrew Carr

Efton Reid III

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Andrew Carr

Cameron Hildreth

Efton Reid III

Hunter Sallis

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