Behind Miller Career High, Deacs Advance to Second Round of NIT

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Behind a career-best 31 points from redshirt sophomore guard Kevin Miller, the Wake Forest men's basketball team continues to compete in March, defeating Appalachian State, 87-76, on Wednesday night in Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).

For just the third time this season, the Demon Deacons (21-13, 11-9 ACC) had four players finish with 15-plus points with Miller's 31 leading the way. The other two occasions came against LSU (Nov. 19) and Elon (Nov. 6). Additionally, this is the fifth time this season that Cameron Hildreth, Kevin Miller and Hunter Sallis have done so in the same game. Wake Forest improves to 4-1 in those games with wins over Appalachian State, Boston College, Elon and Miami.

Wake Forest salted the game away at the free throw line against Appalachian State (27-7, 16-2 Sun Belt) as the 31 free throws marked the most this season. The Deacs knocked down a season-high 25 free throws, marking the most since the Demon Deacons had 33 free throws made against North Carolina on Feb. 7, 2023.

Wake Forest now holds an impressive 48-6 record at home since the start of the 2021-22 season including a 17-1 mark this season, the best since having the most home wins in program history during the 2021-22 season when Wake Forest finished with a mark of 18-2.

The Demon Deacons' overall wins since the start of the 2021-22 season rank second in the country and leads the ACC during that time frame:
Rank Team Home Wins
1 Houston 49
2 Wake Forest 48

Miller led the team with a career-high 31 points on 9-of-14 shooting (3-of-5 from beyond-the-arc) in addition to three assists and two steals. The Chicago native is now one point away from reaching 1,000 for his college career. Additionally, he finished 10-of-10 from the line against the Mountaineers. It marked his second time this season going perfect from the line with at least 10 attempts, with the other coming in a 15-for-15 performance at NC State on Jan. 16..

With a jumper at the 10:56 mark in the second half, junior guard Cameron Hildreth became the 58th Demon Deacon all-time to join the 1,000-point club. The junior finished the contest with 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting, in addition to three rebounds and a block.

This is the first time this season that two players have had double digit rebounds in the same game with Andrew Carr and Efton Reid III pulling double double-figure boards. Reid finished with a double-double, posting 17 points and 12 rebounds.

Reid's six double-doubles are the most in a single season by a Demon Deacon since Oliver Sarr had 13 during the 2019-20 season.

With the win, Wake Forests remains undefeated against App State, 22-0 all-time, in a series that dates back to 1951.

The Deacs will host the Georgia Bulldogs Sunday, March 24, for the second round of the NIT. Tip off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. ET inside LJVM Coliseum and the game will air on ESPN2.

Ticket Information for Sunday
Tickets for Sunday's game are available for season ticket holders and Deacon Club members by clicking the link in the exclusive pre-sale email. Reserved tickets will go on sale to all other fans beginning at noon E.T. on Thursday, March 21. Tickets are $20 for reserved lower level, $15 for youth ages 18 and under and $10 each for students. The first 1,250 Wake Forest students will receive a complimentary ticket and a free food item in the student pregame fan zone, courtesy of Wake Forest Deacon Club donors, through the Screamin' Demon rewards app.

How It Happened

The Wake Forest defense started things off with a shot clock violation on App State.
After two defensive stops in a row, Sallis found Reid under the basket for the 2-0 lead.
Hildreth scored the first points from behind the arc with a three-pointer to give the Deacs a 5-2 lead.
Following a defensive rebound by Reid, Miller threw up an alleyoop to Sallis on the fast break to extend the Wake Forest lead to 7-2.
Just after the first media timeout of the first half, Miller drilled a three to add to the Deacs 10-5 lead.
Sallis dished the ball to Reid for a layup that extended the Wake Forest lead, 12-7.
On the defensive side of the floor, Hildreth blocked a shot which led to a driving layup from Sallis to make the score 14-7.
Sallis blocked the App State jumper which led to Hildreth hitting 1-of-2 free throws to add to the 13-7 Wake Forest lead.
With 13 minutes left in the first half, Hildreth scored off a layup for the 17-9 lead.
Following the media timeout, Carr recorded his first block of the night.
Sallis was fouled driving the basket and went to the line to convert the and-one attempt to give the Deacs a 20-15 advantage.
A free throw from Reid to extend the Wake Forest lead to 21-15.
Wake Forest then scored off a bucket from behind the arc from Miller to add to the 24-15 Wake Forest lead.
App State was called for a goaltend on the layup by Miller that extended the Deacs lead to 26-15.
Miller was the first Deac to reach double-digit points after scoring on a layup to add to the 28-15 Wake Forest lead.
Following a steal by Miller, he went on the fast break and scored for the third consecutive possession going 2-of-2 from the charity stripe to extend the lead to 30-17.
With just over five minutes left in the first half, Sallis hit a pull up jumper to give the Deacs a 32-21 lead.
On the defensive side of the floor, Sallis blocked an App State layup for his second block of the night.
With just over two minutes left in the half, Miller went 2-of-2 from the free throw line to extend the Wake Forest lead to 34-23.
Hildreth drained a turnaround jumper with 30 seconds left in the first half to add to the Deacs 36-27 lead.
Wake Forest headed into the half with a 36-27 lead over App State.
- Miller led the scoring for the Deacs in the first half with 14 points going 2-for-3 (66.7 percent) from behind the arc and 4-for-4 (100 percent) from the free throw line.
- As a team the Deacs played locked down defense in the first half with four blocks and a steal and held the Mountaineers to 1-of-12 from behind the arc (8.3 percent).
Miller opened the scoring for the Deacs in the second half with a jumper to extend the lead to 38-29.
Reid drained his first three of the game from the corner to add to the 41-31 Wake Forest lead.
Following the media timeout, Miller drilled a jumper in the paint to extend the Deacs lead to 43-33.
Sallis went 2-of-2 from the charity stripe to make the Wake Forest lead 45-38.
Hildreth became the third Demon Deacon to reach double digits after going 2-of-2 from the line to add to the 47-43 Wake Forest lead.
With just over 13 minutes left in the second half, Carr scored in the paint to extend the Deacs lead to 49-45.
After the under-12 media timeout, Sallis went 2-of-2 from the line to add to the 53-48 Wake Forest lead.
Following a defensive board from Carr, Hildreth drove the paint and laid it in to give the Deacs a 55-48 lead.
In back-to-back possessions, Hildreth scored off an App State turnover to add to the 57-48 Wake Forest lead.
- With that jumper, Hildreth became the 58th Demon Deacon to reach 1,000 career points.
With just over 10 minutes left in the game, Reid went 1-of-2 from the free throw line to give the Deacs a 58-50 lead.
Miller reached 20 points with a stepback jumper to extend the Wake Forest lead to 60-53.
Off an assist from Miller, Carr scored off a layup to extend the Deacs lead to 62-53.
Following a steal from Sallis, Reid went 2-of-2 from the free throw line to give the Deacs a 64-53 lead with seven minutes remaining.
Miller hit a pull up jumper on the fast break to extend the Wake Forest lead to 66-53.
- On the following possession, Reid hauled in the offensive board and Miller drained a second chance three to give the Deacs a 69-53 lead.
The Deacs went on a 11-0 run for nearly three minutes with under seven minutes left to play.
Reid scored off his own rebound to extend the Wake Forest lead to 71-57.
- On back-to-back possessions, Reid scored in the paint to give the Deacs a 73-60 lead with just over three minutes remaining in the game.
Reid pulled down his 11th rebound of the night and Sallis drilled a second chance three to give Wake Forest a 76-60 lead.
Following an App State turnover, Reid slammed it to give the Deacs a 78-60 lead with just over two minutes remaining.
- With those points, Reid reached a new career-high with 17 points.
With 1:26 left in the game, Hildreth went 2-of-2 from the line to extend the Wake Forest lead to 80-69.
Miller scored his 26 and 27th points of the game after going 2-of-2 from the charity stripe to add to the 82-71 Wake Forest lead.
With 55 seconds left in the game, Hildreth went 2-of-2 from the free throw line to extend the Deacs lead to 84-74.
Miller was fouled and went 2-of-2 from the line to add the Deacs 85-74 lead.
- On the following possession, Miller went 2-of-2 from the line to give the Deacs a 87-74 lead.
- Miller's free throws put him at a new career-high of 31 points.
Wake Forest defeated App State, 87-76.

Stats of the Game

With Wednesday's win, the Deacs advanced in the NIT for the fifth time throughout program history and hold a 13-6 record.
The Deacs finished 25-of-31 (80.6 percent) from the stripe Wednesday night. It marked the most free throws made and attempted by Wake Forest this season and most since Feb. 7, 2023 against North Carolina (33-of-42). Additionally, it was the sixth time in the Forbes era the team made at least 25 free throws.
The evening contest saw Cameron Hildreth become the 58th all-time Deac to join the 1,000-point club. The junior finished the contest with 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting, in addition to three rebounds and a block.
- Hildreth is the second roster member to reach 1,000 career points this season, joining Andrew Carr.
- It marked his ninth-consecutive game with double-digit points and 27th time overall this season.
Kevin Miller led the team with a career-high 31 points on 9-of-14 shooting (3-of-5 from three-point distance), in addition to three assists and two steals.
- The Chicago native is now one point away from reaching 1,000 for his college career.
- This season, Miller is shooting 84.4 percent from the charity stripe. He entered the contest ranked sixth in the ACC.
  - He finished 10-of-10 from the line against the Mountaineers.
  - It marked his second instance this season going perfect from the line with 10-or-more attempts (15-for-15 at NC State).
Efton Reid III recorded his sixth double-double of the season, as he contributed a career-high 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting with 12 rebounds.
- He has reached double-digit points in six of the last seven games.
As a team, the Deacs held App State to 31-of-67 shooting (46.3 percent) from the floor and 7-of-27 (25.9 percent) from behind the arc, also finishing with six blocks on the defensive end.

Key Moment

With 12:42 left in the game, Wake Forest only led by one at 50-48.
- The Demon Deacons proceeded to go on a 20-5 run over the next seven minutes of the game with key baskets from Kevin Miller and Cameon Hildreth.
  - Miller had seven points and Hildreth had six points during the run.
- By the end of the run with 5:52 left in the game, Wake Forest had not only controlled the game but put it away, holding a commanding 69-53 lead.

Coach's Comments
"This was the first time we've known in school history that three different players scored 30 or more in a game during the season. Obviously Boopie tonight had an incredible game with 31 points. We got off to a great start on both ends of the court and showed great toughness and resilience for the entire game. We led wire to wire, they made a couple of runs but we answered right back. We held them to two offensive rebounds in the second half, so they didn't get a lot of easy baskets.

Efton had a huge game with a double-double. Parker was +17 off the bench, Zach was +6. A lot of times people look at the points off of the bench but then you don't look at the plus/minus. Because there is a lot more to the game than just scoring points. Cam had 19 and he went on a little 6-0 a run to give us more of a lead. He guarded Donovan Gregory who is their best player. He did a really good job defending him. Andrew played well defensively, he had 11 defensive rebounds and three blocked shots.

We set the ball screen coverage a little bit. We started off in the hedge then we went to the blitz and back to the hedge. They capitalized a few times from three when we went to the blitz. They threw behind which we knew we could give up something. App State has a really good basketball team, I knew it would be a hard fought game.

Dustin has done a great job at App State and I'm not surprised. He has reignited a very proud program. They have a passionate fan base and it reminds me a lot of Johnson City when I was at East Tennessee State. They have a lot of things in common and that's why it is important that they play. Dustin started that series when he became the head coach during my last year at East Tennessee State. I respect him for that and I wish him all the best. He has a really nice team and I'm sure they are going to be great again next year." - head coach Steve Forbes

Up Next
The Deacs will host the Georgia Bulldogs Sunday, March 24, for the second round. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at LJVM Coliseum with the game set to air on ESPN2.

Behind Miller Career High, Deacs Advance to Second Round of NIT

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Team Stats

Kevin Miller

Cameron Hildreth

Efton Reid III

Hunter Sallis

Players Mentioned

Andrew Carr

Cameron Hildreth

Kevin Miller

Efton Reid III

Hunter Sallis

Wake Forest Athletics

Behind Miller Career High, Deacs Advance to Second Round of NIT

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Team Stats

Game Leaders

Kevin Miller

Cameron Hildreth

Efton Reid III

Hunter Sallis

Players Mentioned

Andrew Carr

Cameron Hildreth

Kevin Miller

Efton Reid III

Hunter Sallis

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