Monday, November 3
Winston-Salem, N.C.
8 p.m.
Wake Forest University
1-0,0-0ACC
88
vs
74
American
0-1,0-0Patriot
1
2
F
American
34
40
74
Wake Forest
46
42
88
Wake Forest Opens 2025-26 Campaign in Victorious Fashion
11/3/2025 11:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Demon Deacons are now 6-0 in season openers under sixth-year head coach Steve Forbes.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Behind a pair of 20-point performances from graduate forward Tre'Von Spillers and senior guard Mekhi Mason, the Wake Forest men's basketball team opened the 2025-26 season in victorious fashion on Monday night, defeating American (0-1, 0-0 Patriot) inside Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, 88-74.
With the victory, the Demon Deacons (1-0, 0-0 ACC) are now 6-0 in season-openers under head coach Steve Forbes, with the six-game season opener win streak matching the longest streak since 2011-16.
Additionally, Wake Forest's 62 home victories over the last five seasons are tied for the third-most nationally since the 2021-22 campaign alongside Saint Mary's and Grand Canyon.
Mason led the charge for the Demon Deacons with 20 points on a productive 7-of-15 shooting performance. The Gilbert, Ariz., native also paced the Deacs with 10 rebounds, becoming the first player to record a double-double in their Wake Forest debut since Efton Reid III did so against Rutgers on December 6, 2023.
Meanwhile, Spillers added 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting, along with eight rebounds. Since joining the Deacs last season, the Charleston, S.C., native has totaled 251 rebounds, which ranks fifth during the Forbes era.
Three other Demon Deacons entered double-digit scoring against the Eagles, including a career-high 18 points from sophomore guard Juke Harris. Senior guard Nate Calmese and junior guard Myles Colvin logged 10 points each, with Calmese also leading the team with nine assists and five steals. Monday featured the first time five Deacs scored in double-figures since the victory at Syracuse on Dec. 31, 2024.
For the game, Wake Forest tallied a 47.7 field goal percentage and had 20 assists on 31 made baskets.
How It Happened
"I think we have to give American a lot of credit. Coach Simpkins and his team came in and played a very disciplined game on offense. We didn't have any film on them, so basically we're kind of in the dark just kind of looking at what they did last year. I thought they did a really good job of running their offense and were good in transition, which is not something I probably expected going into the game.They had a lot of force in transition, and they worked hard to be physical.
"In transition, they worked hard to be physical defensively in the half court. I mean, anybody can read a box score and know that we made 15 and 16 threes in our first couple of exhibition games. So, you know, they were out there trying to take that away from us. And we went 23-for-34 at the rim. That's pretty good numbers, but we were 1-for-12 on uncontested threes, which I probably wouldn't have guessed that coming. I just don't think we had enough times where we got the ball in the lane and kicked it out for three. Those are hard. Those are the best ones, and we only got two of those all game. Credit to them for trying to keep us out of there. But we also got to the rim. We didn't have to kick it out, because we were finishing at the basket – 47 points on 36 possessions.
"We shared the ball well – had 20 assists. I just didn't think for the whole game that our movement was as crisp as it can be. It wasn't very fluid. But, when you have five guys with double figures and 20 assists on 31 baskets, that's sharing the ball defensively. We had seven kills, but we got stressed a little bit as the game went along. We gambled a little too much, probably because we had 16 steals. We turned the defense into offense. I think we need to do a better job of guarding the ball that way. There were times when we got beat off the dribble a little too much, but thought they played really hard and am happy with the win." - head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Wake Forest will remain at home for a first-ever meeting against Morehead State on Friday evening at LJVM Coliseum. Tip-off for the contest is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
With the victory, the Demon Deacons (1-0, 0-0 ACC) are now 6-0 in season-openers under head coach Steve Forbes, with the six-game season opener win streak matching the longest streak since 2011-16.
Additionally, Wake Forest's 62 home victories over the last five seasons are tied for the third-most nationally since the 2021-22 campaign alongside Saint Mary's and Grand Canyon.
Mason led the charge for the Demon Deacons with 20 points on a productive 7-of-15 shooting performance. The Gilbert, Ariz., native also paced the Deacs with 10 rebounds, becoming the first player to record a double-double in their Wake Forest debut since Efton Reid III did so against Rutgers on December 6, 2023.
Meanwhile, Spillers added 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting, along with eight rebounds. Since joining the Deacs last season, the Charleston, S.C., native has totaled 251 rebounds, which ranks fifth during the Forbes era.
Three other Demon Deacons entered double-digit scoring against the Eagles, including a career-high 18 points from sophomore guard Juke Harris. Senior guard Nate Calmese and junior guard Myles Colvin logged 10 points each, with Calmese also leading the team with nine assists and five steals. Monday featured the first time five Deacs scored in double-figures since the victory at Syracuse on Dec. 31, 2024.
For the game, Wake Forest tallied a 47.7 field goal percentage and had 20 assists on 31 made baskets.
How It Happened
- Wake Forest opened the game on a 7-0 run.
- The Demon Deacons got on the board first as senior Mekhi Mason recorded his first points as a Deac on the opening possession.
- The Deacs turned defense into offense as sophomore Juke Harris converted on a driving layup off the feed from senior Nate Calmese.
- Calmese added his first points in the Old Gold and Black as he stole the ball at midcourt before throwing it down on the other end.
- After American took the lead with an 8-0 run, the Deacs went on a short 7-3 run to reclaim the lead.
- Harris converted a free throw before Mason added a tip in with 14:13 left in the first half.
- Junior Myles Colvin scored back-to-back baskets, including an insane alley-oop from sophomore Sebastian Akins.
- Colvin added his third field goal in a row before Mason converted on an and-one to give the Deacs a seven point advantage.
- Graduate student Tre'Von Spillers added his first basket of the season with a transition dunk to make it 23-15 with 9:25 remaining in the half.
- American went on an 8-0 run to tie the game.
- Wake Forest responded with their own 13-2 run to make it 36-25.
- Harris and Akins each converted a pair of free throws on back-to-back possessions.
- Spillers added another ferocious dunk to make it 29-23 with 6:27 left.
- Biliew finished an and-one dunk off the find from Spillers.
- Spillers got in on the action with a pair of dunks on back-to-back trips down the court to give the Demon Deacons a double-digit lead.
- Mason recorded the Deacs' first three-pointer of the night at the 3:01 mark to make it 39-25.
- Mason found Spillers for another alley-oop on the next possession to extend the lead to 16 points.
- Following a quick four-point spurt from American, Mason added his second three of the night to make it 44-29.
- Biliew sent the Deacs into halftime with a 46-34 lead following a twisting layup with four seconds left in the first half.
- Mason led all scorers with 13 points in the period, while Spillers was the only other player in double figures with 11.
- Harris notched his first three-pointer of the game to give Wake a 49-36 lead.
- Mason added another triple on the next possession before adding a transition layup to extend the lead back to 15.
- The Eagles went on a 5-0 run to cut the lead down to 10 heading into the first media timeout of the second half.
- Coming out of the timeout, Harris scored four straight points as the Deacs reclaimed a 14-point lead.
- Spillers got his first points of the second half with 11:26 remaining to make it 62-50.
- The Charleston, S.C., native added a pair of free throws a minute later to restore the Demon Deacons' lead to 14 points.
- Colvin recorded his first three-pointer of the evening to make it 67-52 with 9:05 left in the game.
- Calmese would add his first deep ball two possessions later to give the Deacs a 16-point advantage.
- Harris converted a layup following a steal by Mason to make it 72-56 heading into the under-eight timeout.
- After American cut the lead down to 11 with a 5-0 run, Calmese responded with a long range effort with 5:19 left in the second half.
- Spillers connected on an and-one to give the Demon Deacons an 80-65 lead with 3:20 remaining.
- Harris and Spillers connected on another big alley-oop on the next trip down the court to give Wake Forest a 17-point advantage.
- Calmese went into double-digits on a layup with 1:43 remaining to make it 84-67.
- Harris added another tough layup the next trip down the court to put Wake Forest up 17 once again.
- Harris flushed it down following a steal on the other end to make it 88-71.
- The Demon Deacons secured the 88-74 win on the opening night of the season.
- With the result, Wake Forest is now 6-0 in season openers under head coach Steve Forbes. The six season-opening victories under Forbes are tied for the sixth-most for a Demon Deacon head coach alongside Wake Forest Sports Hall of Famer Skip Prosser.
- Additionally, Wake Forest's current six-year stretch of season-opening victories are the most since also winning six-straight from 2011-16.
- Leading 60-50 with 12:23 to go in the second half, Wake Forest was able to get some separation in a scoring spurt, started by a Tre'Von Spillers finish at the rim.
- The forward then made two free throws before Myles Colvin drained a triple after fighting for an offensive rebound.
- American would score once more, but Nate Calmese responded with a three-pointer of his own, stretching the lead to 70-54 with just over eight minutes to play.
"I think we have to give American a lot of credit. Coach Simpkins and his team came in and played a very disciplined game on offense. We didn't have any film on them, so basically we're kind of in the dark just kind of looking at what they did last year. I thought they did a really good job of running their offense and were good in transition, which is not something I probably expected going into the game.They had a lot of force in transition, and they worked hard to be physical.
"In transition, they worked hard to be physical defensively in the half court. I mean, anybody can read a box score and know that we made 15 and 16 threes in our first couple of exhibition games. So, you know, they were out there trying to take that away from us. And we went 23-for-34 at the rim. That's pretty good numbers, but we were 1-for-12 on uncontested threes, which I probably wouldn't have guessed that coming. I just don't think we had enough times where we got the ball in the lane and kicked it out for three. Those are hard. Those are the best ones, and we only got two of those all game. Credit to them for trying to keep us out of there. But we also got to the rim. We didn't have to kick it out, because we were finishing at the basket – 47 points on 36 possessions.
"We shared the ball well – had 20 assists. I just didn't think for the whole game that our movement was as crisp as it can be. It wasn't very fluid. But, when you have five guys with double figures and 20 assists on 31 baskets, that's sharing the ball defensively. We had seven kills, but we got stressed a little bit as the game went along. We gambled a little too much, probably because we had 16 steals. We turned the defense into offense. I think we need to do a better job of guarding the ball that way. There were times when we got beat off the dribble a little too much, but thought they played really hard and am happy with the win." - head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Wake Forest will remain at home for a first-ever meeting against Morehead State on Friday evening at LJVM Coliseum. Tip-off for the contest is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
Team Stats
Americ
WF
FG%
.431
.477
3FG%
.267
.280
FT%
.889
.792
RB
33
38
TO
18
11
STL
7
16
Game Leaders
Pts
20
FGM
7
3FGM
3
FTM
3
Pts
20
FGM
8
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
18
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
5
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
F/C
/ Men's BasketballF
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