Wake Forest Moves to 2-0 with Victory over Morehead State

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Behind a career night for sophomore Juke Harris, the Wake Forest men's basketball team (2-0, 0-0 ACC) secured an 81-65 victory over Morehead State (1-1, 0-0 OVC) on Friday night inside Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The Salisbury, N.C., native recorded new career-highs in both points and rebounds, finishing Friday's game with 29 points and nine rebounds while shooting 10-for-15 (66.7 percent) from the field. Harris also added two steals, a block, and an assist, along with a team-high three three-pointers, all of which came in the second half.

Graduate forward Tre'Von Spillers added 16 points and 10 rebounds, marking the Charleston, S.C., native's 18th career double-double. Spillers has now totaled 261 total rebounds as a Demon Deacon, which ranks fifth during the Steve Forbes era.

Coming off the bench, sophomore guard Sebastian Akins finished his second game in a Wake Forest uniform with 15 points, five assists and a career-high seven rebounds. The Concord, N.C., native became the seventh different Demon Deacon to finish with a 15/7/5 statline and first since Hunter Sallis did so on Feb. 15, 2025. He also added a team-high three steals on the night.

As a team, the Demon Deacons recorded 53 rebounds, which is tied for the most during the Forbes era. Additionally, the Deacs dominated the offensive glass, totaling 23 offensive rebounds, the most under Forbes and tied for the 12th-most in program history since offensive rebounding became an official statistic (1986-87).

Defensively, Wake Forest forced 19 turnovers, tied for the seventh most under Forbes and the second-consecutive game with 18-or-more. Additionally, the Deacs' 37 forced turnovers this season ranks tied for the most in the ACC and 10th in the country at the conclusion of the game .

How It Happened

After Morehead State jumped out to a 4-0 lead, Harris grabbed the first points of the game for the Deacs on a put back layup.
- The Salisbury, N.C., native added a fast break layup on the next possession to tie the game.
The Eagles went on a quick 6-0 run to make it 10-4 with 16:31 in the first half.
Mekhi Mason connected on a four-point play to cut the Morehead State lead down to three.
Spillers added his first bucket of the night to make it 14-11 with 13:45 remaining in the half.
- After blocking a shot on the other end, Harris added a layup in transition two possessions later, cutting the deficit down to one.
Wake Forest went on an extended 17-3 run over a 5:13 time span to take an 11-point lead.
- Following the under-12 timeout, Colvin made a pair of free throws to make it a one-point game.
- The Deacs took the lead for the first time after Harris converted an and-one off an assist from Spillers.
- Marion hit his first three-pointer of the game on the next trip down the court to give the Deacs a 21-19 lead.
- Harris made another putback layup to extend the lead to four.
- Harris added another layup on the next possession to move into double-figures and make it a six-point game.
- Calmese added a pair of free throws to make it 27-19 with 8:24 left in the half.
- Harris converted one of his two free throw attempts following a media timeout.
- Biliew recorded his first two points of the night at the line to give the Deacs a 30-19 advantage.
Following a short 6-1 run by Morehead State, Spillers hit a hook shot in the paint as the Deacs reclaimed an eight-point lead.
- Akins added his first basket of the night with a long range effort to put Wake Forest back up by 11 and force a timeout with 3:56 left in the first half.
After the Morehead State timeout, Akins picked up a loose ball before finishing it on the other end to extend the lead to 13 points.
Akins hit a deep three-pointer at the buzzer to give Wake Forest a 44-31 lead at the half.
- Harris led all scorers with 15 points to go along with his seven first half rebounds.
After Morehead State cut the lead down to eight with a 7-2 run, Akins hit a step back jumper to move into double figures and put Wake Forest back up by 10.
Spillers grabbed his first points of the second half with a ferocious, fast break dunk off the feed from Harris to make it 50-41.
- Harris hit a three-pointer on the next trip to give the Demon Deacons a 12-point lead.
- Spillers moved into double-figures after another fast break dunk, giving Wake Forest a 55-41 advantage and forcing a Morehead State timeout with 15:46 remaining.
Harris set a new career-high after adding another slam in transition to put the Deacs up by 16.
Marion split two defenders before finishing at the rim to make it 59-44.
- Harris connected on his second three-pointer of the evening on the next possession, extending the lead to 18 points.
After a media timeout, Harris hit another deep ball to bring him to 26 points for the game.
After multiple offensive rebounds, Schweiger recorded his first two points as a Demon Deacon to make it 67-49 with 9:37 left to play.
Following an 8-0 run by the Eagles, Spillers put the Deacs back up by 12 after another driving dunk.
Harris added two more from the line to make it 71-59 with 4:46 left in the game.
Akins and Spillers connected on an alley-oop to extend the lead to 14.
The Deacs turned defense into offense as Akins converted on a layup after recording a steal on the other hand, giving Wake Forest a 76-61 lead.
Spillers recorded a driving layup to make it 79-63 with under a minute left in the game.
- Akins added another basket to put the Demon Deacons up by 18.
Wake Forest defeated Morehead State, 81-65.

Stats of the Game

The Demon Deacons dominated the glass, grabbing 53 total rebounds Friday night and tying the most in the Steve Forbes era (Jan. 4, 2022 vs. Florida State).
- Wake Forest also hauled in 23 offensive rebounds against the Eagles, the most under Forbes and tied for the 12th most in program history since offensive rebounds were recorded (1986-87).
- The second-chance opportunities were generated across the board, with seven Deacs' finishing with multiple offensive rebounds, including three with three-or-more (Cross, Marion, Spillers).
For the second-consecutive game to open the season, sophomore guard Juke Harris set a career-high in scoring as finished the contest with 29 points in addition to a career-high nine rebounds, one shy of his first collegiate double-double.
- This is just the third game under Forbes that a player finished with 29 points and nine rebounds, joining Andrew Carr (March 24, 2024) and Jake LaRavia (Jan. 22, 2022).
- This marked the most points by a Demon Deacon since Hunter Sallis had 30 in the against Stanford last season (1/15/2025).
- 15 of his 29 points came in the first half as he helped the Deacs build a 13-point lead going into the break.
- This is the 125th 20-point performance under Forbes.

Key Moment

After trailing early in the game, the Demon Deacons went on an extended 17-3 run over a 5:13 time span to take an 11-point lead.
- The run was highlighted by eight points from sophomore Juke Harris, including multiple tough finishes at the rim.
- Redshirt sophomore Marqus Marion gave the Deacs the lead for good with his lone three-pointer of the game with 9:56 remaining to make it 21-19.

Coach's Comments
"I thought it was really important tonight to talk to our players after the game about the life of Lawrence Joel. You know, we wore the green shirts today to honor the military because Veterans Day is next week, and we're not going to be here. And so I just thought it was really important for them to understand and know about the person whose name is on the building. And so we spent some time there talking about that.

"As far as the game is concerned, I didn't think we got off to a very good start. I thought that our turnovers were a major issue. I don't feel that we defended really well. Our offense caused our defense issues in transition. We turned them over 19 times. I thought we did a really good job of guarding the ball against their really fast tempo. We put a lot of emphasis on that. We had nine kills. We kept them out of the lane. Our issues were our offense. Our offense turned their defense into offense, and then it was hard. It's hard to guard when you're in disadvantaged defense. But I thought defensively we were pretty good.

Offensive rebounds won the game for us. We've put a lot of emphasis on that since June. It's something we really wanted to improve on this year with our rebound path and our crash rate. We try to have a crash rate of 75 percent and I won't know that till tomorrow. I try to have a blockout rate of 75 percent, which I won't know until we watch the film. I thought we did a really good job of that. It put us in position to win.

"I thought our decision making on the drive in the lane was not good. I thought we just made passes and weren't there, but should have been kickouts for easy plays. The decision making in transition was not good. Now it's been pretty good, but tonight it wasn't. I didn't think we were very strong with the ball off the dribble. We got stripped and ripped a lot, and we didn't finish at the rim. We were 19-for-39 at the rim. That's not good. And so these are things we got to get better at.

"Juke [Harris] played outstanding. He played great. I mean, he was all over the rebounding. He gave up a couple rebounds early. Got mad. He got at it. I thought Sebastian [Akins] was really good off the bench. I thought he got going defensively, not because of his offense early. He got some. He had some energy defensively. I thought Marcus [Marion] had some really good minutes for us. Jaylen Cross came in at six rebounds in five minutes. Maybe some of those were his misses. I was proud of them. Tre'Von [Spillers] had a double-double. But, we did have some guys who didn't play well and didn't show up. We need those guys to do better. I said that after the game that we are 2-0, and we'll take that. We got some things to work on before we play a big game on Tuesday in Detroit against Michigan." - head coach Steve Forbes

Up Next
Wake Forest will travel away from Winston-Salem the first time this season for a Tuesday evening neutral site showdown with No. 7 Michigan in Detroit.

The second game of the Deacon-Wolverine Challenge will tip at 6:30 p.m. and air nationally on FS1.

Wake Forest Moves to 2-0 with Victory over Morehead State

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Team Stats

Juke Harris

Tre'Von Spillers

Sebastian Akins

Mekhi Mason

Players Mentioned

Sebastian Akins

Andrew Carr

Jaylen Cross

Juke Harris

Marqus Marion

Mekhi Mason

Hunter Sallis

Tre'Von Spillers

Wake Forest Athletics

Wake Forest Moves to 2-0 with Victory over Morehead State

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Next Event

Team Stats

Game Leaders

Juke Harris

Tre'Von Spillers

Sebastian Akins

Mekhi Mason

Players Mentioned

Sebastian Akins

Andrew Carr

Jaylen Cross

Juke Harris

Marqus Marion

Mekhi Mason

Hunter Sallis

Tre'Von Spillers

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