Tuesday, December 2
Winston-Salem, N.C.
7 p.m.
Wake Forest University
6-3,0-0ACC
68
vs
86
Oklahoma
6-2,0-0SEC
1
2
F
Oklahoma
37
49
86
Wake Forest
35
33
68
Wake Forest Falls to Oklahoma in 2025 ACC/SEC Challenge
12/2/2025 10:19:00 PM | Men's Basketball
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Wake Forest men's basketball team (6-3, 0-0 ACC) fell to Oklahoma (6-2, 0-0 SEC) at home in the third-annual ACC/SEC Challenge, 86-68.
Sophomore guard Juke Harris led the Demon Deacons with 22 points and seven rebounds while connecting on a career-high 12-of-15 shots from the free throw line. The Salisbury, N.C., native also added two assists and a steal.
Senior guard Nate Calmese added 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting (45.4 percent), along with a team-high four assists.
In the frontcourt, junior forward Omaha Biliew tallied nine points while going 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and redshirt sophomore Marqus Marion pulled down five rebounds off the bench.
How It Happened
Stat of the Game
Coach's Comments
"Oklahoma has a nice basketball team. I knew coming in here that they were really good offensively, Porter Moser's got some guys that can really score the ball. They play fast offensively, Nijel Pack is one of the best three-point shooters in the country. Tae Davis was an elite driver and offensive rebounder. I knew we'd have our hands full trying to defend them. I thought we'd probably have to score 80 to win the game, or at least have a good shot to win it. We just offensively couldn't really get anything going. I thought the first half was a very disjointed half for both teams. There were a lot of fouls, there were a lot of guys turning it over, not converting and not taking advantage of other people's mistakes. I actually felt pretty good at halftime. I thought we would play better in the second half. I thought we defended pretty well in the first half. We just maybe fouled too much.
The second half just started out bad. They ran a double-drag ball screen and just laid it up. We didn't hedge. We turned it over. They laid it up. We just were not off to a very good start. We kind of battled back there. It's probably about the 13-minute mark when they basically hit back-to-back threes. They hit a three, then they called a foul on a three and then they got some offensive rebounds. I think they had four possessions with 10 points and three offensive rebounds. It was 57-49 and they never looked back. They scored on 17 of their last 22 possessions, and we couldn't get anything. We just didn't have any bite defensively to get anything done.
When they got the ball in the middle of the floor, against the ball screen – we weren't pulled in, and so then they were just at the rim. You have to be able to do both. You have to be pulled in, and then you have to get out to the shooter. I just felt like they just ran their stuff and we didn't give them a lot of resistance, so it ballooned from there. I thought they were really good in transition. They hurt us, because early in the first half most of their points were really on transition baskets, small offenses, rebounds and fouls. They weren't really scoring in their offense. But in the second half, they got going and we didn't. It's a very disappointing game to lose at home and to lose in the ACC/SEC Challenge." - head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Wake Forest will travel to West Virginia for a Saturday evening showdown with the Mountaineers at the Charleston Coliseum.
Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
Sophomore guard Juke Harris led the Demon Deacons with 22 points and seven rebounds while connecting on a career-high 12-of-15 shots from the free throw line. The Salisbury, N.C., native also added two assists and a steal.
Senior guard Nate Calmese added 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting (45.4 percent), along with a team-high four assists.
In the frontcourt, junior forward Omaha Biliew tallied nine points while going 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and redshirt sophomore Marqus Marion pulled down five rebounds off the bench.
How It Happened
- After Oklahoma opened the scoring, junior forward Omaha Biliew grabbed the first points for the Demon Deacons with a three-pointer at the 17:27 mark in the first half.
- The Deacs took a 6-5 lead after sophomore guard Juke Harris connected on his first three of the game.
- The Deacs went on a short 7-0 run to take a 13-8 lead following a media timeout.
- Harris made both of his free throws to tie the game.
- Wake Forest grabbed the lead two possessions later after Biliew drilled his second field goal from long range.
- Junior guard Myles Colvin hit a tough fadeaway jumper to extend the lead to five points.
- After the Sooners tied the game with a short run, senior forward Tre'Von Spillers added a layup off the find from senior guard Mekhi Mason to give the Deacs the lead again.
- Moments later, senior guard Nate Calmese hit a floater in the lane to restore the Wake Forest lead.
- Spillers knocked down a pair from the line to make it 19-18 with 8:01 left in the first half.
- The Deacs extended their lead to three points after Calmese made two from the charity stripe coming out of a timeout.
- Harris made four free throws in a row to make it 25-23.
- The Salisbury, N.C., native found Calmese in transition for a fast-break layup on the next possession to make it a four-point game and force an Oklahoma timeout.
- Harris made four free throws in a row to make it 25-23.
- The Sooners went on a 6-0 run to take the lead before Harris drained a shot from beyond the arc to make it 30-29 with 4:07 remaining in the half.
- Following the final media timeout of the half, freshman Isaac Carr recorded his first points from the free throw line this season to restore a three-point lead for the Deacs.
- Oklahoma went on an 8-0 run.
- Calmese buried a triple to end the run with 20 seconds remaining.
- The Demon Deacons went into halftime trailing the Sooners, 37-35.
- Harris led all scorers with 12 points in the first half.
- Calmese opened the second half for the Deacs with a floater in the lane, moving him into double-figures.
- Mason notched his first points of the contest on the next trip down the court with a second-chance three-pointer, which cut the Oklahoma lead down to three points.
- The Gilbert, Ariz., native added a reverse layup off the find from Spillers to make it 46-42.
- Mason hit a tough layup to make it a one-point game with 15:58 left to play.
- Calmese tied the game at 47-47 on the next possession with a driving layup of his own.
- Colvin made a pair of free throws following a flagrant foul by the Sooners, making it a two-point game.
- The Sooners went on a 6-0 run before Colvin drained a three to cut the deficit down to five points.
- Biliew added his third three-pointer of the game at the 8:44 mark to make it 62-55.
- Harris knocked down two from the line to cut the Oklahoma lead back down to single-digits.
- The Salisbury, N.C., native found Spillers for an alley-oop a couple possessions later to make it 71-59.
- The Deacs ended a 10-0 run by the Sooners with a pair of free throws by Carr.
- Harris added two more from the line to make it 84-63.
- The Salisbury, N.C., native converted an and-one on the next possession to eclipse the 20-point mark.
- Harris added a tough layup to make it a 16-point game with less than a minute to play.
- The Demon Deacons fell, 86-68.
Stat of the Game
- Wake Forest made its way to the stripe a season-high 27 times and capitalized with a season-high 22 makes (81.5 percent).
- This season, the Deacs are 156-for-209 from the line (74.6 percent).
- Juke Harris' 12 free-throw makes resulted as a career-high mark.
Coach's Comments
"Oklahoma has a nice basketball team. I knew coming in here that they were really good offensively, Porter Moser's got some guys that can really score the ball. They play fast offensively, Nijel Pack is one of the best three-point shooters in the country. Tae Davis was an elite driver and offensive rebounder. I knew we'd have our hands full trying to defend them. I thought we'd probably have to score 80 to win the game, or at least have a good shot to win it. We just offensively couldn't really get anything going. I thought the first half was a very disjointed half for both teams. There were a lot of fouls, there were a lot of guys turning it over, not converting and not taking advantage of other people's mistakes. I actually felt pretty good at halftime. I thought we would play better in the second half. I thought we defended pretty well in the first half. We just maybe fouled too much.
The second half just started out bad. They ran a double-drag ball screen and just laid it up. We didn't hedge. We turned it over. They laid it up. We just were not off to a very good start. We kind of battled back there. It's probably about the 13-minute mark when they basically hit back-to-back threes. They hit a three, then they called a foul on a three and then they got some offensive rebounds. I think they had four possessions with 10 points and three offensive rebounds. It was 57-49 and they never looked back. They scored on 17 of their last 22 possessions, and we couldn't get anything. We just didn't have any bite defensively to get anything done.
When they got the ball in the middle of the floor, against the ball screen – we weren't pulled in, and so then they were just at the rim. You have to be able to do both. You have to be pulled in, and then you have to get out to the shooter. I just felt like they just ran their stuff and we didn't give them a lot of resistance, so it ballooned from there. I thought they were really good in transition. They hurt us, because early in the first half most of their points were really on transition baskets, small offenses, rebounds and fouls. They weren't really scoring in their offense. But in the second half, they got going and we didn't. It's a very disappointing game to lose at home and to lose in the ACC/SEC Challenge." - head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Wake Forest will travel to West Virginia for a Saturday evening showdown with the Mountaineers at the Charleston Coliseum.
Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
Team Stats
OK
WF
FG%
.481
.339
3FG%
.320
.267
FT%
.743
.815
RB
42
24
TO
12
12
STL
7
5
Game Leaders
Pts
22
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
12
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
7
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
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