Wake Forest Earns Third-Straight Road Victory in ACC Play

DALLAS – Behind a balanced scoring attack and strong team defense against one of the conference's top offensive teams, the Wake Forest men's basketball (19-7, 11-4 ACC) defeated SMU (19-6, 10-4 ACC) 77-66 on Saturday evening at Moody Coliseum.

Wake Forest – who had a heavy Demon Deacon presence in the crowd – picked up its sixth ACC road win of the season in Dallas, having now won three-straight away from its home court after becoming the first conference program to sweep the West Coast swing last week.

Sophomore guard Parker Friedrichsen, who had more than 100 in attendance from his hometown – came out of the gate with a hot hand, knocking down five three-pointers on the evening for a season-high 18 points. Additionally, his five makes from beyond the arc tied for a career-best mark. Friedrichsen also grabbed four rebounds in 30 minutes of action.

Senior guard Hunter Sallis scored 20 points for the third consecutive game, also coming close to a double-double with nine rebounds. His six assists tied for a personal-best for the season, as he additionally went 11-of-14 from the free-throw line.

Sophomore guard Ty-Laur Johnson made four of his five field goal attempts for 12 points while senior center Efton Reid III contributed 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.

Senior forward Tre'Von Spillers chipped in eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Making his first career start, freshman Juke Harris finished with nine points and five rebounds.

Wake Forest's collective defensive effort was on full display, holding SMU to a 36.1 field goal percentage. The Mustangs only shot 8-for-35 from beyond the arc and committed 10 turnovers.

The Deacs shared the ball well to record 15 assists on 24 made baskets. In the second half, Wake Forest shot 14-of-28 from the floor (50 percent).

How It Happened

After forcing an SMU turnover on the first possession of the game, Wake scored the first points of the game courtesy of Hunter Sallis.
Parker Friedrichsen snapped a 13-0 SMU run, swishing a three after a pair of offensive rebounds by the Deacs.
It was the first of three-straight offensive possessions in which the Deacs would score, as Ty-Laur Johnson would hit a floater before Sallis collected his fourth and fifth points.
Friedrichsen hit another three from the corner to quickly pull Wake Forest back to within five, 18-13.
Friedrichsen once again dialed one up from three-point land, beating the buzzer to slice the Mustang lead down to two, 20-18.
Wake Forest took its first lead of the game with 7:13 left in the first half, 23-22, on a pair of Sallis free throws.
Efton Reid III responded to an SMU three with one of his own to keep Wake Forest in front, 26-25.
Reid would give Wake the lead back at 29-28 with a hook shot.
The lead would extend to 31-28 as Sallis converted on a pair of free throws.
The Deacs would enter the halftime break trailing, 34-32.
- In the opening frame, the Deacs forced four Mustangs while holding SMU to just five three-point makes on 20 attempts.
- Reid would record a pair of blocks as well.
Tre'Von Spillers opened the second half scoring on the first possession, taking in a pass from Johnson to knock down his first two points of the evening.
- On the next Wake offensive set, the Charleston, S.C., native made a pair of free throws to put the Deacs back in front, 36-34.
Wake's lead would grow to four, 40-36, as Johnson drove through the Mustang defense for a layup.
Then right after, Harris put home a thunderous dunk to make it 42-36 as SMU called a timeout.
After a flurry of activity including Harris getting an offensive board, the ball was kicked out to Sallis who knocked down a wide-open three to push the Demon Deacon lead to 47-40.
SMU would have to call a timeout as Wake Forest took a 51-40 lead with 13:44 remaining in regulation, as the Deacs went on a 7-0 run in just 43 seconds.
Fredrichsen would reach 14 points, nailing a three in front of the Demon Deacon bench to keep Wake in front by six.
- The Bixby, Okla., native would set a new season high for points (15) with 9:02 remaining on a free throw.
- He'd then give Wake its biggest lead of the night at 13, swishing a fadeaway three with 6:24 remaining.
The Demon Deacon defense clamped down during this span, holding SMU scoreless for more than three minutes while taking a 63-50 lead while the Mustangs went 0-5 from the field during that span.
Johnson would be fouled and convert on the backend of the and-one to give Wake Forest a 67-53 lead – its largest of the game – with 4:52 remaining.
- He'd then push the Deacs' lead to 17 on the next offensive possession, finishing on a tough attempt inside the paint.
Wake Forest held SMU without a field goal for almost a nine-minute stretch while maintaining a double-digit lead.
The Demon Deacons would hold on for a 77-66 victory.

Stats of the Game

The Demon Deacons held SMU, who came into the game as the best three-point shooting team in the ACC (39.9 percent), to just 22.9 percent from beyond the arc on Saturday.
Sophomore Parker Friedrichsen notched double-digit points in an ACC game for the first time this season, ending the game with 18 points off the bench while connecting on 5-of-7 three-point attempts.

Key Moment

Despite taking a 3-0 lead, the Demon Deacons would enter a double-digit deficit as SMU took an early 13-0 advantage. Despite trailing by 10 points, Wake found its groove, however, as the offense was jump started by a pair of offensive rebounds to create space for Friedrichsen to hit a three before the Deacs would take their first lead at 23-22.

Coach's Comments
"That was a really good win for our team. We played a team that's been playing really well recently. SMU has won eight of their last nine games, including five games in a row. We knew it was going to be a really hard game coming in here. We had some adversity on Wednesday where we didn't finish and I thought that our team really bounced back with great resiliency today.

We got off to a really bad start. We were turning the ball over and weren't taking any good shots. They were getting out in transition and the crowd got into it a little bit. We called a timeout and then we really settled into the game and hung in until halftime. There was a point in the game, maybe around the 12:15 mark to about the 3:14 mark, where they didn't make a field goal. We were playing a lot more zone at that point and that changed the game a lot. SMU is really good at defending the lane and we got there 13-of-21 times. That was a big number for us.

Really happy for us. Andy Enfield has done an incredible job here in his first year and I think he'll continue to do well here. He's got really good players and they are well coached. They're a great addition to our league." - head coach Steve Forbes

Up Next
Wake Forest will return to the state of North Carolina for the remainder of the regular season, next facing NC State in a Big Four showdown next Saturday in Raleigh.

Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

Wake Forest Earns Third-Straight Road Victory in ACC Play

Next Event

Team Stats

Hunter Sallis

Parker Friedrichsen

Ty-Laur Johnson

Efton Reid III

Players Mentioned

Parker Friedrichsen

Juke Harris

Ty-Laur Johnson

Efton Reid III

Hunter Sallis

Tre'Von Spillers

Wake Forest Athletics

Wake Forest Earns Third-Straight Road Victory in ACC Play

Related News

Next Event

Team Stats

Game Leaders

Hunter Sallis

Parker Friedrichsen

Ty-Laur Johnson

Efton Reid III

Players Mentioned

Parker Friedrichsen

Juke Harris

Ty-Laur Johnson

Efton Reid III

Hunter Sallis

Tre'Von Spillers

Related Videos