Wednesday, February 26
Winston-Salem, N.C.
9:00 p.m.
Wake Forest University
19-9,11-6ACC
75
vs
83
Virginia
14-14,7-10ACC
1
2
F
Virginia
44
39
83
Wake Forest
33
42
75
Wake Forest Falls to Virginia in Wednesday Night Matchup
2/27/2025 12:03:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Demon Deacons will remain at LJVM Coliseum on Saturday evening, hosting Notre Dame for a 5:15 p.m. tip.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Wake Forest men's basketball team (19-9, 11-6 ACC) returned to its home floor on Wednesday night, hosting Virginia (14-14, 7-10 ACC). The two sides went back and forth throughout the contest before the Demon Deacons ultimately suffered an 83-75 defeat.
Senior guard Hunter Sallis led the way with a team-high 25 points. The Omaha, Neb., native was efficient from the field, sinking 10 of 17 attempts, while adding four rebounds and three assists.
Wednesday was Sallis' 14th season performance of 20-plus points.
Senior guard Cameron Hildreth also had a strong night on the scoring end, totaling 22 points on a 56.3 field goal percentage. Senior forward Efton Reid III notched his second double-double of the 2024-25 season, finishing with 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. His frontcourt mate, senior Tre'Von Spillers, contributed nine points and eight rebounds.
Wake Forest won the rebounding battle (27-24) and outscored the Cavaliers in the paint, 52-20. For the game, the Deacs shot 30-for-54 from the floor for a 55.6 team field goal percentage.
How It Happened
Stats of the Game
Coach's Comments
"Virginia came in here and ran their offense with great pace. We were behind the play coming off the screens a majority of the night. They don't have a lot of throw-away possessions because they don't turn the ball over, so they just keep screening until you break down or you get behind the play a bit. They had great pace. They had 51 points outside of the lane. That's an incredible number. Every time we needed a stop, [Isaac] McKneely made a big play. He was the best player on the court tonight.
We fought hard to get back into the game. We had it at 66-64 and then we fouled, missed a layup, they made a couple of threes, and they scored on seven of their last eight possessions. We just played from behind the entire game. A lot of it comes down to our perimeter players. They were just continually behind the play coming off their perimeter screens and then Virginia just got inside our defense because the bigs can't be up helping. If the bigs help up they just slip in the pocket pass and get easy baskets. You have to make them take tough shots.
One of the things that we wanted to do was limit the volume of their threes. Twenty-two was the number and they reached that number, but they made 10. We only made two and one of them was a fluke, so you're minus-nine in terms of three-point shots. We also missed some free throws and they shot at a really high percentage. It's concerning because it's the second game in a row that we've given up 80 points, and that's not a recipe that we have won with this year. We have to get that figured out before we play Notre Dame on Saturday." - head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Wake Forest will conclude their week at LJVM Coliseum hosting Notre Dame in Winston-Salem for the first time since Feb. 25, 2023.
Tip-off is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on The CW.
Senior guard Hunter Sallis led the way with a team-high 25 points. The Omaha, Neb., native was efficient from the field, sinking 10 of 17 attempts, while adding four rebounds and three assists.
Wednesday was Sallis' 14th season performance of 20-plus points.
Senior guard Cameron Hildreth also had a strong night on the scoring end, totaling 22 points on a 56.3 field goal percentage. Senior forward Efton Reid III notched his second double-double of the 2024-25 season, finishing with 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. His frontcourt mate, senior Tre'Von Spillers, contributed nine points and eight rebounds.
Wake Forest won the rebounding battle (27-24) and outscored the Cavaliers in the paint, 52-20. For the game, the Deacs shot 30-for-54 from the floor for a 55.6 team field goal percentage.
How It Happened
- Virginia won the opening tip.
- Wake Forest's first points of the night came courtesy a slam from Hunter Sallis, as the senior drove the middle of the paint for the flush.
- Efton Reid III recorded a putback layup for his first rebound and points of the evening.
- Tre'Von Spillers gave the Deacs their first lead of the night at 7-6.
- At the first media timeout of the evening, Wake Forest's offense was shooting 75 percent from the field with six makes on its first eight attempts.
- Cameron Hildreth launched his first three of the night, an attempt that tickled the net for an 18-16 Wake lead.
- Sallis broke a near three-minute scoring drought, hitting on a jumper to reach 10 points in the first half.
- Hildreth would then cut into the deficit on the fast break, as Wake trailed 31-26.
- The senior guard made a pair of free throw attempts at the bonus with a little more than two minutes remaining in the opening frame.
- The Deacs went into the halftime break trailing, 44-33.
- Sallis (13) and Hildreth (11) each reached double figures in scoring in the first half while Reid recorded five rebounds.
- Spillers got the Deacs on the board in the first minute of the second half, as an entry pass from Reid found the Charleston, S.C., native.
- On the next possession, Ty-Laur Johnson collected his first points of the night and converted from the charity stripe for the three-point play.
- The Deacs cut the deficit down to single digits, 49-40, with a pair of free throws from Reid.
- Hildreth corralled his own miss and laid up his 15th point of the night as Wake trailed, 52-44.
- Sallis' point total grew to 15 with an effective drive and finish before Hildreth got the Deacs to within five, 55-50.
- Reid reached 10 points, ripping the ball away from Virginia on a Deacon miss before finishing at the rim.
- Wake got back within seven, as Hildreth's pass from near midcourt found Spillers who's pump fake got Virginia.
- On the next possession, the Deacs upped the tempo before Sallis finished for an and-one as Wake clawed within four, 66-62.
- The Deacs' run would extend to 8-0 as the Omaha, Neb., native made two free throws after being fouled.
- Wake Forest battled down the stretch, however, and fell to Virginia by a final of 83-75.
Stats of the Game
- The Demon Deacons recorded their second-best shooting performance of the season as they connected on 30-of-54 (55.6 percent) shot attempts.
- Senior guard Hunter Sallis eclipsed the 500 point mark this season as he finished with 25 points to lead the Deacs.
- The Deacs scored a season-high 52 points in the paint against the Cavaliers.
Coach's Comments
"Virginia came in here and ran their offense with great pace. We were behind the play coming off the screens a majority of the night. They don't have a lot of throw-away possessions because they don't turn the ball over, so they just keep screening until you break down or you get behind the play a bit. They had great pace. They had 51 points outside of the lane. That's an incredible number. Every time we needed a stop, [Isaac] McKneely made a big play. He was the best player on the court tonight.
We fought hard to get back into the game. We had it at 66-64 and then we fouled, missed a layup, they made a couple of threes, and they scored on seven of their last eight possessions. We just played from behind the entire game. A lot of it comes down to our perimeter players. They were just continually behind the play coming off their perimeter screens and then Virginia just got inside our defense because the bigs can't be up helping. If the bigs help up they just slip in the pocket pass and get easy baskets. You have to make them take tough shots.
One of the things that we wanted to do was limit the volume of their threes. Twenty-two was the number and they reached that number, but they made 10. We only made two and one of them was a fluke, so you're minus-nine in terms of three-point shots. We also missed some free throws and they shot at a really high percentage. It's concerning because it's the second game in a row that we've given up 80 points, and that's not a recipe that we have won with this year. We have to get that figured out before we play Notre Dame on Saturday." - head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Wake Forest will conclude their week at LJVM Coliseum hosting Notre Dame in Winston-Salem for the first time since Feb. 25, 2023.
Tip-off is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on The CW.
Team Stats
UVa
WF
FG%
.558
.556
3FG%
.455
.143
FT%
.750
.650
RB
24
27
TO
8
10
STL
8
4
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
25
FGM
10
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
22
FGM
9
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F/C
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
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