Wake Forest Falls in ACC Tournament Quarterfinals

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The No. 4 seeded Wake Forest men's basketball team (21-11, 13-7) fell in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals 68-59 to North Carolina (22-12, 13-7 ACC) on Thursday afternoon at the Spectrum Center.

The Demon Deacons – who earned the first ACC Tournament double-bye in program history by matching the school record with 13 conference regular season victories came out of the opening tip hot, jumping out to a 14-3 lead.

With the help of a game-high 25 points from senior guard Hunter Sallis, the Deacs led by as much as 14 points in the first half. Sallis finished the afternoon going 9-of-19 from the field and a near perfect 6-of-7 from the free throw line while also adding five rebounds.

The game remained tight throughout as there were 12 lead changes and 12 times the game was tied. Sallis gave Wake Forest the lead at 56-54 with 6:12 remaining in the game, but the Deacs only were able to score three more points from that point.

Joining Sallis in double figures was senior forward Tre'Von Spillers who posted a near double-double 10 points while also collecting nine rebounds.

Fellow senior Efton Reid III led the Deacs with 10 rebounds, marking the seventh time he has pulled down 10 or more rebounds in a game this season and over the last two games he has averaged 11.5 rebounds per game.

Suiting up in his program record 131st game as a Demon Deacon, senior guard Cameron Hildreth tallied nine points with seven of those points coming in the second half. Additionally with his point total today, Hildreth moved into 22nd on the Wake Forest all-time scoring list with 1,471 for his career, passing Bryant Crawford (2016-18).

This was Wake Forest's 58th appearance in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals since the tournament's inception in 1954. It marked the first time since 2005-07 that Wake Forest made three consecutive appearances in the quarterfinals.

This was also the program's first-ever double bye in the ACC Tournament under the current format and the highest regular season finish since the 2008-09 season, finishing fourth in the regular season ACC standings.

How It Happened

After North Carolina won the tip and opened the scoring, senior Tre'Von Spillers recorded back-to-back layups to give the Deacs an early lead.
Freshman Juke Harris entered the game and made an instant impact, converting Wake Forest's first three-pointer of the night.
- Senior Cameron Hildreth added his first basket on the next possession to make it 9-2.
- Spillers added another layup the next trip down to force a North Carolina timeout.
Senior Hunter Sallis knocked down his first basket of the game off of a three-pointer from the wing to extend the Demon Deacon lead to 11.
- During the 14-1 stretch, Wake Forest held North Carolina without a made field goal for more than seven minutes.
Following a 10-0 run by the Tar Heels, Sallis recorded a putback layup to put the Deacs back up by three with 7:44 left in the half.
Coming out of the under-eight timeout, Sallis converted on a tough layup to give Wake Forest a 18-15 advantage.
- Sallis added a pair from the lead moments later to put the Deacs up by five.
- Harris notched his second basket of the game on the next possession.
The Tar Heels went on a 9-0 to take the lead, 24-22, the Tar Heels' first advantage of the half.
Sophomore Ty-Laur Johnson recorded his first two points from the line to tie the game back up at 24-24.
Sallis entered double-digits with a pullup jumper in the lane to make it a one-point game.
- Spillers added another bucket on the next trip down to cut the North Carolina lead down to 29-28.
Omaha Biliew converted an and-one to tie the game at 31-31 with 38.3 seconds remaining in the half.
Wake Forest entered halftime trailing 33-31.
- Sallis led all scorers with 11 points in the half.
North Carolina opened the second half on a 9-1 run.
Sallis tallied his first points of the second half coming out of a timeout.
- The Omaha, Neb., native then added a tough layup two possessions later to cut the deficit down to six.
The Deacs went on an 8-0 run out of a media timeout to reclaim the lead, 46-45.
- Sallis added his third basket in a row to cut the lead down to four.
- Hildreth notched his second basket of the game a couple possessions later to make it a five-point contest.
- Spillers and Reid connected on an alley-oop to make it 45-42.
- Hildreth added back-to-back baskets to give Wake Forest their first lead of the second half.
After North Carolina took the lead back, Sallis converted a pair from the lead to give the Deacs a 48-47 lead with 10:50 left to play.
The Demon Deacons took a 51-50 lead coming out of the under-eight timeout as Harris sank both of his free throw attempts with 7:52 left to play.
Wake Forest and North Carolina traded technical free throws as the Demon Deacons held onto a one-point lead.
Sallis added his eighth basket of the night as the Deacs reclaimed a 55-54 lead with 6:30 left in the game.
Following a short run by the Tar Heels, Sallis cut the deficit down to four with 1:50 remaining.
Wake Forest fell 68-59.

Stats of the Game

Senior guard Cameron Hildreth made his 131st career appearance for the Demon Deacons, which is tied for the most in program history with Broderick Hicks.

Rank	Name	Career Games Played	Years at Wake Forest
T1.	Cameron Hildreth	131	2021-25
T1.	Broderick Hicks	131	1999-02
3.	Darius Songalia	130	1999-02
T4.	Eric Williams	129	2003-06
T4.	Taron Downey	129	2002-05
T4.	Antwan Scott	129	1999-02

Coach's Comments
"Down the stretch offensively we just didn't execute. We needed to match them. When they scored, we needed to score. It's hard to win games in March when you only make two threes and go 2-for-22 from beyond the arc. The defensive effort was off the charts. I called a timeout in the first four minutes of the second half and they didn't score a field goal until 4:44 to go in the game. I'm really proud of the way that our team played today. They played hard and they have nothing to be ashamed of. It was a hard fought game and credit to North Carolina. It's going to be hard not having Hunter [Sallis], Cameron [Hildreth], and Efton [Reid] next year. Those guys are really good players and really good people" - head coach Steve Forbes

Up Next
Wake Forest will await a potential at-large bid with the 2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Selection Show on Sunday evening at 6 p.m., televised on CBS.

Wake Forest Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Omaha Biliew

Juke Harris

Cameron Hildreth

Ty-Laur Johnson

Efton Reid III

Hunter Sallis

Tre'Von Spillers

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