Deacs’ Second-Half Comeback Falls Short at No. 17 North Carolina

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Wake Forest men's basketball team's second half comeback came up just short on Saturday evening, as the Demon Deacons (10-7, 1-3 ACC) fell to No. 17 North Carolina 87-84 inside the Dean E. Smith Center.

Senior guard Nate Calmese and sophomore Juke Harris combined for 56 of the team's 84 points against the Tar Heels as the pair scored 28 points each.

Calmese set a career-high with seven three-pointers while finishing the game shooting 10-for-16 (62.5 percent) from the field. The Gilbert, Ariz., native also led the Deacs with nine assists, as well as four rebounds and two steals.

Meanwhile, Harris recorded his seventh game of at least 20 points as he went 10-of-18 (55.6 percent) from the floor, including going 5-of-12 from beyond the arc. The Salisbury, N.C., native also logged six rebounds, two steals and an assist. With his performance on Saturday, Harris is now averaging 20.4 points per game this season, which ranks fifth in the ACC.

Junior forward Cooper Schwieger notched a season-high nine points over nearly 29 minutes of action off the bench, while senior guard Mekhi Mason added nine points, three rebounds and a steal off the bench.

How It Happened

Sophomore guard Juke Harris opened the scoring for the Demon Deacons with a driving layup.
Junior forward Omaha Biliew threw down an alley-oop off the lob by senior forward Tre'Von Spillers to cut the North Carolina lead down to three.
The Tar Heels went on a 9-0 run before senior guard Nate Calmese hit a three-pointer to make it 17-6.
- Harris added back-to-back three-pointers to make it a three-point game with 12:33 remaining in the first half.
Harris put the Demon Deacons back within seven points with a tough layup.
- Senior forward Mekhi Mason recorded Wake Forest's first bench points of the game on the next trip down the court with a putback layup.
Following a short spurt by the Tar Heels, Calmese connected on a corner three to cut the deficit down to single digits.
- Junior forward Cooper Schwieger made a driving layup to make it 31-22 with 6:26 left in the half.
The Deacs rattled off four-straight field goals to make it a nine-point game.
- Harris hit his third three-pointer of the half to move the Demon Deacons within 12 points.
- Wake Forest turned defense into offense as Mason took his own steal for an easy dunk to make it a 10-point game.
- Schwieger drained a three-pointer on the next possession to cut the UNC lead down to nine points.
- After a three-pointer on one end, Calmese responded with a triple of his own to make it 42-33 at the 3:33 mark.
Mason added a fast break layup as the Demon Deacons moved within nine points.
- Harris knocked down a three-pointer on the next possession to make it an eight-point game with 1:36 left in the first half.
The Demon Deacons trailed the Tar Heels at the half, 49-38.
- Harris led the Deacs with 16 points in the first half.
Wake Forest opened the scoring in the second half with a putback layup by Harris.
- Calmese hit a floater a few possessions later to cut the North Carolina lead down to seven points.
Schwieger added a driving layup to make it 51-44.
- The Overland Park, Kan., native drained a jumper from the top of the key on the next Demon Deacon possession.
- Harris added a jumper in the paint moments later to make it a nine-point game with 16:13 remaining.
Coming out of a timeout, Spillers recorded his first points of the game from the free throw line.
- Calmese drilled a deep three-pointer on the next trip down the court to cut the deficit down to 59-53.
Harris stopped a 10-1 run by the Tar Heels after banking in a three-pointer as the shot clock expired.
The Demon Deacons went on a 13-3 run to make it a five-point game.
- Spillers added his first field goal of the game with a free-throw line jumper to cut the lead down to 13.
- Calmese buried a three-pointer following the under-eight media timeout to make it a 10-point game.
- Spillers converted an and-one layup in transition as the Deacs cut the deficit down to 72-65 with 7:08 left to play.
- Calmese drilled a step back three-pointer in the corner to move within five points.
  - The Gilbert, Ariz., native would hit a floater in the lane moments later.
Calmese hit another stepback three to put the Demon Deacons within a point with 4:03 remaining.
Harris made it 78-76 with a driving layup.
- The Salisbury, N.C., native added a pair from the line to keep Wake Forest within a possession.
Calmese made a driving layup with 14.2 seconds left to make it 84-81.
- He would hit his seventh three-pointer with seven seconds remaining to make it a one-point contest.
The Demon Deacons fell to the Tar Heels, 87-84.

Stat of the Game

Senior guard Nate Calmese continued his stellar start to ACC play, finishing with 28 points to tie with Juke Harris for the game-high mark.
- With 25 points against Virginia Tech, 19 against Miami and 28 against North Carolina, the senior has also logged three-straight games with a double-digit scoring total.
- The Gilbert, Ariz., native finished with a career-high seven threes made on 11 attempts (63.6 percent).
- Calmese also contributed nine assists to lead all individuals, in addition to a pair of steals.

Coach's Comments
"Congrats to Coach Hubert Davis and his team. They have a really good team. I think they have got one of the best frontcourts in the country in Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar. I think they missed two shots between them the whole night. They also had nine offensive rebounds combined. Just two really good players there.

"I thought we got off to a really bad start. We had five turnovers by the first media timeout. We calmed down after that and settled into the game. I thought the game was going to be about the margins coming into the game. We knew points in the paint were going to be huge. They had 28 points in the paint at the half, but we then held them to just 12 points in the second half. Second chance points were also going to be huge. They had 13 in the first half and only eight in the second half. They had eight fast break points in the first half and just five in the second.

"I challenged our team at halftime to defend better fundamentally and execute better. Wasn't anything tricky. We just needed to get the gameplan going, and I thought we did that. I thought our offense finally settled in. We had them all spread out. I thought Nate Calmese did an unbelievable job of taking advantage of their switches. He got inside the paint and other guys made shots and made some threes. Juke Harris played consistently the entire night. It's just unfortunate that you spoil two great individual performances like that on the road without getting the win. We didn't come here for a morale victory, but I'm proud of their effort. We fought. We were resilient. We were tough. We just came up short."- head coach Steve Forbes

Up Next
Wake Forest will next take the court on Saturday, Jan. 17 at Florida State. Tip-off between the Demon Deacons and Seminoles is set for 6 p.m. and will be televised nationally on either ESPN2 or ESPNU.

Deacs’ Second-Half Comeback Falls Short at No. 17 North Carolina

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Team Stats

Nate Calmese

Juke Harris

Mekhi Mason

Cooper Schwieger

Players Mentioned

Omaha Biliew

Nate Calmese

Juke Harris

Mekhi Mason

Cooper Schwieger

Tre'Von Spillers

Wake Forest Athletics

Deacs’ Second-Half Comeback Falls Short at No. 17 North Carolina

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Next Event

Team Stats

Game Leaders

Nate Calmese

Juke Harris

Mekhi Mason

Cooper Schwieger

Players Mentioned

Omaha Biliew

Nate Calmese

Juke Harris

Mekhi Mason

Cooper Schwieger

Tre'Von Spillers

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