Tuesday, January 20
Winston-Salem, N.C.
9 p.m.
Wake Forest University
11-8,2-4ACC
79
vs
91
SMU
14-5,3-3ACC
1
2
F
SMU
45
46
91
Wake Forest
36
43
79
Wake Forest Falls in Tuesday Night Contest Against SMU
1/21/2026 12:03:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Three Demon Deacons reached double figures in scoring on the night, led by Juke Harris’ 27 points.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Wake Forest men's basketball team (11-8, 2-4 ACC) fell in a Tuesday night showdown with SMU (14-5, 3-3) by a final of 91-79 at LJVM Coliseum.
Three Demon Deacons ended the game in double figures, with sophomore guard Juke Harris leading the team with 27 points on 10-of-17 (58.8 percent) shooting, including going 5-for-7 from three-point range. The Sailsbury, N.C., native also recorded a team-high six rebounds, as well as three assists, three steals and a pair of blocks.
Senior forward Tre'Von Spillers finished the game with 19 points while shooting at an efficient 54.5 percent clip and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. The Charleston, S.C., native also added four rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks.
Meanwhile, junior guard Myles Colvin logged 17 points, three rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block. This marked the Indianapolis native's highest point total against an ACC opponent this season.
How It Happened
Stats of the Game
Scoring Increase Leaders (Nationally)
ACC Scoring Leaders
Coach's Comments
"SMU and Andy [Enfield's] got a really good team. I knew that coming in, especially on offense. I think they're 19th in the country in offensive efficiency and they showed it tonight. They have a lot of balance and can hit you a lot of different ways. Early in the game both teams were scoring the ball at a high clip.
"We were moving the ball and getting really good shots. Then, there was a point there in the first half where I thought our ball movement slowed down a little bit. They kept on scoring, and then I felt like they became more physical defensively. We just didn't get the ball movement and cutting like we were early in the game. I also thought they did a really good job of screening us. They had us behind the play a lot on chin screens, simple zoom actions, pin downs.
"The whole key to the game, it's pretty simple, we couldn't guard their guards. We couldn't keep them out of the lane. That led to all of those three-pointers. They were able to get paint touches, kick out threes and make them. So, if you really just look at it, that's what happened, and they got some offensive rebounds. They got 11, which doesn't seem like as many, but only missed 32 shots, so they got a pretty high percentage of those.
"Just by looking at our numbers, we had 20 assists on 28 baskets. So that tells me when we were moving the ball, what could we do? We could score, and when we did it, we did it well. But credit to BJ Edwards – he is a really improved player. Boopie [Miller], [Jaron] Pierre Jr., those guys were inside our defense all night long – rejecting us and beating us off the dribble. That to me was where the game got away from us."- head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Wake Forest plays its third Big Four road game of the season on Saturday night, facing No. 5 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Tip-off if scheduled for 5:45 p.m. and the contest will air nationally on The CW.
Three Demon Deacons ended the game in double figures, with sophomore guard Juke Harris leading the team with 27 points on 10-of-17 (58.8 percent) shooting, including going 5-for-7 from three-point range. The Sailsbury, N.C., native also recorded a team-high six rebounds, as well as three assists, three steals and a pair of blocks.
Senior forward Tre'Von Spillers finished the game with 19 points while shooting at an efficient 54.5 percent clip and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. The Charleston, S.C., native also added four rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks.
Meanwhile, junior guard Myles Colvin logged 17 points, three rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block. This marked the Indianapolis native's highest point total against an ACC opponent this season.
How It Happened
- The Demon Deacons won the opening tip.
- Sophomore guard Juke Harris recorded the first points of the game with a corner three.
- The Salisbury, N.C., native hit a jumper on the next possession to make it 5-3.
- Junior guard Myles Colvin added a corner three of his own on the next trip down the court.
- Senior guard Nate Calmese buried a three-pointer to move the Deacs within a point at the 15:51 mark.
- Harris knocked down a tough jumper in the lane to make it a one-point game.
- Following a steal by senior forward Tre'Von Spillers, the Demon Deacons grabbed the lead with a breakaway dunk by Colvin.
- Junior forward Omaha Biliew notched his first points of the game on an emphatic dunk off an assist by Harris, tying the game at 18-18.
- Junior forward Cooper Schwieger gave the Deacs the lead once again with a layup with 11:27 remaining in the first half.
- The Overland Park, Kan., native pulled Wake Forest within a point a few possessions later with another layup.
- Junior forward Cooper Schwieger gave the Deacs the lead once again with a layup with 11:27 remaining in the first half.
- Following a media timeout, Spillers rose to the rim for a powerful slam off the assist by sophomore guard Sebastian Akins.
- Colvin cut the deficit down to two points a couple possessions later with a layup.
- After grabbing an offensive rebound, Harris converted an and-one to make it 31-30 with 6:28 left in the half.
- Colvin added a nifty layup to make it a one-point game a few possessions later.
- Spillers ended a 7-0 run by the Mustangs as he hit a pair from the line to cut the deficit down to seven.
- Akins took his own steal all the way down the court for a fast break dunk to force an SMU timeout.
- The Demon Deacons headed into halftime trailing the Mustangs, 45-36.
- Harris led Wake Forest with 11 points in the first half.
- Harris logged the Deacs' first field goal of the second half on a pull-up jumper from the free throw line.
- Harris added a fadeaway jumper on the next possession to make it a seven-point game.
- Harris knocked down a three from the corner to make it 50-43 with 17:14 left to play.
- Spillers connected on a triple of his own moments later to cut the SMU lead down to four and force a timeout.
- Akins and Spillers connected on an alley-oop to end a 10-0 run by SMU.
- Spillers added a layup on the next possession to make it a 13-point game.
- The Charleston, S.C., native hit two from the line for his eighth-consecutive point for the Deacs.
- Spillers added a layup on the next possession to make it a 13-point game.
- Akins drove past his defender for an easy layup to make it 68-54.
- Harris eclipsed the 20-point mark for the game with a three-pointer at the 8:58 mark.
- Colvin moved into double-digits a few possessions later on a corner three to cut the SMU lead down to 15.
- Colvin sank a pair from the charity stripe with 7:09 left to play.
- The Indianapolis native buried a three off the find from Calmese on the next possession.
- Calmese found Spillers for an alley-oop with 3:48 remaining.
- Spillers hit a jumper on the next trip down the court to make it 89-69.
- Biliew added two from the line coming out of the final media timeout.
- Harris knocked down his fourth three-pointer of the night with 1:27 left to play.
- Spillers added a pair from the line moments later.
- Harris knocked down another three with six seconds remaining.
- The Demon Deacons fell to the Mustangs, 91-79.
Stats of the Game
- Sophomore guard Juke Harris led the Demon Deacons with 27 points against the Mustangs while also adding a team-best six rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks.
- The Salisbury, N.C., native is averaging 20.5 points per game this season, which ranks third in the ACC.
- Additionally, Harris is averaging 14.4 points per game more than he did during his freshman season (6.1 ppg), the second-highest points per game increase in the country this season.
- Harris' 20.5 points per game this season are currently most in a single season by a Demon Deacon in the Steve Forbes era and most since Tim Duncan's 20.8 points per game Jo during his senior season in 1996-97.
- Hitting the 20-point mark, Harris has now scored at least 20 points eight times as a Demon Deacon.
- Hunter Sallis (30), Cameron Hildreth (17), Alondes Williams (14), Tyree Appleby (13), Boopie Miller (9), Daivien Williamson (9) and Andrew Carr (8) are the other Demon Deacons to reach 20 points or more eight times in a game in the Steve Forbes era.
- The Salisbury, N.C., native is averaging 20.5 points per game this season, which ranks third in the ACC.
Scoring Increase Leaders (Nationally)
| Rank | Player | School | Points Per Game Increase |
| 1. | Darin Smith Jr. | Central Connecticut | 14.8 |
| 2. | Juke Harris | Wake Forest | 14.4 |
| 3. | Chandler Cuthrell | Elon | 14.0 |
| 4. | Tai'Reon Joseph | Prairie View A&M | 12.8 |
| 5. | Asjon Anderson | Alabama State | 12.6 |
ACC Scoring Leaders
| Rank | Player | School | Points Per Game |
| 1. | Ebuka Okorie | Stanford | 22.9 |
| 2. | Cameron Boozer | Duke | 22.8 |
| 3. | Juke Harris | Wake Forest | 20.5 |
| T4. | Boopie Miller | SMU | 19.8 |
| T4. | Malik Reneau | Miami | 19.8 |
| T4. | Ryan Conwell | Louisville | 19.8 |
"SMU and Andy [Enfield's] got a really good team. I knew that coming in, especially on offense. I think they're 19th in the country in offensive efficiency and they showed it tonight. They have a lot of balance and can hit you a lot of different ways. Early in the game both teams were scoring the ball at a high clip.
"We were moving the ball and getting really good shots. Then, there was a point there in the first half where I thought our ball movement slowed down a little bit. They kept on scoring, and then I felt like they became more physical defensively. We just didn't get the ball movement and cutting like we were early in the game. I also thought they did a really good job of screening us. They had us behind the play a lot on chin screens, simple zoom actions, pin downs.
"The whole key to the game, it's pretty simple, we couldn't guard their guards. We couldn't keep them out of the lane. That led to all of those three-pointers. They were able to get paint touches, kick out threes and make them. So, if you really just look at it, that's what happened, and they got some offensive rebounds. They got 11, which doesn't seem like as many, but only missed 32 shots, so they got a pretty high percentage of those.
"Just by looking at our numbers, we had 20 assists on 28 baskets. So that tells me when we were moving the ball, what could we do? We could score, and when we did it, we did it well. But credit to BJ Edwards – he is a really improved player. Boopie [Miller], [Jaron] Pierre Jr., those guys were inside our defense all night long – rejecting us and beating us off the dribble. That to me was where the game got away from us."- head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Wake Forest plays its third Big Four road game of the season on Saturday night, facing No. 5 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Tip-off if scheduled for 5:45 p.m. and the contest will air nationally on The CW.
Team Stats
SMU
WF
FG%
.500
.438
3FG%
.500
.333
FT%
.722
.722
RB
40
28
TO
14
11
STL
8
9
Game Leaders
Pts
27
FGM
10
3FGM
5
FTM
2
Pts
19
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
6
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
4
FGM
1
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballSteve Forbes - Postgame Presser vs. SMU
Wednesday, January 21
Men's Basketball All-Access at Florida State
Monday, January 19
Steve Forbes - Postgame Presser at Florida State
Sunday, January 18
Wake Forest vs Mississippi State | Duke's Mayo Bowl Cinematic Recap
Friday, January 09