Harris Goes For Career-High 31 Points, Wake Forest Falls to NC State

Saturday, January 31

Winston-Salem, N.C.

12 p.m.

Wake Forest University

11-11,2-7ACC

NC State

16-6,7-2ACC

NC State

Wake Forest

Harris Goes For Career-High 31 Points, Wake Forest Falls to NC State

1/31/2026 2:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The Demon Deacons will open the month of February hosting No. 20 Louisville a week from today.

By: Stephen Czarda, Keion Robinson and KJ Smith

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Wake Forest men's basketball team (11-11, 2-7 ACC) fell to Big Four rival NC State (16-6, 7-2 ACC) at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum by a final score of 96-78 on Saturday afternoon.

Sophomore guard Juke Harris led the Demon Deacons in scoring for the 11th time this season, as the Salisbury, N.C., native finished the game with a career-high 31 points on 11-of-25 (44 percent) shooting. The Salisbury, N.C., native also added seven rebounds, including two on the offensive glass, two steals and an assist.

Junior forward Omaha Biliew was the only other Deac to finish in double figures as he recorded 12 points and four rebounds off the bench.

Defensively, Wake Forest forced NC State into eight turnovers, as the Demon Deacons entered Saturday's contest forcing an ACC-best 311 turnovers during the 2025-26 campaign.

Wake Forest will not have a midweek game this upcoming week, as the Demon Deacons will return to action next Saturday to host No. 20 Louisville.

Tip-off is scheduled for 12 p.m. and the contest will air nationally on the ACC Network.

How It Happened

After both teams were held scoreless over the opening two minutes, the Demon Deacons got on the board first on a layup by sophomore guard Juke Harris.
- The Salisbury, N.C., native ended a 9-0 run by the Wolfpack as he hit a pair of free throws at the 13:42 mark.
Junior forward Omaha Biliew made it 11-6 with a tough layup following a cross court pass by freshman guard Isaac Carr.
- The Waukee, Iowa, native cut the lead down to eight points moments later with a deep three-pointer.
Harris recorded eight-consecutive points for the Demon Deacons to cut the Wolfpack lead down to 15 points.
- Harris made it 20-11 with a jumper in the paint with 9:34 remaining in the first half.
- Harris added a layup following an NC State turnover to cut the deficit down to 10.
- Harris moved into double figures with another jumper in the paint at 7:14 mark.
- Harris recorded another jumper to make it 33-18.
Senior forward Tre'Von Spillers cut the NC State lead down to 14 on the next possession with a three.
- Carr logged his first points of the game to make it 35-23.
Harris drilled a three-pointer late in the shot clock to move the Demon Deacons back within 13 after a media timeout.
- Biliew connected on a pair from the line to make it 42-28 with 2:38 left in the half.
- Carr added a nifty layup on the next possession.
The Demon Deacons went into halftime trailing NC State, 49-31.
- Harris led all scorers with 15 points in the first half.
Sophomore guard Sebastian Akins recorded the first points of the second half on a floater in the lane.
- Harris finished at the rim with a finger roll to make it 52-35.
- Junior guard Myles Colvin added his first points of the contest from the free throw line, cutting the deficit to 15.
  - The Indianapolis native responded to a NC State three-pointer with a triple of his own on the next trip down the court.
Harris eclipsed the 20-point mark with a three from the wing at the 16:48 mark.
- Akins blew past his defender for a layup to make it 60-45.
- Spillers recorded a putback layup to cut the lead down to 13 points.
Coming out of a media timeout, the Demon Deacons went on a 10-2 run to make it 64-57.
- Harris hit two-of-three from the line to cut the deficit down to 13.
- Junior forward Cooper Schwieger converted an and-one to move the Deacs back within 10 points.
- Colvin added a pair of free throws to make it 64-54 with 12:51 remaining.
- Harris sank a deep three to make it a seven-point game.
Harris hit two more from the line to move the Demon Deacons back within eight points with 10:45 left to play.
After a short run by the Wolfpack, Biliew buried a long-range two to make it 72-62.
- Biliew added a slam a few possessions later to make it an 11-point game with 7:10 left.
Akins converted a pair of free throws as the Deacs cut the deficit down to 11 points following the under-eight media timeout.
- Spillers hit two from the charity stripe moments later to make it 79-68.
Harris buried a long two-pointer to make it an 11-point contest.
Harris surpassed his career-high with a putback layup with 2:11 left to play.
- Colvin made a pair from the line to make it a 15-point game.
Akins and Schwieger connected for a slam dunk under the basket to make it 91-76.
- Akins hit a fadeaway jumper moments later.
The Demon Deacons fell, 96-78.

Stats of the Game

Sophomore guard Juke Harris recorded a career-high 31 points on 11-of-25 (44 percent) shooting against the Wolfpack. Harris also added seven rebounds, including two on the offensive glass, two steals and an assist.
- The Salisbury, N.C., native is averaging 20.9 points per game this season, which ranks third in the ACC.
  - Additionally, Harris is averaging 14.8 points per game more than he did during his freshman season (6.1 ppg), the highest points per game increase in the country this season.
  - Harris' 20.9 points per game this season are currently most in a single season by a Demon Deacon in the Steve Forbes era and most since Rodney Rodgers' 21.2 points per game during his senior season in 1992-93.

Coach's Comments
"I thought both teams kind of got off to a really slow start, which maybe is not surprising, considering the [weather] situation. Then, we allowed NC State to get a lot of confidence by giving up wide open threes on dribble penetration. We talked a lot about [Quadir] Copeland getting inside the defense and looking to pass. That was quite obvious coming into the game. We worked on making him make tough twos. I think he made one the whole game, but at least four or five times, we just ran in there on his penetration off the corner, especially on the ball side, and just standing there in no man's land. That gave [Darrion] Williams a lot of wide open threes and other people. So that's on us. But then they got confidence – they started to see the ball go in the basket, and they got rolling.

"I thought [Paul] McNeil and [Tre] Holloman were really good – they made some tough shots, especially McNeil. But I think that's sometimes a result of them getting confidence from being open earlier. I thought Copeland did a really good job running the team again. You know, you got to make him make tough twos and and then a couple times when we did get him to miss, you know, we didn't get the rebound. Williams was really good, especially over there in the corner, you know, shooting catch and shoot threes. I was disappointed that halftime offensively, that we were four for nine at the rim.

"It's kind of deflating when you're having a hard time scoring and you don't score when you get to the basket, it makes it tough. Now, we were 7-for-10 in the second half, and that's why I thought, you know, one of the biggest reasons why we got back in the game. We cut it to seven, and then fouled a three-point shooter for the second time, and then gave up an open three to [Matt] Able. That bumped it back to 13 and made it tough. I thought we played good enough offense to win the game. We didn't defend, and you know, defending the three is something we've done pretty good job of all year long, except for a couple of games. So that's disappointing.

"I talked to the team before the game about how we can't be a 25 to 30-minute team this time of year. You have to be a 40-minute team and we just really struggle to do that. You have to put 40 minutes together to beat a team of NC State's caliber. Congrats to their team."- head coach Steve Forbes

Up Next
Wake Forest will not have a midweek game this upcoming week, as the Demon Deacons will return to action next Saturday to host No. 20 Louisville.

Tip-off is scheduled for 12 p.m. and the contest will air nationally on the ACC Network.