Demon Deacons Secure NIT First Round Win Over Navy

Wednesday, March 18

Winston-Salem, N.C.

7 p.m.

Wake Forest University

18-16,7-11ACC

Navy

26-8,17-1Patriot

Navy

Wake Forest

3/18/2026 10:08:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Five Deacs finished the game in double figures, led by 26 points by sophomore guard Juke Harris.

By: Stephen Czarda, Keion Robinson and KJ Smith

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Five Demon Deacons reached double figures to help lead the Wake Forest men's basketball team (18-16) past Navy (26-8) in the first round of the NIT by a score of 82-72 on Wednesday night at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Sophomore guard Juke Harris led the Deacs in scoring as he finished the game with 26 points on 7-of-13 shooting, while also going 9-for-10 from the line. The Salisbury, N.C., native also logged six rebounds and a steal while leading the team with five assists.

Senior forward Tre'Von Spillers ended the game with a near double-double as he totaled 14 points and nine rebounds on an effective 7-for-9 shooting. The Charleston, S.C., native was a force defensively against the Midshipmen as he matched his career high with four blocks while also tallying a steal.

Junior forward Omaha Biliew added 15 points while going 5-of-8 from the floor, as well as two rebounds, an assist and a block. Meanwhile, senior guard Nate Calmese recorded 12 points, three rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals in his first start since January 27 against Pitt.

Junior guard Myles Colvin provided a spark off the bench as he notched 11 points, three assists and two rebounds in a 27-minute span.

The Demon Deacons stifled the Navy offense throughout the game as they held the Midshipmen to 28-for-65 (43.1 percent) from the field, including 7-of-22 (31.8 percent) from beyond the arc. The Deacs also forced 11 turnovers and recorded five steals and five blocks.

How It Happened

The Demon Deacons won the opening tip.
Senior forward Tre'Von Spillers grabbed the first points of the game on a driving layup.
- The Charleston, S.C., native added another layup on the next possession off a nice pass by sophomore guard Juke Harris.
Harris buried a three with the shot clock winding down to make it 7-3.
Junior forward Omaha Biliew sank a pair from the line to push the Wake Forest lead to six.
Following multiple offensive rebounds, senior guard Nate Calmese hit a floater in the lane to restore the Deacs' six-point lead at the 15:31 mark.
Harris spun his defender before finishing at the rim to push the Wake Forest lead to 13-7 after a media timeout.
The Demon Deacons went on a 7-0 run to extend their lead to 20-11.
- Junior guard Myles Colvin recorded the Demon Deacons' first bench points of the game as he connected on two free throws.
- Colvin found Biliew underneath the basket for a fastbreak slam to give the Deacs a 17-11 lead.
- Calmese swished a corner three on the next possession to push the lead to nine points with 11:30 left in the half.
Calmese knocked down a pair from the line to push the lead back to nine following a media timeout.
- The Gilbert, Ariz., native connected on a floater moments later to make it 24-17.
After Navy tied the game on a 9-0 run, Harris hit a pair of free throws to restore the Deacs' lead.
- Colvin added three more from the charity stripe to make it 29-26.
- Harris hit two from the line on the next trip down the court to push the lead to five.
Sophomore guard Sebastian Akins found Spillers under the basket for an easy slam with 4:26 remaining in the half.
Harris converted an and-one as the Deacs took a 36-31 lead.
Junior forward Cooper Schwieger extended the lead to seven points with a second-chance layup, forcing a Navy timeout.
The Demon Deacons headed into halftime leading the Midshipmen, 38-34.
- Harris led the Deacs with 12 points in the half.
Calmese swished a three-pointer for Wake Forest's first points of the second half.
- The Deacs turned defense into offense as Biliew finished a transition layup following a steal by Mason.
Harris fought through contact for a driving layup to make it 45-39.
- Spillers cleaned up the offensive glass before finishing a putback layup to extend the lead to eight at the 17:01 mark.
Spillers moved into double figures with another driving layup.
Schwieger drove the lane for an easy layup to make it a five-point game.
- Colvin buried a corner three moments later to push it to 54-46.
Harris gave the Deacs a six-point lead with a jumper in the lane following the under-12 media timeout.
- Colvin found Biliew for a thunderous dunk on the next trip down the court to make it 58-52.
Harris converted a pair from the line at the 9:11 mark to make it an eight-point game.
- Colvin sank a corner three on the next possession to give the Demon Deacons a 63-54 advantage.
Biliew extended the lead to double digits after hitting a pair from the line with 7:41 left to play.
- The Waukee, Iowa, native made it a 12-point game moments later on a corner three.
- Spillers added a layup on the next trip down the court to push the lead to 70-56 and force a timeout.
After a block on one end, Spillers cleaned up the offensive glass with a tip-in layup to make it a 16-point game.
Harris eclipsed the 20-point mark with a pair from the line with 3:03 remaining.
- The Salisbury, N.C., native swished a three deep in the shot clock to make it 77-61.
- Harris sank another three-pointer the next trip down the court.
Biliew threw down a monstrous jam with 58.5 seconds left to give Wake Forest a 82-68 lead.
Wake Forest secured the 82-72 win.

Stats of the Game

Sophomore guard Juke Harris led the way with a game-high 26 points on 7-for-13 shooting from the floor. His well-rounded performance also included six rebounds and five assists, tying his career-high mark with the latter.
- He became the ninth Wake Forest player with a 25-5-5 game since the 1996-97 season and first since Hunter Sallis on Dec. 17, 2024 against JMU.
  - Additionally, this was just the second such performance by a Demon Deacon in the postseason during that span. The other came on March 20, 2004 when Chris Paul accomplished the feat against Manhattan in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Key Moment

The Demon Deacons pulled away in the second half, highlighted by a 7-0 run from the 5:52 mark to the 4:04 mark.
- Biliew extended the lead to double digits after hitting a pair from the line with 7:41 left to play.
  - The Waukee, Iowa, native made it a 12-point game moments later on a corner three.
- Spillers added a layup on the next trip down the court to push the lead to 70-56 and force a timeout.
- After a block on one end, Spillers cleaned up the offensive glass with a tip-in layup to make it a 16-point game.

Coach's Comments
"Congrats to Navy and [head coach] Jon Perry on having a fabulous year. He's got a good basketball team that is well coached, plays hard and has great players. Obviously, I have a little piece of my heart with Jon because he played at East Tennessee State, long before I got there. I knew it'd be a hard game, but congrats to them. I know it's hard to get into the NIT from the Patriot League, and that's the amount of respect that the nation and the people on the committee had for them.

"I thought offensive rebounds allowed us to get the lead in the first half. We did a really good job in man early, then Navy got out of it and went to a zone. I just didn't think we had great ball movement against the zone. In the first half, I thought we settled. I was about to lose my mind over there – we needed to drive the ball. In the second half, we had much more movement against the zone and then they had to come out of it and guard us. It's very indicative of how many times we hit the lane. We hit it about 30 to 37 times and scored 56 points. That's 1.51, but when we did, it was 0.9. I'm not a math major, but I think I know the difference. We were 15-for 17 at the rim. Finally, Juke [Harris] got one. We were getting wide open looks, especially in transition. Sometimes, you just have to turn it down and go to the rim. Juke finally did that late.

"I thought Cooper [Schwieger] and Omaha [Biliew] getting in foul trouble in the first half hurt us. Those guys were really good defensively. We had to play small. In the second half, they were back in the game. I thought those two guys did a really good job defensively in the post. Tre'Von [Spillers] had a really good night. I thought Omaha was great at connecting. In the first half, we did a really poor job guarding [Jordan Pennick] and [Austin Benigni]. We were just behind the play. Still, we were pretty good at pretty good at the line tonight."- head coach Steve Forbes

Up Next
With the victory, Wake Forest will continue NIT action against Illinois State on Sunday at LJVM Coliseum.

The game will tip at 4:30 p.m. and be televised nationally on ESPN2.