Demon Deacons Fall in Regular-Season Road Finale to No. 13 Virginia, 75-70

Tuesday, March 3

Charlottesville, Va.

7 p.m.

Wake Forest University

15-15,6-11ACC

Virginia

26-4,14-3ACC

Wake Forest

Virginia

Demon Deacons Fall in Regular-Season Road Finale to No. 13 Virginia, 75-70

3/3/2026 9:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Senior guard Mekhi Mason recorded a season-high 26 points off the bench.

By: Stephen Czarda, Keion Robinson, KJ Smith & Dylan Shackelford

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Wake Forest men's basketball team (15-15, 6-11 ACC) dropped its final road contest of the regular season as they fell to No. 13 Virginia (26-4, 14-3 ACC) by a score of 75-70 at John Paul Jones Arena on Tuesday night.

Senior guard Mekhi Mason recorded his best game in a Demon Deacon uniform as he led all scorers with 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting. The Gilbert, Ariz., native logged two rebounds, an assist and a steal over the course of 26 minutes off the bench.

Junior guard Juke Harris recorded his 16th 20-point game of the season, as he finished the game with 21 points, four rebounds and a steal against the Cavaliers. With his performance, the Salisbury, N.C., native has now totaled 641 points this season, moving into 11th in Wake Forest history for single season points.

Sophomore guard Sebastian Akins tallied 10 points, three assists and a rebound off the bench. Overall, the Deacs outscored Virginia in bench points, 36-24.

Meanwhile, junior guard Myles Colvin added nine points to pair with his team-high seven rebounds, an assist and a steal.

How It Happened

Virginia won the opening tip.
After the Cavaliers scored the opening six points of the game, sophomore guard Juke Harris buried a three to cut the deficit in half.
- The Salisbury, N.C., native knocked down a jumper in the lane moments later to make it 7-5.
Senior guard Mekhi Mason made it a three-point game after connecting on a three late in the shot clock at the 12:16 mark.
Mason tied the game at 11-11 with a three-pointer following a media timeout.
Junior guard Myles Colvin ended an 8-0 run by Virginia with a layup with 8:18 remaining in the first half.
Harris sank a pair of free throws to make it 19-15.
Sophomore guard Sebastian Akins found senior forward Tre'Von Spillers under the basket for an easy layup to put the Deacs within two at the 5:49 mark.
- Colvin converted two from the line to tie the game at 19-19.
- Harris added three more free throws to even the score once again the next trip down the court.
Spillers ended a quick spurt by the Cavaliers with a left-handed hook shot with 2:22 remaining in the half.
Wake Forest trailed Virginia at the half by a score of 32-24.
- Harris led the Deacs with 10 points in the first half.
Harris grabbed the Demon Deacons' first points of the second half with a jumper in the lane.
Colvin knocked down a three with the shot clock winding down to make it 38-29.
- Harris connected on a stepback jumper in the lane to move the Deacs back within nine moments later.
Akins hit a straightaway three-pointer to make it a six-point game at the 15:56 mark.
- The Concord, N.C., native recorded a fast-break layup following a steal on the defensive end to cut the deficit down to 43-36.
Mason converted an and-one to push the Deacs back within six.
- The Gilbert, Ariz., native added a layup moments later to make it 47-41.
Harris sank a turnaround jumper late in the shot clock to push the Demon Deacons within eight.
- Mason turned defense into offense on the next possession to make it a six-point contest.
Akins hit a pair from the charity stripe coming out of the under-eight media timeout.
Mason buried a deep three to make it 56-50 with 6:30 left to play.
- Mason connected on another triple on the next possession to keep the deficit at six points.
Mason eclipsed the 20-point mark with a pair of free throws at the 5:10 mark.
Harris converted a tough and-one to move the Demon Deacons back within six.
- Colvin added a layup to make it 66-60.
Harris hit a tough layup to move over 20 points for the game.
Mason made it a seven-point game with one minute remaining following a layup.
- He moved the Demon Deacons within four with 25 seconds left to play on a three-point play.
Akins buried a three with 5.7 seconds remaining to make it 73-70.
The Demon Deacons fell, 75-70.

Stats of the Game

Senior guard Mekhi Mason led the team with a season-high 26 points on 9-of-11 shooting and 4-of-6 from beyond-the-arc.
- Tuesday's performance marked his second 20-point game in a Wake Forest uniform, with the first coming in his debut on Nov. 3 against American.
- The Gilbert, Ariz., native did most of his damage in the second half as he recorded 20 of his 26 points in the period.

Coach's Comments
"Ryan [Odom's] done a really nice job of constructing a team that's really well put together. They are skilled, big, fast and play together. He has a really nice team. I thought their size really bothered us early in the game. I think, with about 10 minutes to go in the first half, they had about eight offensive rebounds, which was not good for us. We were 2-for-10 at the rim in the first half and just couldn't get anything going offensively. Both teams kind of struggled offensively – it wasn't very aesthetically pleasing. We didn't finish the half very well, but they did, carrying an eight-point lead into the half.

"Our pace of play in the second half was really good in the half-court. We finally got them spread out, got them behind the play and started getting to the rim and finishing. We were 9-for-11 at the rim in the second half. They got a lot of timely offensive rebounds, though, late, before banging two threes. [Dallin Hall] made one late. That was a big play and he's a really good player. There was another key point at about the under-eight minute mark. We missed a couple of transition shots, and they converted. We just couldn't put enough score pressure on them until the last stretch. Credit to them, they made their free throws.

"Obviously [Thijs] De Ritter is a really good player. Like I said, I like Hall, and [Johann] Grunloh and [Malik] Thomas had good games. There's a lot of good players in the league. I'm a big fan of [Chance] Mallory's energy. I thought they'd be probably play angry after losing at Duke, and we had a pretty good chance to win the game, I thought we just didn't quite get enough score pressure in the end."- head coach Steve Forbes

Up Next
Wake Forest will close its regular season on Saturday afternoon when the Demon Deacons host Cal for Senior and Graduates Day,

Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m. and the matchup will air nationally on the ACC Network.