Harris’ 30-Point Double-Double Leads Demon Deacons Past Cal in Regular Season Finale

Saturday, March 7

Winston-Salem, N.C.

4 p.m.

Wake Forest University

16-15,7-11ACC

Cal

21-10,9-9ACC

California

Wake Forest

Harris’ 30-Point Double-Double Leads Demon Deacons Past Cal in Regular Season Finale

3/7/2026 7:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The sophomore guard became just the third Wake Forest player since 1996 with 30 points and 15 rebounds in a single game.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Wake Forest men's basketball wrapped the 2025-26 regular season with a fourth-straight home victory inside LJVM Coliseum on Saturday evening, downing Cal in an 80-73 decision.

Wake Forest trailed by 15 points in the first half, which is tied for the 15th-largest comeback in program history and largest since the program-record of 21 against Elon on Nov. 6, 2023. It was also the largest comeback in an ACC game since Jan. 4, 2020 against Pitt (16).

The Demon Deacons caught fire in the second half, making 17 of 31 field goal attempts (54.8 percent). For the game, Wake Forest went 27-for-35 from the free-throw line (77.1 percent).

Sophomore guard Juke Harris went for his fifth double-double of the season, totaling 31 points and a career-high 15 rebounds versus the Golden Bears. He became just the third Demon Deacon since 1996 to record 30 points and 15 rebounds in a game, joining John Collins (Feb. 18, 2017) and Oliver Sarr (Feb. 29, 2020).

Additionally, the Salisbury, N.C., native has reached double-digits in 31-consecutive games. His streak is tied for the longest stretch of scoring double digit points in a single season in program history, matching Jeff Teague (2008-09) and Tim Duncan (1996-97).

In addition to Harris, senior guard Mekhi Mason and junior forward Omaha Biliew finished with 10 points apiece. Biliew finished the contest plus-11, tied with sophomore guard Sebastian Akins for the game-high.

How It Happened

Cal won the opening tip and scored the first seven points of the contest before Colvin got the Deacs on the board with a 2-for-2 trip to the line at the 16:37 mark.
Following Spillers' second block of the afternoon, Carr knocked down a three to cut the deficit to 7-5 headed into the under-16 media timeout.
The Golden Bears went on a 11-0 run until Biliew ended it with two makes at the charity stripe with 9:36 remaining in the first half.
- The junior had another perfect trip to the line a few possessions later as Cal took a 21-10 lead into the under-eight timeout.
Biliew made his first field goal of the game after grabbing his own miss and putting it back up at the 6:54 mark.
With 5:47 left in the half, Harris knocked down a pair of free throws and followed it up with a tough layup through contact on the following possession to make it 29-17.
- The sophomore responded to three free throws from the visitors with a dunk through a foul and converted the and-one.
Harris continued to take over offensively with yet another layup as he cut the deficit to 10.
- The basket with 3:09 left in the first half was his 651st point of the season, which marks the most points in a single-season by a Demon Deacon in the Steve Forbes era.
Schwieger made it 33-27 with a pair of free throws followed by a three-pointer at the 1:46 mark.
With just over a minute left in the first, Biliew connected on his fifth and sixth free throws of the contest.
The Golden Bears led 37-29 at the break.
- Harris led the Deacs with 10 points and seven rebounds in the first half.
Colvin opened the second half with a put-back dunk at the 19:14 mark to cut the deficit to six.
Two possessions later, Harris responded to a Cal bucket with a driving layup.
Harris knocked down back-to-back triples and forced the visitors into a timeout at the 16:05 mark as Wake Forest trailed by just three.
The Demon Deacons took their first lead of the contest (44-43) following a triple from Mason and a driving layup by Harris with 13:39 left.
After a Cal layup, Mason answered with another three and made it 47-45.
- On the next possession, Spillers connected from the corner and extended the lead to five (50-45) at the under-12 timeout.
Wake Forest extended its run to 8-0 after a nice find from Harris set Spillers up for an open dunk with 11:26 remaining.
A free throw from Harris followed by three from Mason made it 56-45.
- Akins made it a 14-0 run with a layup at the 9:28 mark.
Harris stayed hot with a pull-up jumper before the under-eight media timeout as the Deacs held a 60-49 advantage.
Reaching 15 points in the second half alone, Harris knocked down another mid-range jumper to keep it a 10-point game with seven to go.
The Golden Bears cut the deficit to one before a layup from Schwieger and a free throw from Akins made it 65-61 with four minutes remaining.
Harris made yet another jumper from the elbow as Wake Forest held a four-point lead with 1:55 to go.
Layups from Biliew and Schwieger canceled out free throws by the Golden Bears before Harris put the game away with four more from the line in the final minute.
Owen Kmety made his season debut with 8.9 seconds to go on his senior day and closed out the game with a breakaway dunk.
Wake Forest defeated Cal, 78-70.

Stats of the Game

Sophomore guard Juke Harris recorded his fifth double-double of the season and fourth in which he had 20-or-more points as he finished the contest with 31 points and a career-high 15 rebounds to go along with three assists.
- He became just the third Demon Deacon since 1996 to record 30 points and 15 rebounds in a game, joining John Collins (2/18/17) and Oliver Sarr (2/29/20) and the only player to do so with three assists.

Key Moment

Starting at the 13:12 mark with Wake Forest trailing by a point, the Demon Deacons used a 14-0 run to take control of the contest highlighted by 11 points from seniors.
- Back-to-back three-pointers from Mason and Spillers sparked the take over.
- Spillers came back down with an open dunk out of the timeout before Harris and Akins combined for four made free throws.
- Akins made a layup to put the Deacs up 58-45 with 9:28 remaining.

Coach's Comments
"I thought it was a gritty, grimy, tough win – something that we talk about as part of our identity. I was really proud of the fight and the resilience of the team, especially when the offense wasn't going very well in the first half. We had eight kills for the game, five in the second half, and we had two kills to end the game at the 4:28 mark. I thought today was one of our best overall defensive efforts of the year for 40 minutes.

"In the first half, Cal guarded us really hard. They're one of the better defensive teams in our league and they probably don't get enough credit for that. They gave us a lot of problems, and I thought we settled a lot. We didn't get to the basket. We had 17 possessions in the paint on 25 points. It was pretty good, but we had 11 possessions of non-paint points, which was not good. In the second half, we had 15 paint possessions and 25 points. So, we were in the paint. We had 32 possessions and 50 points – that's pretty solid.

"In the second half, we kind of cracked the code. Our offense started clicking. We got to the basket. We made open shots. In the first half, we rebounded the ball very well at second-chance points, and we obviously got fouled a lot and made our free throws. Our seniors made a big run. Mekhi [Mason] made back-to-back threes, then Tre'Von [Spillers] made a three, and we were off to the races. I felt like if we could put some pressure on Cal, we'd have a good shot, which we didn't do against Virginia until the last possession on Tuesday.

"Juke [Harris] did a really good job of passing the ball. Sebastian [Akins] and Omaha [Biliew] were huge off the bench with great energy and spirit. Cooper [Schwieger] played really well. Our bench outscored them 26 to 8, and the rebounding was very important. We just found a way to win, and it was a great crowd. It was really inspirational today to have Rodney Rogers' wife, Faye, at practice with her grandson. We talked a lot about Rodney. One thing she asked the team was just to go out, play hard for him, and get the win. Get the win and represent. I think, for the most part, this team has done this, especially late – fighting and being tough. I'm pretty sure Rodney Rogers would be really proud of these guys today, and I'm really happy for the seniors, because this will be the last thing they remember when they play here."- head coach Steve Forbes

Up Next
Wake Forest will open postseason play in the first round of the 2026 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament on Tuesday, March 10 against Virginia Tech at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte.

The game against the Hokies is set to tipoff at 7 p.m. and will air nationally on the ACC Network.