Virginia Basketball vs. Wake Forest Game Preview, Score Prediction

Matt Newton | Feb 26, 2025

Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

See our gameday live blog for Virginia vs. Wake Forest with score updates and live analysis here: Virginia vs. Wake Forest Live Updates | NCAA Men’s Basketball

Facing a North Carolina school for the third game in a row, Virginia will visit Wake Forest on Wednesday night in Winston-Salem, looking to snap a two-game losing skid.

Read on for a full preview of Virginia at Wake Forest, including game details and notes, an opponent scouting report, what to watch for, and a score prediction for Wednesday's matchup.

Virginia vs. Wake Forest Game Details

Who: Virginia Cavaliers (13-14, 6-10 ACC) at Wake Forest Demon Deacons (19-8, 11-5 ACC)

When: Wednesday, February 26th at 9pm ET

Where: LJVM Coliseum (14,665) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

How to watch: ESPNU

Commentators: Jay Alter (Play-by-Play), Randolph Childress (Analyst)

How to listen: SiriusXM 386, SXM App 976 | Virginia Sports Radio Network | Wake Forest Sports Network

All-time series: Wake Forest leads 72-71

Last meeting: Virginia defeated Wake Forest 49-47 on February 17th, 2024 in Charlottesville.

Virginia vs. Wake Forest Game Notes

• Wake Forest leads Virginia 72-71 in the all-time series, which dates back to 1911.
• UVA is 18-42 against Wake in Winston-Salem and 8-18 at LJVM Coliseum.
• The Cavaliers have won 12 of the last 14 meetings in the series and five of the last six at LJVM Coliseum, but the Demon Deacons beat Virginia 66-47 in Winston-Salem last season.
• This will be the fourth time Ron Sanchez has faced Wake Forest as a head coach, having gone 1-2 against the Demon Deacons in his time at Charlotte.
• Wake Forest is tied for fourth in the ACC standings with an 11-5 record, while Virginia is tied for 12th at 6-10 in ACC play.

Scouting Report: Wake Forest

2023-2024: 21-14, 11-9 ACC (5th)
2024-2025: 19-8, 11-5 ACC (4th)

The story of the Steve Forbes era of Wake Forest men's basketball has been coming oh so close to the NCAA Tournament, but never quite breaking through. In his second year at the helm of the program, Forbes was the ACC Coach of the Year, the Deacs boasted the ACC Player of the Year in Alondes Williams, and Wake won 23 games in the regular season. Historically, 23 wins in the ACC was more than enough to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. But that season began the trend of the ACC falling behind the other major conferences, at least in terms of national reputation, and an upset loss to Boston College in overtime in the second round of the ACC Tournament meant the Deacs wound up on the outside looking in on Selection Sunday.

Such has been life for Steve Forbes and the Demon Deacons ever since then, as Wake has been at least five games above .500 in each of the last four seasons, but has zero NCAA Tournament appearances to show for it. This year, Wake Forest is 19-8 overall and 11-5 in ACC play, good for the No. 4 seed in the ACC Tournament if it started today, but the Deacs are right on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament, with Joe Lunardi having them as the last team in according to his most recent Bracketology.

Wake Forest started the season 4-0 with an impressive win against Michigan, then suffered four losses in its next nine games, but three of those losses were against ranked opponents. The Demon Deacons followed that up with their first six-game winning streak in ACC play since the 2004-2005 season. Wake came up just short against two of the conference's best teams in Duke and Louisville, but then beat Pitt, Stanford, and Cal. The Deacs have lost two of their last three games, though, falling to Florida State and NC State, but beating SMU on the road. It seems Wake Forest is capable of beating any team and also losing to any team.

Two of Wake's best players portaled away last season in Kevin Miller (SMU) and Andrew Carr (Kentucky), but Hunter Sallis, Cameron Hildreth, and Efton Reid came back and the Deacs also added Appalachian State transfer Tre'Von Spillers and Louisville transfer Ty-Laur Johnson, who round out Wake's expected starting five.

Sallis, a 6'5" senior guard, is Wake's scoring leader and the ACC's third-leading scorer at 18.3 points per game. He is scoring at that rate despite shooting just 28.8% from beyond the arc. The former Gonzaga transfer does most of his damage inside the arc, getting to his spot for a mid-range or to the rim off the dribble. Sallis also averages 5.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.3 steals per game.

6'4" senior guard Cameron Hildreth is back for his fourth season at Wake and is averaging a career-high 14.7 points per game and shooting a career-high 35.6% from three-point range. He is the team's leader in assists (3.0 apg) and steals (1.6 spg), a category in which he is ranked in the top 10 in the ACC. Louisville transfer and 6'0" sophomore guard Ty-Laur Johnson joins Sallis and Hildreth in the back court, averaging 6.1 points, 2.9 assists, and 1.5 steals per game. Johnson, Hildreth, and Sallis are each highly-capable on-ball defenders, especially when it comes to stealing the ball.

7'0" senior center Efton Reid is back for his second season in Winston-Salem after transferring in from Gonzaga. Reid is averaging 8.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game and scored a career-high 19 points in Wake's win at Cal on February 8th. Joining him in the front court is Appalachian State transfer and 6'7" forward Tre'Von Spillers, who is averaging 10.2 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game.

Keep an eye out for freshmen Juke Harris and Davin Cosby Jr., both of whom were offered by Virginia on the recruiting trail. The 6'7" forward Harris scores 6.0 points per game and went for 14 points against Duke, while Cosby, a 6'5" guard from Richmond, averages 5.6 points per game and shoots 31.3% from beyond the arc. The other player to look out for off the bench is sophomore guard Parker Friedrichsen, who has had his three-point shooting percentage crater from 36.5% last season to 25.7% this season, but he is still a threat to heat up at any moment, as he did last week when he knocked down five threes and scored 18 points in Wake's big win at SMU.

What to Watch for in Virginia vs. Wake Forest

Turnover Battle
Virginia has gotten better in the ball security area; Andrew Rohde's improved playmaking is a big part of that. UVA is averaging only 10.0 turnovers per game, fourth-fewest in the ACC. Wake is excellent at forcing turnovers, ranking second in that category and fourth specifically in steals. Wake's opponents have committed double-digit turnovers in 23 of 27 games this season and 13 of 16 ACC matchups. Who has the edge in the turnover margin will be a major factor in the outcome of this game.

Three-Point Shooting
You may have noticed in our review of Wake's personnel that there weren't a lot of three-point shooters mentioned. Wake Forest has been operating at both ends of the spectrum in terms of three-point shooting and three-point defense. Wake is No. 1 in the conference in defending the three, allowing opponents to hit just 30.4% from beyond the arc. But offensively, the Deacs are dead last in the ACC by a wide margin, as the only team shooting under 30% (29.1% to be exact) from downtown. Virginia ranks fourth in the ACC in three-point shooting at 37.3% and 14th in three-point defense, allowing opponents to shoot 35.0% from three. Will the Hoos be able to generate and knock down open threes against Wake's tough perimeter defense or will the Deacs have one of their rare good games shooting the ball against UVA's defense, which has been prone to vulnerability on the perimeter?

Plenty at stake in the ACC
Wake Forest is tied with SMU for fourth place in the ACC standings and owns the tiebreaker for the No. 4 seed and that coveted double-bye in the ACC Tournament. But the Deacs have a road game at Duke still on their schedule, while SMU finishes with Cal, Stanford, Syracuse, and Florida State. Wake can't afford a slip-up here, for the ACC tournament or the NCAA Tournament, where the Deacs are right on the edge of the bubble. Virginia, meanwhile hasn't quite locked up a spot in the ACC Tournament yet. A win on Wednesday night at Wake would do just that and maybe could give the Hoos a shot at earning a bye into the second round. We'll see about that. The point is - there is plenty at stake in this matchup for both teams.

Virginia vs. Wake Forest Prediction

Virginia had been making some magic with a three-game winning streak in early February, but that magic seems to have dissipated, or at least it did in two losses to Duke and North Carolina by a combined 33 points. Wake Forest has been prone to playing to the level of its opponents at times this season, but I'm not sure the Hoos are going to get their magic back on Wednesday night in Winston-Salem.

Score prediction: Virginia 62, Wake Forest 67

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