Virginia vs. Wake Forest Live Updates | NCAA Men’s Basketball

Matt Newton | Mar 1, 2025

Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Virginia (14-14, 7-10 ACC) picked up an 83-75 victory over Wake Forest (19-9, 11-6 ACC) on Wednesday night at LJVM Coliseum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. See a full play-by-play and live analysis for the game in the thread below and stay tuned to Virginia Cavaliers On SI for more postgame coverage.

Read our five takeaways from the game here: Five Takeaways From Virginia Basketball's 83-75 Win at Wake Forest

Virginia 83, Wake Forest 75 | Final

Virginia plays with fire, turning the ball over in the back court, but Wake Forest fails to cash in on the opportunity, as Hildreth misses a wide-open three that would have made it a five-point game. McKneely is fouled and makes both free throws to push the lead back to 10. Hildreth scores at the rim and then Rohde makes a mental mistake by allowing himself to be trapped in the corner to force a jump ball. It doesn't matter, though, as Johnson misses a three and Virginia secures the rebound to close out the 83-75 victory.

UVA 83, Wake 75 | Final

Rohde steals the ball and feeds Murray in transition and he has his shot blocked by Spillers. The refs initially call a goaltend, but overturn that call after a review. Sallis gets the entry pass in to Efton Reid, who turns and scores off the glass over Cofie. McKneely uses a pump fake to send his defender flying by, then hits the mid-range jumper from the baseline. Taine Murray comes up with a big offensive rebound and scores to give UVA an 11-point lead with two minutes left. Sallis draws a foul on Cofie, his fourth, and makes 1/2 free throws. Ames is fouled by Sallis 40 feet from the basket and makes both ends of the one-and-one. Sallis gets the give-and-go and soars to the rim for a dunk. Virginia gets a stop, but then Sallis steals the ball from McKneely and gives to Johnson in transition for a layup. Wake calls timeout as UVA leads 81-73 with 41.2 second remaining.

UVA 81, Wake 73 | 41.2 2H

McKneely gets a look from the left wing and drains it, his fourth made three of the night and Virginia's 10th triple of the game. Sallis drives the baseline and hits a short open jumper. Hildreth runs McKneely off the three-point line, but he maneuvers to the right elbow and hits the jumper. Ames drives on Sallis and uses the chicken wing to create some room before hitting his patented mid-range jump shot. Wake calls timeout as Virginia has pushed its lead back to nine points at 75-66 with four minutes left in regulation.

UVA 75, Wake 66 | 4:07 2H

Saunders switches onto Sallis and Sallis drives on him and draws the foul, making both free throws to make it a two-point game at 66-64. That also means Saunders and Buchanan both have four fouls, so it'll just be Cofie (who has three fouls) on the floor as the only big for UVA for the next few minutes. Cofie is fouled underneath the basket and makes both free throws. Rohde skies for a rebound and gets a timeout called before he falls out of bounds. Rohde had both of his feet on the ground when he was calling the timeout to save the possession.

UVA 68, Wake 65 | 6:15 2H

Efton Reid discards Murray, grabs an offensive rebound, and scores plus a foul on Buchanan. Hildreth fouls Rohde on a three-point attempt, but Rohde makes only one of the three free throw attempts. Hildreth then drives to the paint and draws a foul on Rohde, making 1/2 free throws. Tre'Von Spillers runs the floor and Hildreth throws him a perfect pass for a dunk. Virginia comes up empty again and then Hunter Sallis splits two defenders and gets to the rim for a layup plus a foul on Saunders. Virginia's lead is again down to five points with seven and a half minutes to go.

UVA 66, Wake 61 | 7:30 2H

The refs review McKneely's earlier three-pointer during the break and change it to a two as McKneely's foot was on the line. Cofie is fouled and makes both free throws. Reid gets deep positioning under the basket and patiently finishes with a reverse layup. Andrew Rohde gets a wide-open three from the left wing off the bounce pass from McKneely and swishes it. Hildreth has an immediate response, driving past Murray and finishing the layup plus a foul. Murray atones on the other end with a three-pointer, again off of the feed from McKneely. Wake had worked back in the game with its zone defense, but Virginia has begun to break the zone with its perimeter shooting. Wake switches back to man-to-man and Ames scores with a mid-range jumper. Timeout Steve Forbes as UVA is back up by 11 points.

UVA 65, Wake 54 | 9:27 2H

Hildreth grabs his own miss and scores off the glass to make it an eight-point game. Cofie is fouled and makes 1/2 free throws and then Reid goes right at Cofie, who has three personal fouls, and scores off the glass. It's important to remember that Virginia is down one of its key bigs tonight with Anthony Robinson out with a foot injury, so the foul trouble for UVA's front court is particularly concerning with Cofie and Buchanan having three fouls apiece and Saunders having two fouls. Rohde and Hildreth get tangled up, causing a scuffle courtside. The refs review the play, but assess no fouls. McKneely has Hildreth all over him, but he elevates for the three-pointer anyway and buries it. Sallis drives on Ames and scores off the glass. Hildreth drives into the paint and patiently works around Murray for a short floater. The UVA lead is down to five points.

UVA 55, Wake 50 | 11:25 2H

Virginia gets a stop to start the second half and then Andrew Rohde gets in the lane and hits a floater to stretch the lead to 13 points. Wake gets the ball to Spillers under the basket and he slams home the dunk. Saunders gets a wide-open look at a three and splashes it. Ty-Laur Johnson gets going downhill and scores off the glass plus a foul on Ames for an old-fashioned three-point play. Virginia commits a shot-clock violation and then Efton Reid draws a foul on Cofie and makes both free throws. McKneely gets stuck in the lane after picking up his dribble, but he draws contact from Sallis and scores with a push shot plus the foul. That was a big answer from McKneely after Wake had cut the lead to nine. Cam Hildreth drives to the basket and scores with ease.

UVA 52, Wake 42 | 15:32 2H

Rohde hits a wide-open three, but it's wiped away as Cofie is called for an illegal screen to get Rohde open. Cofie is left wide open above the free throw line and he knocks down the jumper. Hunter Sallis hits a three from the left wing to cut the deficit to five points. McKneely comes around a screen and splashes the catch-and-shoot triple from the right corner. Ron Sanchez quickly calls his use-it-or-lose-it timeout with 37 seconds to go in the first half. Virginia makes a good defensive stand on Wake's last possession and then Dai Dai Ames hits a sweet step-back three-pointer from the top of the key. Virginia ends the half on a 6-0 run and leads 44-33 at halftime.

UVA 44, Wake 33 | Halftime

Rohde sends Hildreth to the floor and hits a jumper from the baseline. Reid passes to Spillers for a layup, but Virginia answers on the other end as Cofie finds McKneely for a deep three-pointer. Steve Forbes calls timeout as Virginia has extended its leas to 36-28.

UVA 36, Wake 28 | 2:26 1H

Cofie is fouled inside and makes both free throws, Rohde plays great defense on Sallis to force an air-ball and then Cofie draws another foul, this time going 1/2. Sallis again goes right at Rohde and this time he hits the tough jumper from in front of the free throw line. Buchanan misses a bunny at the rim and then Hildreth slices through the UVA defense for a layup. Buchanan is called for an obvious moving screen, bringing us to the final media timeout of the first half. Virginia leads by five, but hasn't made a shot in nearly four minutes.

UVA 31, Wake 26 | 3:44 1H

McKneely gets inside for a layup, but Wake Forest answers on the other end as Sallis gets a mismatch with Ishan Sharma guarding him and hits a short jumper. Andrew Rohde misfires on a three-pointer but he misses it just badly enough to have it go in off the backboard. Now both teams have had lucky threes go in. Ames comes up with a steal and then Rohde drives baseline and sends a perfect bounce pass to Jacob Cofie, who finishes the play with a slam dunk. Hoos lead by six at the under-eight timeout.

UVA 28, Wake 22 | 6:47 1H

Hunter Sallis hits another mid-range jumper. Blake Buchanan goes up for a shot near the rim but changes his mind mid-air and gives to Murray for a layup. Hildreth tries to throw a lob to Reid but it goes in the basket instead for a lucky three-pointer. McKneely answers with a three-pointer on the other end. Dai Dai Ames uses a sweet spin move to get free in transition and then scores off the glass to give Virginia a 21-18 lead.

UVA 21, Wake 18 | 10:32 1H

Blake Buchanan wins the opening tipoff and then Elijah Saunders, who is getting his second-straight start tonight, hits an open baseline jumper. Hunter Sallis drives by Andrew Rohde down the lane and slams home a dunk with ease. Saunders pops to the left wing and Rohde gives him the pass for the open three. That's five early points for Saunders. Efton Reid sheds Jacob Cofie for a putback off the glass. Tre'Von Spillers gets free under the basket on an inbounds play and sends home a dunk. Isaac McKneely finds Rohde with a backdoor pass and he finishes the layup. Hildreth gets to the basket for another easy layup for Wake, but McKneely hits a tough shot on the other end in response. Virginia gets a stop and then Ames hits a pull-up jumper. Sallis backs down Rohde and gets to his spot in the paint for a short fallaway jumper. Saunders rejects the entry pass to Reid and that starts a fast break with Rohde sending a bounce pass to Taine Murray, who finishes off the glass. Hildreth drives and hits a lefty layup late in the shot clock. Both teams are converting at a high rate offensively, with Virginia shooting 60% and Wake Forest shooting 75% from the floor.

UVA 14, Wake 13 | 13:38 1H

Here are the starting lineups for tonight's game:
Virginia - Andrew Rohde, Dai Dai Ames, Isaac McKneely, Elijah Saunders, Blake Buchanan
Wake Forest - Cameron Hildreth, Ty-Laur Johnson, Hunter Sallis, Tre'Von Spillers, Efton Reid

Anthony Robinson has been ruled out for tonight's game with a foot injury.

As we await our 9pm ET tipoff for Virginia vs. Wake Forest on ESPNU, read a full preview of the game here: Virginia Basketball vs. Wake Forest Game Preview, Score Prediction

Virginia vs. Wake Forest Pregame 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.