Appleby's historic night propels Deacs past UNC
After leading by as many as 26, Wake Forest survived a late-game comeback effort from UNC to knock off the Tar Heels 92-85. In the midst of a foul-riddled second half that saw Wake enter the bonus with 8:45 to play, Tyree Appleby broke the ACC record for most made free throws in a game, going 23/28 from the line. Fifteen of those attempts came in the final two minutes of the game. Appleby finished with 11 assists and seven rebounds in addition to a Wake Forest career-high 35 points.
“It feels good,” Appleby said. “But I’m never really score-hungry or anything like that. It could be any one of our nights, tonight it was just going for me.”
“Ty Appleby had an incredible night,” Wake Forest head coach Steve Forbes added. “He’s an incredible competitor. He drew 16 fouls. The one time I took him out, they went on a 6-0 run. I had to call a timeout just to get him back in. As far as an individual performance in my memory bank for a point guard, [that was] the best. Especially against an opponent like that with those kinds of players. Tremendous.”
The first half was all Demon Deacons — Wake Forest put up 47 in the first 20 minutes and went into the break with a whopping 22-point lead. The torrid start was the antithesis of the Notre Dame game, where Wake scored four points in the first 10 minutes and turned the ball over left and right. Getting off on the right foot allowed Forbes’ group to withstand a late surge from the Tar Heels.
“That’s how you want to start every game, especially at home,” Forbes said. “I don’t want to see a picture on Twitter where the scoreboard says 16 and we got four. It’s resilience and confidence. They kept their confidence. I told them, ‘you can switch it [from last game].’ Last couple games, we left a lot on the table. But they didn’t panic. They kept fighting.”
Even so, Wake Forest’s second half was less than stellar aside from Appleby’s prolific free-throw shooting. The Deacs gave up 60 points to the Tar Heels in the final 20 minutes and largely went cold from the field, shooting just 9/27 and 0/8 from three. The second-half struggles can be chalked up to a variety of factors, including shot selection and spotty defense.
“I didn’t think our shot selection was great going down the stretch, but we were open,” Forbes said. “You make those, you blow the doors open — and we didn’t. There was a stretch where I thought we went too fast, and we kind of stopped getting stops for a while. I think they might have scored on eight or nine possessions [in a row] at one point.”
Though UNC cut into the lead to as little as seven, there was never a real sense that the Tar Heels would storm back and take control of the game. The Deacs did an excellent job of executing down the stretch.
“But I never thought we were in danger,” he continued. “I never felt like we were going to lose the game, it was just a matter of how we were going to finish it. Don’t underestimate how good a job they did getting the ball in, every time they pressed us, to the right guy and to make free throws. Credit to Ty.”
The play of Wake Forest’s big men also deserves some praise — Davion Bradford and Matthew Marsh combined for 18 points on 8/9 shooting to go with 10 total rebounds and a +14. Forbes switched things up and gave Bradford the start (his first since the team’s trip to Jamaica earlier in the season), but Matthew Marsh was stellar in his minutes off the bench. The duo helped dampen the impact of Armando Bacot, who scored 17 points on 7/15 shooting but also fouled out in the second half.
“I think it was one of the biggest parts of the game,” Forbes said of their performances. “They’re different. DB’s a big, strong defender who can score around the basket. Matt’s a guy that’s pretty nimble and can catch lobs. We use them both. But man, 18 and 10? We’ll take that every time.”
With the victory, the Demon Deacons have officially begun a new winning streak. The sour taste of the four-game skid from Jan. 21- 31 may have finally been washed out. And on top of that, Wake has secured a conference win over a quality opponent during a stretch of the season where their resume desperately needed it. As for the rest of the season, plenty of hope remains.
“We talked about it before the game,” Forbes said. “It’s February. It’s opportunity. It’s time to separate from the pack. It’s hard, everybody’s kind of jumbled up. It’s very important to win all your games now, especially at home and against a quality opponent like Carolina. Look at Carolina — they came in here and got beat and where did they go? The National Championship. It’s not over — for any of us.”
Wake Forest returns to action Saturday afternoon at the Joel as they take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
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Ben is a managing editor and lead contributing writer for Deacons Daily. Ben has a year of experience as the Sports Editor for the Old Gold & Black, and a year of experience as the publication’s print managing editor. He has a journalistic profile of over 40 published news and sports pieces for the Dayton Daily News.