Takeaways from Wake Forest's 77-75 loss to Loyola Marymount

Mistakes down the stretch kept the Deacs from sealing the deal

Wake Forest’s first loss of the season was a brutal one, as the Deacs fell 77-75 in overtime to Loyola Marymount. Steve Forbes’ group held an eight-point lead with under two minutes to go in regulation but couldn’t close out the game — here’s what we learned from Sunday’s defeat.

READ: ACC Basketball Power Rankings: Week 2

Loyola Marymount’s 8-0 run at the end of regulation was unacceptable

This is an obvious one, but I feel it still needs to be said. Wake Forest had an eight-point lead with under 90 seconds to play and essentially collapsed. Tyree Appleby got sloppy and turned the ball over on two crucial possessions, and Matthew Marsh missed two free throws that would have put the team up two scores with 13 seconds to go. Finally, Wake Forest failed to get a stop and gave up a three that tied the game with under two seconds remaining.

The breakdown on Sunday was surprising because the team has otherwise found a way to close out games this year. The overtime victory over Utah Valley stands out, as does the team’s strong second half against La Salle in the first game of the Jersey Mike’s Jamaica Classic. The Deacs could see themselves in a lot of tightly contested games in ACC play — to find success, they’ll have to bounce back and execute down the stretch.

This team needs to clean up the little things

I wrote after the game on Sunday that the loss was the culmination of a multitude of small errors. Wake went 12/19 from the free-throw line and turned the ball over 18 times. At the end of the regulation and in overtime, it was those two shortcomings that kept the Deacs from sealing the deal and remaining undefeated.

Now, it’s still early and some hiccups are to be expected from a team with so many new pieces learning to play together. They’ve shown flashes of consistency — they turned the ball over just 10 times in the season opener vs Fairfield, for example. They’re also shooting 74.8% from the free-throw line as a team this year, which isn’t bad by any stretch, but certainly leaves some room for improvement.

As Steve Forbes put it after the game, “The little things are the big things.” That was true in this game, and it’ll hold true all throughout ACC play. Finding consistent production in these areas could be a key factor in earning the Deacs some important conference wins.

The Deacs missed Daivien Williamson

Forbes said after the game that Williamson didn’t practice the day prior due to an injury and found himself in too much pain to play much of the second half. The Deacs were without one of their senior leaders and primary offensive weapons for much of the game and it showed down the stretch. The Deacs got nice boosts off the bench from Marsh (14 pts, 6/7 FG) and Damari Monsanto (9 pts, 3/8 3-point shooting), but it’s possible the game would have been different if Williamson had been available to relieve Tyree Appleby of some of the primary shot creation responsibilities in the second half.

Williamson still went 3/6 from the field and played 21 minutes, but he’s been an integral part of Forbes’ closeout lineup that helped the Deacs win their first four games of the season. Unsurprisingly, the fifth-year senior who’s spent his entire college career playing for Forbes is someone that needs to be on the floor at the end of games to help lock things down.

Minutes at the five will be matchup dependent

Forbes has embodied a number of approaches regarding the center position. Marsh was the starter to begin the year, then Davion Bradford, and Zach Keller got the start against LMU. However, the majority of the minutes at center went to Marsh, who didn’t play at all against La Salle. Marsh had his best game of the year off the bench, scoring 14 points on 6/7 shooting in 27 minutes.

What this reveals is that there isn’t a clear candidate to lock down the starting five spot. Forbes has three options all with different strengths and weaknesses, and it’s clear he’ll continue to rotate them as he sees fit. At least for the moment, the minutes distribution at the five will depend on what the Deacs’ opponents have in the post.

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