Takeaways from Wake Forest's 87-77 win over Clemson
Wake Forest put forth another strong showing at home on Tuesday night in an 87-77 win over the first place Clemson Tigers. Wake Forest is now 14-5 and 6-2 in the ACC — here’s what we learned in the victory.
Players are accepting and thriving in their roles
Over the past seven games or so, Wake Forest has established a clear and consistent rotation. The starting lineup hasn’t deviated during that stretch, giving the team a sense of continuity it didn’t have earlier on in the season when Steve Forbes was still experimenting with personnel groups and roles.
Of course, the texture of each game is different, but watching the team it certainly seems like every player knows what is expected of them each night and is fully prepared to provide it. Matthew Marsh is locked in as the starting five man, and Davion Bradford comes in and plays real hard in relief minutes off the bench. The primary ball handlers are Cam Hildreth and Tyree Appleby, and the offense runs through them. The bulk of the shots are going to come from the core four of Hildreth, Appleby, Andrew Carr and Damari Monsanto.
The establishment of this team identity has unlocked a more efficient, hungrier version of this group. Wake Forest has now scored 85 points or more in three straight contests and has won six of their last seven games. Steve Forbes speaks frequently about the importance of playing with confidence — I would argue that as the team continues to grow and settle into their identity, the confidence will only grow.
The best example of this is senior captain Daivien Williamson. During the season-opening exhibition game against Winston-Salem State, Williamson scored 25 points on 7-10 shooting. After that dazzling performance, I assumed that he would serve as one of the top scoring options for this team and the offense would run through the backcourt of him and Tyree Appleby. However, as often is the case in college basketball, things changed. Williams sustained a back injury after that which lingered for a while and forced him to bow out of the starting lineup.
In his absence, Monsanto made the jump to the first unit and has blossomed as a starter. He’s playing efficient, smart, heads-up basketball on both ends and the team is better for it. Hildreth has proved to be a better ball handler and creator than Williamson, who has now mostly provides value with his shooting ability off the bench. In 22 minutes against Clemson, the veteran guard went 2/4 from deep and dished out a clutch assist to Hildreth, who drilled a triple to put Wake up by nine with under two minutes to play. This team has proved to be more successful with Williamson in a lesser role - and he has embraced the shift and remains a very important piece of this team.
Many of the established roles on this team are different than they turned out to be at the beginning of the season. However, it’s clear that there’s no bitterness or resentment about lost minutes — everyone has their role and appears proud to play it. Steve Forbes has these guys bought in. - Conroy
Winning six of seven is fantastic, but the schedule has been deceptively easy
It’s undeniable how well this team is playing right now, especially on the offensive end of the floor. Cracking the top 30 in offensive efficiency on KenPom is quite impressive. Even in the one loss on this streak, Wake scored 79 points on North Carolina’s home floor.
While this team is certainly rolling, it’s worth noting that three of the wins over this stretch came against teams with losing records (Louisville, Florida State, and Boston College), and the other three teams were missing a crucial player. Duke didn’t have Dariq Whitehead or Dereck Lively II, Virginia Tech played without Hunter Cattoor, and Clemson was missing Chase Hunter and Alex Hemenway.
I’m not trying to discount Wake’s victories – all they did was beat the opponent in front of them. Injuries are part of the game, and plenty of teams have played Virginia Tech without Cattoor, and Clemson without Hemenway. My point is that if Wake Forest is a tournament team, it should’ve been expected to win those three games on their home floor against teams missing guys, as well as beating teams with losing records. They were all “must have” opportunities. And Forbes and co. is 6-0 in those spots.
The Deacs are 6-2 in the ACC, but their two biggest challenges so far in the league resulted in a 20-point loss and a nine-point loss. Away games against Pitt, Duke, Miami, NC State, and Syracuse await, as well as home matchups against Virginia, NC State, and North Carolina. Arguably almost every one of those will be more difficult than the six wins Wake has in the bank.
The Demon Deacons are hitting their stride at a great time as we approach the midway point in conference play, but there’s still a lot left to prove. - Odjakjian
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