Takeaways from Wake Forest's win over 75-63 La Salle
Wake Forest outscored La Salle by 10 in the second half on their way to a 75-63 win in Jamaica Friday afternoon. Here are our main takeaways from the Demon Deacons’ fourth win of the season.
This team has a much higher ceiling with Damari Monsanto involved
The junior is truly an enigmatic player. After showing flashes of high upside and losing 25 pounds this offseason, I expected Monsanto to be a double-figure scorer this season. But through three games of the season, he only played 26 combined minutes and scored six points. Whether it’s his defensive awareness, very confident shot selection or behind the scenes stuff, it was apparent that the coaching staff was not pleased with his performance and his minutes suffered as a result.
But on Friday afternoon, Monsanto made a huge impact in a season high 20 minutes, registering a team high +/- of 17. He scored 14 points on 5-10 shooting, grabbed five rebounds and blocked two shots. He also didn’t turn the ball over once. Monsanto proved today that he makes this team better when he’s on the floor, and his shooting ability is something that draws a lot of attention.
READ: Wake Forest Basketball pulls away in second half for 75-63 win over La Salle
We still experienced the flip side of the Damari Monsanto experience — he received a technical foul for arguing with the refs, and almost picked up a second doing the same thing later. As long as Monsanto listens to the coaching staff and plays hard and smart, he should continue to be a crucial part of the equation for this squad. His firepower undeniably adds a much needed element of juice outside of Tyree Appleby and Daivien Williamson.
“I'm really proud of Damari, fighting through a little adversity early on [in the season],” Forbes said. “I'm his biggest fan. Hopefully this will get him going.”
Minutes at the five are once again a topic of interest
Kansas State transfer Davion Bradford was fantastic against Georgia (11 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks), but was a non-factor in 10 minutes against Utah Valley. Regardless, he remained in the starting lineup Friday afternoon against La Salle, but after playing the first four minutes of the game, he did not go back in.
With Andrew Carr, Bobi Klintman and Zach Keller, Steve Forbes has multiple guys with size who have shown so far that they can take minutes at the five spot. Bradford and Marsh are bigger bodies, but neither have proved to be better rebounders or rim protectors than the more modern fives on the roster. Additionally, Carr, Klintman and Keller are much more skilled offensively and versatile defensively.
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After playing 20 combined scoreless minutes in the wins over Utah Valley and Georgia, Keller notched 11 points and grabbed four rebounds in a career high 24 minutes.
“It depends on the opponent,” Forbes said of keeping Keller in for the majority of the game. “La Salle wasn’t very big, they were more of a driving team. Zach’s more mobile, he can really guard that pick and roll. And he gave us 11 points. When he does that, that’s pretty good.”
How Forbes handled the lineups today may foreshadow what’s to come
Despite freshman Lucas Taylor and Bradford starting in the first half, the two saw just seven combined minutes of game time. And, for the first time this season, Forbes began the second half with a different lineup — sans Taylor and Bradford — than who started the game. Instead, Forbes leaned towards Hildreth (27 mins), Keller (24), Monsanto (20) and Klintman (20).
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Given the opportunity, all those players performed well. Other than Appleby, who was by far the highest, Hildreth, Keller and Monsanto led the Deacs in efficiency rating. Klintman was second-best on the team in scoring differential.
“It's something I'll definitely consider,” Forbes said about changing the starting five. “I'm not married to any sort of lineup. I thought the lineup we started in the second half gave us a better chance. Nothing against those other guys, I just thought those are the guys that kind of run the court most of the half anyway.”
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