Wake Forest defeats Syracuse 77-74, move ahead to ACC quarterfinals

The victory marks the first for the Deacs in the ACC Tournament since 2017

Midway through the second half, Wake Forest missed eight-straight three-pointers, but that didn’t matter when the final one of the game was taken. With under a second remaining on the clock, fifth-year senior Daivien Williamson drained a shot from deep to give Wake Forest the 77-74 victory over Syracuse, ending a winless streak at the ACC Tournament that went all the way back to 2017.

Daivien Williamson for the win!

Wake Forest beats Syracuse and moves onto the next round of the ACC tourney pic.twitter.com/Di1sgUAick

— Zach Milner (@ZachMilner13) March 8, 2023

"It's kind of crazy how things come full circle," Williamson said in the postgame press conference. "The last two years, I put my head down ... get prepared for moments like this. I was confident in myself and I knocked the shot down."

"It's well documented what I think of him," head coach Steve Forbes added. "Now here we are. I don't think you could write a better story than that. To come here, and do the things that he's done and be the kind of person that he is, that's what college basketball is all about."

Williamson scored a team-high 17 points in the contest, including four threes. He tied Bobi Klintman’s 17, who led the team with 11 rebounds for the second double-double of his young collegiate career.

"I feel like every game, I feel more comfortable," Klintman said. "Just playing with confidence to do what I can do has helped me a lot. And the ball was going in."

Following a back-and-forth opening minutes to the game, Syracuse grabbed relative control with a 5-0 run that ended with an offensive rebound and three-pointer. After the defensive error for Wake Forest, Forbes used his first timeout of the day at the 12-minute mark, trailing by five.

Behind a 14-2 stretch for the Orange — including three-straight scores by Benny Williams — Syracuse went on to lead by as much as 12 midway through the first half. But, just when the game looked like it was getting away from Wake Forest, the Deacs seemed to figure out a way through Syracuse’s zone defense. With nine-straight points, Wake Forest narrowed the Orange’s lead to just three at the under-eight timeout.

For the remaining eight minutes of the first half, the largest lead Syracuse took was six, and the game was tied twice. With a strong defensive hold to close the half, Wake Forest entered the locker rooms trailing by just two.

With five-straight points to open the second half, Wake Forest took their first lead since the 15:47 mark of the first on an Andrew Carr jumper. But, Syracuse reclaimed the advantage seconds later on a clean three by sharpshooter Chris Bell.

While Syracuse was able to momentarily jump back ahead with a 6-0 run, Wake Forest didn’t falter, scoring the next nine points, including a Williamson three-pointer, to retake the lead.

Following a Jesse Edwards free throw to end Wake Forest’s torrid run, the Deacons scored the next eight points, including back-to-back three-pointers by Appleby and Williamson to take a 12-point lead and force a Jim Boeheim timeout.

Behind a 14-2 run by the Orange, Syracuse whittled down Wake Forest’s lead to just one point with 7:56 remaining on the clock. With the game tied at 60, the Deacs ended their cold streak from behind the three-point line with a knockdown by Klintman at the end of the shot clock.

"There's a fine line with that stuff," Forbes said of the eight-straight missed three-pointers. "I like our guys to play free on offense. We were pretty open. But we slowed them back down and got inside their defense. Credit to these guys ... I think a lot of them were pretty good shots."

With a back-and-forth few minutes, Syracuse and the Deacs remained tight, and Wake Forest held a one-point lead. With a steal by Carr and finish by Williamson, Forbes called a timeout with just over two minutes remaining.

In the final two minutes, Syracuse took the lead with a 5-0 mini-run, punctuated by a Williams three-pointer. But, in desperation, Hildreth knocked down an inside jumper to tie the game. Boeheim called his final timeout with 28.4 seconds left on the clock.

"They were just a little bit better," Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. "They just got a little more penetration." 

With seven seconds remaining, Joseph Girard missed the game-winning attempt, giving Wake Forest the final shot. Appleby and the Deacs raced down the court, and with less than a second left, Williamson drained the three-pointer to give Wake Forest the win.

Despite the celebrations of such a critical win, the turnaround is quick. Wake Forest now turns its attention to No. 1 seed Miami in the quarterfinals, with a 12pm tip off tomorrow.

"We won, on to the next," Appleby said of what lies ahead for the Deacs. "Go back to the hotel, eat. Enjoy the win and get onto the next one. We got a very tough team tomorrow. Our coaches are going to get us prepared and we are going to come in and fight."

Despite tomorrow's opponent - No. 1 Miami - anything can happen. Last year, 7-seed Virginia Tech turned into a Cinderella to win the ACC Tournament and go dancing.

"It's March," Williamson said in the locker room after the win." Anything can happen. If we stay locked in and we believe in ourselves ... we can make a real run."

Wake Forest Team Stats:

28-62 FG (45.2%)
9-28 3PT (32.1%)
38 reb, 9 offensive
18 assists
14 turnovers
8 steals

Syracuse Team Stats:

25-64 FG (39.1%)
10-17 3PT (58.8%)
37 reb, 12 offensive
16 assists
12 turnovers
14 steals

Wake Forest Key Players:

Daivien Williamson: 17 pts, 6-14 FG, 4-10 3PT, 6 reb

Bobi Klintman: 17 pts, 6-11 FG, 2-6 3PT, 11 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl

Tyree Appleby: 15 pts, 4-13 FG, 1-7 3PT, 12 ast, 6 reb

Cameron Hildreth: 15 pts, 7-13 FG, 1-2 3PT, 3 ast

Syracuse Key Players:

Judah Mintz: 18 pts, 7-21 FG, 2-3 3PT, 7 ast

Benny Williams: 18 pts, 7-14 FG, 3-5 3PT, 11 reb

Jesse Edwards: 12 pts, 5-8 FG, 10 reb

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