The men’s basketball team faces its final challenge of the regular season, as it prepares to take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons Friday, March 6. After an 88-69 loss to No. 12 Duke, the Wolfpack (18-12, 9-10 ACC) must topple Wake Forest (13-16, 6-13 ACC) if it has any chance to make a case for the NCAA Tournament.
While beating Wake Forest does not guarantee the Wolfpack a spot in the big dance, it does serve as a must win, as a loss would all but eliminate the team from the tourney. If the Pack is able to defeat the Demon Deacons, it will need to make a convincing enough run in the ACC Tournament in order to compete in March Madness.
The Wolfpack has already defeated Wake Forest once this season, but the Demon Deacons have looked much better in recent games, knocking off Duke at home much like the Pack and defeating Notre Dame before a disappointing loss to UNC-Chapel Hill on the road. A big part of this re-energized Wake Forest team is the emergence of center Olivier Sarr, who put up 25 points against the Blue Devils and 30 against the Fighting Irish.
Despite losing to the Tar Heels, Sarr put up yet another strong performance, notching a double-double in just 24 minutes. The 7-footer is also a plus-16 in conference play, which is surprising because Wake Forest has only won six conference games, and only a couple of other players have positive net ratings. Sarr also leads the team in offensive rating, along with blocks per game.
After allowing Duke’s Vernon Carey to have two strong games recently, and giving up 30 points to UNC-Chapel Hill’s Garrison Brooks, the Pack will have its hands full with Sarr. Even though redshirt junior forward D.J. Funderburk is scoring well inside and redshirt freshman forward Manny Bates is coming off his first career double-double, the defense on big men has been questionable at times, as of late.
Another player the Pack will need to lock down is Wake Forest guard Brandon Childress, who posted 30 points on 5-for-6 shooting from downtown in the first matchup between the two teams. Last season, the two teams split their season series, with Childress combining for 25 points in those two games. The guard averages 15.1 points and 4.7 assists per game, and is coming off a 24 point, nine assist showing against the Tar Heels.
Wake Forest is a better scoring team than the Pack, with guard Chaundee Brown joining Sarr and Childress as double-digit scorers for the Demon Deacons. No player on the Wolfpack scores more per game than Sarr or Childress, though this is one of the only areas in which the Demon Deacons outrank the Pack, and Wake’s scoring is a moot point when considering the team allows ACC rivals to score nearly 74.3 points per game.
While the Wolfpack could surely stand to improve its ball-handling and placement on the court, the Demon Deacons rank as one of the worst teams in the ACC in terms of ball control. Seven players on Wake Forest average over one turnover per game, while the Wolfpack has three players that average more than one steal per game. This sets the stage for a sloppy game by the Demon Deacons, though Wake Forest has played well against the Pack in recent years.
This also sets up a point guard duel between NC State senior guard Markell Johnson and Childress. Johnson has continued to be inconsistent following his career-high performance against Duke in mid-February, scoring 21 against North Carolina but just 27 points combined in the three games against Florida State, Pittsburgh and Duke. If Johnson can shut down Childress and outscore the opposing guard, then the rest of the team should have little issue out-rebounding and out-playing Wake Forest.
The Pack returns to PNC Arena less than a week after defeating the Pittsburgh Panthers, with the game against the Demon Deacons being set for a 7 p.m. tipoff Friday, March 6. The game can be streamed on the ACC Network and can be listened to on Wolfpack Sports Radio. Live updates will be posted on @TechSports on Twitter.
