With four losses in its last six games, Wake Forest has faded to the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, likely requiring the Demon Deacons to make a significant run in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament next week.
But first Wake Forest (20-12, 12-7 ACC) takes on Georgia Tech (16-14, 10-9) in the regular-season finale for both squads on Saturday in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The Demon Deacons, with a win, have a chance to capture the fourth seed in the ACC tournament, which brings with it a double bye into the quarterfinals.
Wake Forest is coming off its most decisive loss of the season, 93-60, at No. 2 Duke on Monday.
“We got manhandled tonight by a team that played really, really well,” Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes said.
Playing the Blue Devils in their final home game of the season was a daunting task for Wake Forest. They held the Demon Deacons’ top two threats, Hunter Sallis and Cameron Hildreth, to a combined 3 of 17 from the floor and nine total points. The pair also had more turnovers (six) than assists (four) against the long, active perimeter defense of Duke, which starts no player shorter than 6-foot-6.
The atmosphere will be much more welcoming on Saturday when the Demon Deacons honor five seniors, including their top four scorers: Sallis (18.2 points per game), Hildreth (14.9), Tre’Von Spillers (10.0) and Efton Reid III (8.9).
Georgia Tech enters on a roll as it has won seven of its last nine games, including an 89-74 victory Tuesday over Miami as senior Lance Terry scored a career-high 31 points in his final home game.
“I haven’t seen a group grow that much from Christmas to the end of the year as much as this group,” Yellow Jackets coach Damon Stoudamire said.
During the Yellow Jackets’ nine-game run, 6-foot-9 sophomore Baye Ndongo has blossomed into an interior force averaging 18.3 points and 12.8 rebounds.
In addition, in the first five games of the Yellow Jackets’ 7-2 run, guard Naithan George averaged 22.2 points. He averages 12.5 per game this season. In the last two games, he has a combined 23 assists, becoming the first Georgia Tech player in 18 years to have double-digit dimes in consecutive games.
“Whatever the game gives him, he takes,” Stoudamire said.
–Field Level Media
