When Wake Forest takes on Virginia Tech on Saturday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, it will be a clash of recovering teams.
While the Demon Deacons (9-5, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) try to reclaim their lost offense, the Hokies (12-2, 1-0) will try to find their legs after outlasting No. 21 Virginia 95-85 in three overtimes on Wednesday.
Virginia Tech had to dig deep against the Cavaliers due to the fact that they lost three starters to injuries.
“We’re as thin as nickel soup right now,” Hokies coach Mike Young said of his rotation.
Carrying Virginia Tech in the backcourt was reserve Ben Hammond, who scored a career-high 30 points and had no turnovers.
Leading the way inside were Amani Hansberry (17 points, 15 rebounds), who played 51 minutes, and Christian Gurzdak (17 points, 19 rebounds), who played 46 minutes in his second career start.
The heavy workload was necessary because the Hokies were without 7-footer Antonio Dorn (guard), defensive stopper Tyler Johnson (foot) and last year’s leading scorer, rebounder and shot blocker Tobi Lawal (foot).
“We’ll be together soon and that will make us better,” Young said of his injured trio.
Wake Forest returns home after falling to North Carolina State 70-57 on Wednesday. The loss was the second straight for the Demon Deacons in which they marked a season low.
In both defeats, including a resounding 98-67 home victory against then-No. 13 Vanderbilt on Dec. 21, Wake Forest committed a total of 33 turnovers and shot 34.5 percent from the floor and 23.1 percent from 3-point range.
“We were 12 of 26 at the rim, with no winning numbers,” Demon Deacons coach Steve Forbes said Wednesday.
Wake Forest is looking to return to the form of leading scorer Juke Harris (19.7 points per game), who has made just five of his last 31 (16.1%) attempts from beyond the arc.
The Demon Deacons will also look for better finishing from their top interior threat, Tre’Von Spillers (12 ppg), who made 3 of 15 shots and scored nine points in those two games.
The positive against North Carolina State was Omaha Biliew’s first career double-double, who delivered 18 points and 10 rebounds.
–Field level media
