Deacons lose traction, then game against Oklahoma
Wake Forest and Oklahoma were never separated by more than five points in the first half of Tuesday night’s game at Joel Coliseum.
Things remained tight for the first 10 minutes of the second half, with the Sooners pulling ahead around the midway point.
The Deacons never recovered and fell too far behind, losing 86-68 in the ACC-SEC Challenge game. It’s the first non-conference loss at home in the regular season since late Dec. 2018 for Wake Forest.
“They scored on 17 of their last 22 possessions, and we couldn’t get anything,” coach Steve Forbes said, per news release. “We just didn’t have any bite defensively to get anything done.”
A 3-pointer by Myles Colvin cut Oklahoma’s lead to 57-52 with 10½ minutes left. From there, the Sooners (6-2) outscored the Deacons (6-3) by a 29-16 margin.
In those last 10½ minutes, Wake Forest had four field goals. Omaha Biliew made a 3-pointer, Tre’Von Spillers had a dunk, and Juke Harris made a couple of shots in the last two minutes when the game was out of reach.
Oklahoma’s lead at halftime was 37-35. Both teams shot around 35% for the first 20 minutes and were whistled for 12 fouls each. There were a combined 35 free throws in the first half.
Wake Forest shot 10-for-30 in the second half; Oklahoma was 16-for-26.
“When they got the ball in the middle of the floor, against the ball screen – we weren’t pulled in, and so then they were just at the rim,” Forbes said. “You have to be able to do both. You have to be pulled in, and then you have to get out to the shooter.
“I just felt like they just ran their stuff and we didn’t give them a lot of resistance, so it ballooned from there.”
Harris led Wake Forest with 22 points, making 12 of 15 free throws. Nate Calmese joined him in double-figure scoring with 13 points.
Wake Forest was outrebounded 42-24. The Deacons lost 15-11 in bench scoring and 30-20 in points in the paint.
Oklahoma was led by 18 points apiece from Tae Davis and Derrion Reid. Mohamed Wague had 11 points and 14 rebounds.
