Wake vs. USC Upstate: Final Thoughts

I wouldn’t call this the best game we’ve ever played, and it may not even have been our best performance of the year, but today’s 24 point victory over USC Upstate was definitely a boost of confidence for me and I think it was a boost for the team, too.

Four players scored in double figures including James Johnson, Chas McFarland, Harvey Hale, and Ish Smith. Johnson produced his third double-double of the season by adding 11 rebounds, as well as 3 blocks and 4 steals.

I was very happy to see the team out rebound Upstate 45-29, and 8 blocks and 11 steals are also great numbers to see. I was hoping Gary Clark would show some spark in his minutes today, but unfortunately he was 0-2 from 3 and only made 1 field goal. Cam Stanley played in limited minutes and it looks like he’s just not going to be a large part of the rotation this season. Jamie Skeen and David Weaver both turned in some quality minutes today, including 7 points from Skeen and 4 from Weaver, as well as some good rebounds and blocks. While we still need a consistent shooter, we need to work on getting more assists (less than impressed by only having 10 today) and we need to hold on to the ball better (17 turnovers), I’m still satisfied with today’s performance.

After Thursday’s loss to Charlotte I was about as upset as I’ve been at Wake Forest basketball. Not only did we play poorly, but it didn’t even seem like the effort was all there. Today was much better, as after a poor start the Deacs really turned it on, finishing the last 8 minutes on a 22-6 run. For the first time this season I felt like our effort in the 2^nd half matched or exceeded that of the 1^st, which was something we’ll definitely need to see more of as the season continues.

I definitely expected to win this game, and the 24 point margin is enough to satisfy me. Hopefully this will restore the team’s confidence and they’ll continue the good play against a solid Vanderbilt team on Wednesday and Georgia over the weekend.

For those of you that care (and I know some of you do), Dino wore Wake colors today, with a black suit (maybe dark gray), a gold shirt and gold and black tie. Now you can all quit complaining.

I’ve got audio from after the game from Coach, Harvey, James, and Chas, but right now I don’t have time to go through it all and type up quotes or just post the audio. I’m headed out of town tonight, but will be back to live blog the soccer game again tomorrow afternoon and hopefully will get some of these quotes up as well.

That being said, although I’m not going to go through and get the exact quotes, I’ll bullet point some of what was said real quick.

Dino:
-Happy with the effort, happy with James Johnson.
-Knows some guys are lacking confidence but believes it will keep coming back. Nonetheless, the missed open shots are frustrating. Just telling the guys to play through and hopefully it will come around.

Harvey:
-Felt good about the team’s defensive play today, bouncing back.
-Always feel comfortable shooting, and coach has told him to keep shooting when he’s got the open shots. The team supports him in that and he is confident that it will come around soon.
-Team had a mindset going into the 2^nd half that they had to keep playing defense and working hard so that they wouldn’t be outscored again
-Team is excited to go play Vandy and Georgia, feels their best game is still ahead of them

James
-played better defense, but wanted to get them under %30 shooting, only got it down to %32
-Makes sure to do what he’s supposed to do – work hard and play his best every game.
-I’ll quote this – “I’ll play wherever I’m need to play, as long as Wake Forest gets the win. We have a motto, “one team one fight,” and I’m willing to stick to that for whatever it takes. If coach puts me at the 5 I’ll play it, 6, I’ll play. 1, 2, 3, I’ll play it. As long as we win and I can help the team I’ll do it.

Chas
-keeps working hard in practice and is gaining confidence from working hard and playing well.