Wake Forest vs. Florida State: Live Game Thoughts

Halftime - The Deacs played a better half then they have in either of the last couple of games, so that is at least encouraging, but they still trail 28-31.

Looking at the stat sheet one thing that strikes me is how spread out Wake's scoring is. Seven players have scored but none have dominated the game. FSU, on the other hand, has had scoring from only 4 players and is relying primarily on a couple of them to score. That is not the type of game FSU likes to play, so hopefully that will work to our advantage.

Despite the better performance, the Deacs must continue to improve in the second half to win this game. Right now there are still too many mistakes and sloppy plays. Best stat of the half? Only eight three pointers attempted (unfortunately only one went in, and it was the first). I don't care if he's a "shooter," Harvey shouldn't be taking any more of them, and I'd be alright if eight is the final number. We've continue to be able to score inside, and even Harvey had success taking the ball to the hoop and getting fouled. Maybe he'll realize that he's more likely to score three points that way.

Right now I think we'll pull this one out. It will be close, but we've played hard for the whole half and never really let up. Certainly we've looked better at some moments than others, but the intensity was there throughout. Keep that up and keep pounding the ball inside and hopefully things will continue to improve. Let's go get a win!

1:05 - I've never seen a center make an Alley-Oop pass the way Chas McFarland just did to LD Williams. That was INCREDIBLE. Then LD takes a charge after a Wake turnover. The guys are playing with a lot of emotion today, I like that a lot. Unfortunately Chas was just called for an intentional foul, I'm not sure what he did to get it though.

2:30 - Aparently I don't know the proper definition for a foul, definitely looked like the Deacs got messed around several times on that posession. Can't fault our guys for taking it to the basket though. After missing his last two freethrows Chas redeems himself by completing a 1-and-1 to tie the game at 23.

3:55 - Wake is only down two at the final media timeout of the half and Chas is headed to the line to shoot two. FSU has taken some poor shots on their last couple of possessions while the Deacs make good smart plays on offense. Amazing! We put points on the board without shooting threes! Deacs trail 21-23.

5:18 - Timeout FSU after Wake has a couple of good possessions in a row. The last one finished with a nice layup by LD. Good trend, Wake only trails by four, 19-23.

6:17 - Gary doesn't seem to have it today, missed another three and is coming back out for Teague. Ish makes the first, Chas rebounds the 2nd miss and James scores. Good posession, Deacs trail 17-23.

7:35 - Things don't seem to be getting better, instead we're turning the ball over and have taken a couple of bad shots. I'd love to see Clark light it up, but I'm just not sure he has it. I'm fine giving him the chance, he's got to get some time in the game to get better. We're still close and definitely not out of it, we just need to shoot better. Deacs trail 14-20.

8:52 - Harvey missed another three, wasn't entirely open either. Gary Clark just checked in for Jeff Teague. A surprise early sub for him, maybe he's been playing well in practice recently...or maybe not, he just missed a three...and a layup.

10:00 - 2nd media timeout - Harvey pump faked a three and stepped up to make a two. A good shot and a good move, the type thing I'd like to see more of. We didn't look as good in this stretch, but I can tell that the team is working on some things and that coach isn't going to let people get away with dumb plays. It should pay off in the long run. Deacs trail 12-17.

11:33 - Coach just yelled at Harvey for jacking up an air ball three. Clock was starting to wind down, but it was not a smart shot. I'm glad coach got on him and he called for Chas, Ish, and James to come back in.

11:56 - Wake calls time out, probably because we don't seem to be doing anything on offense. There doesn't seem to be a plan; last posession LD dribbled around forever and then got blocked in the paint. I like that we aren't jacking up threes, I don't like that we don't seem to be able to do anything else.

13:03 - We're not playing bad defense, but we've looked kind of lost on the last couple offensive possessions. Hale checks in...can he shoot?

15:10 - A terrible call by the refs, Johnson was called for a charge but the FSU player was clearly not set. That gives James two fouls, so he'll be on the bench for awhile I imagine. At the first media timeout I'm overall satisfied by what I've seen. Although there have been a few sloppy plays we've played pretty good defense and made mostly smart offensive choices. Hopefully we'll keep our heads in the game since it's so close. Tied at 8.

16:45 - Mini-run for FSU as Toney Douglas his a three, Ish turns it over and Douglas gets a fast break layup. Chas then gets on offensive foul. That's the type of sloppy play we can't have today. FSU leads 8-6.

18:10 - I was nervous as it went up, but James Johnson has hit Wake's first 3-point attempt of the day. I'm glad it went in, but I'm worried that it wlil set a trend of jacking a lot of them up today. Chas just followed with a not very good shot from the top of the key on the next posession early in the shot clock. Wake leads, 6-3.

Tip-Off: LD was just doing Hot-Time at mid court. Not surprisingly, we lost the tip. Starting lineup is the usual LD, Chas, Ish, Johnson, and Teague. Quick foul on FSU.

Introductions: Definitely the best crowd turnout I've seen so far this season, but then I couldn't exactly tell what it looked like on TV for some of the games over break. Either way, I think it's going to be rockin' in here this morning, which is exactly what we need. I still wish the big billowing air guys weren't part of the player intros.

It's fun to see how the guys' dance moves for their intros has evolved over the season. They look pretty good.

We're 10 minutes from game time and it's time for the Deacs to get back on track win a win. I'm back in the Joel for the first time since December and am certainly glad to be here! I'll be posting every few minutes with my updated thoughts on how the game is going. Feel free to leave your comments and questions about the game here and I'll do what I can to respond/answer. I'll be posting the newest stuff at the top I think today, unless you all think it should go down. Let me know.

Go Deacs!