Wake Forest vs. Miami: Live Game Thread

Final - No shot from Miami, WAKE WINS 70-68!!!!!!!

0:02.6 - ISH SMITH IS THE MOST CLUTCH PLAYER I'VE EVER SEEN IN A WAKE FOREST UNIFORM. WAKE LEADS 70-68, Miami ball with 2.6 seconds.

0:30 - Unbelievably poor performance down the stretch here, but somehow the Deacs have the ball and the last shot coming. This stalling thing we've been doing is one of the ugliest things I've seen our basketball team do in awhile, but a score here and I suppose all is forgiven. Game tied at 68, Wake ball.

2:30 - What looked like a steal by Teague turned into 2-points for Miami, who cuts the lead to two, 68-66. Missed freethrows are killing us right now. Coach is subbing James out for defense right now and back in for offense, can't quite tell why. He looked like he rolled an ankle earlier in the night so maybe his mobility is a bit off.

3:22 - Just like we did with a lead against Clemson, we've started stalling. I think this is an incredibly dumb tactic and I think it may well come back to bite us. Also, the refs don't seem to be calling this game very evenly at all, that would be an equally crappy way to lose. Chas is shooting 1-and-1 after this timeout, and we desperately need both of them. Wake leads 67-64.

6:16 - How 'bout Jeff Teague!!! Now has an incredible 25 on the game. We've got to do something to stop Miami's inside game, though. Leading 65-60.

7:34 - I've never seen Jeff Teague this hot, and it's a thing of beauty. James Johnson is doing some good things too, even though he's isn't putting up any kind of gaudy numbers. The unfortunate thing has been that whenever Wake does something pretty good Miami has answered with something just as good if not better. The Deacs need to go on a little run and play some better defense to get a little bit of room.

The Deacs' last posession was one of the ugliest things I've seen; they did nothing and then got a shot clock violation. Ugh. Wake leads 60-58.

12:48 - The officiating is starting to get particularly annoying. Although we've still had one more shot at the line than Miami has, we've been called for three more fouls, and we don't seem to be getting away with nearly the things Miami is. Chas got himself a technical, but I can't figure out what he did to get it. Apparently is was a double Technical with Miami. Looking at the replay it appeared to be an elbow Chas put in the guy's face after getting pushed. Fair enough.

Teague has provided a nice spark with a big dunk followed by a drawn foul, but Wake couldn't inbound the ball and had to call timeout leading 50-46.

2nd Half - 16:28 - Quite a burst to start the half, including back to back threes and a nice tip-in by James Johnson (who?) Miami scored some a bit as well, but the 8-point run made them call a timeout with Wake leading 46-40.

Halftime Soccer Tribute - Great tribute to the soccer team here at halftime. They showed all three goals several times, and the crowd gave a big ovation for all of them. There was also a great slideshow of pictures following the highlights, which were fun to see as well. It included celebration shots both from the field and also from the locker room.

At the conclusion of the video/slideshow the team was given a standing ovation by the crowd and the team was presented. The PA listed a bunch of their impressive statistics and award winners, and then the team presented Hatch and Wellman with the Championship trophy. The crowd was very congratulatory and appreciative. Definitely a nice ceremony.

Halftime - Not a bad half, but the Deacs are having a lot of trouble getting out on Miami's Jack McClinton, who is 4-5 from beyond the arc. Amazingly, the Deacs are shooting over 50% on their 3-pointers as well on 6-11 shooting. A surprisingly good stat at this point, particularly since we seem to have several guys who are pretty hot. Also good, the Deacs only have 3 turnovers so far.

The biggest concern I have right now is how quite James Johnson has been. He's 0-5 shooting and seems to be short-arming everything a bit. His only stats are 3 rebounds and a turnover. We're going to need him in the second half to win this one.

The only other thing I'd say is that the officiating has seemed pretty uneven so far, not sure why but we seem to be getting called for a bunch more touch-fouls than Miami. Hopefully that will even out in the second half.

Great drive by Ish Smith on the last play of the half to tie it up at 34 going into halftime.

3:37 - If Harvey's willing to only shoot a couple 3's per half than I'm more than happy to let him put them up and see what happens. One for two is fine in my book. Chas made a very strong move to the basket there, converting a 3-point play on the foul. Considering the injury he's played a very solid half so far.

Miami's doing Wake a big favor by missing some freethrows, and we've managed to grab a little bit of a lead, 26-24.

7:22 - Nice 8-point run from Jamie Skeen there, but Miami keeps burying threes whenever we get back with them. Finally someone is really hot from three, love to see that kept up. Good to get a little run and get back in the game. I think the rust I was talking about is starting to fall off, particularly on the offensive end. The defense could definitely still use some work, though.

All tied up, 20-20.

10:14 - It may be a mobility issue, I'm not sure, but Chas is getting caught out of position more than usual so far. He does have several rebounds, though, and can apparently hit a three. I've never seen Wake get blocked as many times they have in the first nine minutes of this game.

It really looked like goal tending when Jeff Teague got fouled, but it didn't get fouled. Making freethrows is always a good thing. I've also been impressed by David Weaver's effort on the boards so far. Cam Stanley, on the other hand, has had a rough couple of minutes. We may need him for the next couple weeks so I hope he can get it together a little bit.

Dino's yelling at the team "They're killing us inside!" on the bench, hopefully that gets stopped up somehow. Also, Wake is shooting 17% while Miami is shooting 46%, which makes a huge difference. Deacs trail 10-14.

15:45 - Looks like the Deacs need to knock off a little rust after not playing for a week. There are signs that we'll be fine, but Miami looks crisper than us at this point. Harvey made his first shot from a step inside the 3-point line, and it looks like Miami's running a little 2-3 zone which means we need him to make those tonight. I think I'll be happy if he just decides to shoot from there all night long and not step outside the line. A couple ticky-tack fouls but all in all we're alright at this point. Deacs trail 5-7.

James Johnson has apparently shaved off the much-maligned haircut from last week. Public pressure or personal preference? Maybe I can find out.

Tipoff: We won it! Only the second time all season!

Pre-Game: LD Williams was in the middle of the team circle for introductions pumping the team up in his vest and tie. Looking good, and nice to see him still leading the team. Chas is in the starting lineup. Good Sign.

Back in the Joel and happy to be here as always. About 10 minutes from tip, and I'm pretty excited about this game. Last I saw Wake is a 1.5 point favorite this one, and I anticipate a reasonably close game, although I think we can probably win it by about 10. Having Chas in the lineup is going to be huge, we'll see if he starts. I don't know a lot about Miami, but I think it's a good thing that they won on Saturday to end their losing streak. We'll see.

Go Deacs!