A Thorough Beating
There wasn't anything pretty about Wake Forest's 73-89 loss at North Carolina last night. Wake was out-shot in every category, out-rebounded, and pretty much out-everythinged. For most of the second half Wake didn't even look like they had a chance.
Coming off of last weekend's upset of Duke and riding a three game winning streak (including one on the road) it seemed like Wake would be in a good place to provide Carolina a challenge and possibly come up with an upset. Although Wake hung around in the first half, even holding a lead with 13 minutes left, a late first half run and a total domination of the second half led to an easy UNC victory.
One of the biggest problems was the foul trouble of Chas McFarland. The Deacs were finding ways to stick around in the first half, and Chas was a large part of that. He was finding his way to the basket and making some good defensive plays. Then with 4:30 left in the 1st he was called for his second and third fouls in only 30 seconds. Without Chas in the lineup UNC jumped out to a 9 point halftime lead. When he was whistled for his fourth foul less than a minute into the 2nd half he left the game for the next 12 minutes and Carolina continued to dominate.
Wake's 48% shooting from the field and 35% from beyond the arc weren't all that bad (although Carolina's 56% and 50% were obviously better), but several other statistical categories stand out as being big problems for the Deacs.
For the game Wake was 8-17 from the freethrow line. There isn't any valid excuse for that. If nothing else an ACC basketball team should be able to make more than half of their freethrows in every single game. Add 9, or even just 5 points to Wake's score last night and you've got a much more respectable line.
The Deacs were also dominated on the glass. Wake only had 24 rebounds to UNC's 38. I realize that with Chas out for a large part of the game things are more difficult, and James Johnson did an alright job in that department with 8, but the rest of the team really needs to step up.
Jamie Skeen played well and single-handedly sparked the team to a little rally in the first half when he scored 8 quick points, including two big 3's.
I felt like James Johnson had a quiet nigh and was surprised to see he scored 22 points to go along with 8 rebounds. I love that he's putting up those kind of numbers, but I what I really want is something more intangible. I want to see him control and even dominate a game, which I didn't see tonight.
Jeff Teague also provided 18 points and had a decent game.
The rest of the team was incredibly quiet. Ish, LD, Clark, Hale, and Weaver all had minimal/insignificant contributions on a night when everyone needed to step up to get a victory.
The positive from this loss is that no one ever expected it to be a win. I know that doesn't sound very good, but my point is that this loss shouldn't cause any significant harm, unless the team allows it to beat them mentally and is affected by it Thursday night. Wake is still in pretty good shape. Finishing 3-4 would put the Deacs over .500 for the regular season and with a win or two in the ACC tournament an NCAA bid still sounds pretty likely. That requires the Deacs to win both remaining home games and one on the road. It sounds doable, and I'm confident it will be done.
This one should be put to rest. Wake wasn't supposed to win and will be fine with the loss. Regroup and focus on Maryland.
