Final - Vandy escapes. Gotta wonder what would have happened if Ish makes two fast break layups. Tough loss to swallow considering the way we played, but I'm sure we'll grow from this.

0:16 - Tough. Johnson misses a three that would put the Deacs up by 1, Ogilvy makes 2 freethrows, and Wake is once again down 4, 78-82. Time for some luck.

1:30 - WE HAVE A LEAD!!! James Johnson on a steal, pushes it up the floor and lays it in. Beautiful. Imagine where we'd be if Ish could make dunks/layups and not slip. Oh well. Vandy hits two freethrows, tie game 77-77.

3:42 - James with 2 big freethrows. I'm very very impressed by our play right now. Only down 74-75.

4:16 - Big three from Ish to tie it, but the Dores have now hit one as well. I don't even know what to say about that slip. Wow. Keep the floor clean please. We're down 72-75.

6:14 - Unfortunate foul on one of their best shooters who makes three freethrows. Lead back to 6, but we're hanging around. Rebounding and solid defense without fouling will be the key to this game here down the stretch. 64-70.

7:00 - I don't know what to think about this right now, plus I'm distracted tracking Grobe. We keep making shots, first Skeen, now Teauge, but we can't stop Vandy. Down 64-67.

8:57 - Unbelievable. Ish tried to dunk it to tie the game and missed it. I hate to see that, might totally swing the momentum on us. Vandy makes 2 freethrows, we're back down 56-60.

9:38 - I got distracted from writing when I saw that Grobe to Arkansas article. We've cut the lead a bit, now only down 4 after a big Skeen three. Ish just made an incredible shot and got fouled...opportunity to make it a one point game...tides turning? Deacs down 56-58.

14:21 - Getting a little loose on the offensive end, although I like that we're taking open shots. They won't all fall, but enough of them are tonight to keep us in the game. James keeps getting called for traveling down there, don't know what he's doing. Still 47-52.

15:37 - They're offense is continuing to roll, but we're giving up way too many 2nd chance points by not getting rebounds. The Deacs have 6 shots to Vandy's 11 on the half. Down 47-52.

16:27 - couple good three by the Deacs (including Skeen) but being answered by Vandy. I'm starting to see why Vandy's games are so high scoring. Hale to the line, Deacs down 44-47.

19:35 - Great move to the hole by Teauge, getting fouled, making the shot, and then the freethrow! Should be an interesting half (to say the least). Chas just got his 3rd foul (thought it was his 4th, but they said 3rd).

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I really wasn't sure what we'd see out of the guys tonight, but thankfully they're playing pretty good basketball and keeping themselves in the game. James Johnson has stepped up in a huge way, scoring 10 points and already pulling down 9 boards. He also got the steal on Vandy's last possession and has 1 other. Chas has played alright, but has three fouls and has struggled playing defense on Ogilvy, who has 13 points.

Ish has 4 turnovers and only 2 points to go along with 4 assists. I'd like to see that assist/turnover ratio improve greatly. Vandy is definitely a solid team, and we've been lucky that they haven't shot as well as they're capable of, although we've continued to play reasonably good defense on the whole. We can stay in the game if we keep them on pace to only score 70.

Let's get it done in the 2nd half.

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Half - Ish's play in the last minute was very frustrating to me, that shot was awful and in my opinion he ran it down too far on the last posession but overall solid work.

1:15 - James is looking mighty fine tonight. One board away from a first half double double. 31-35.

2:32 - Ish made one! It was our turn to go on a little run since that last timeout. James has 9 boards already, looks like a double double night for sure. 29-33.

4:38 - Timeout. Looks like it's going to be a game of streaks after another Vandy 3. Ish is getting more and more frustrating to me. Ugly shots and too many bad passes. If we can stay withing 5 at the half I'll be pretty satisfied. Wake down 25-23.

5:15 - Can't do much about a three like that. Ish needs to take zero more shots tonight. Down 25-30, but hanging in there.

6:21 - HARVEY!!!!!! 23-25.

7:19 - Making things happen...Harvey is hot tonight and it's a beautiful thing to see. 20-23.

7:54 - 8 turnovers already. We're entirely out of control, but they've been missing enough shots to keep us in the game. Still down 17-23.

8:34 - I know some people don't like it when James goes dribbling up the floor, but twice in a row it's been pretty effective...and he even made 2 freethrows! Down 17-23.

10:06 - Putting them in the bonus halfway through the half - not good at all. We just don't look very comfortable on the floor. Down 13-20.

11:20 - somehow missed the clock at the timeout. Harvey off to a great start...motivated by not starting perhaps? Still making lots of sloppy passes...not looking forward to seeing the turnover stats at the end of this one. Wake down 13-17.

13:02 - Harvey off to a good start with a 3 from the corner, we're going to need him tonight. I know lots of people don't like Vandy's court, and I'm sure it's somewhat annoying to play on, but there's something kind of fun about its quirkiness. Deacs down 11-15.

14:30 - Just when it looks like Vandy's gonna make a run LD hits another three. We need to find an answer for Ogilvy quickly, it's ridiculous. We're playing way way way too quickly. Deacs down 8-13.

17:12 - Chas is struggling with Ogilvy, already given up 6 points. We're trying to play too fast...Vandy wants that kind of game, we won't be able to win it like that. Down 5-6.

17:43 - Not sure about that charge call on Ish, I'm worried about our 3 team fouls so early. Great shot by LD though. Deacs lead 5-4.

18:38 - Great steal of the inbound by James, followed by a good finish from Chas. James needs to go up strong and make that layup though (and make his freethrows!!!!! missed both). 2-0 Decas.

Pregame/Tipoff - As I said earlier, I'm pretty excited about seeing this game. Hopefully we'll have a decent showing for ourselves. Feel free to join in the conversation here by commenting below. I'd love to get a good discussion going. Just heard Teauge is starting over Harvey tonight, interesting.

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I’m cautiously excited about tonight's game against Vanderbilt. It’s our first opportunity against a solid opponent of the caliber we’ll face when we get into ACC play, our first road challenge, plus playing at Vandy is always interesting thanks to Memorial Stadium’s more than unique setup.

My excitement is not in the fact that I expect us to go down there and beat Vandy by 20 and shock the nation, in fact I don’t really even expect to win. But if we play good defense against a very strong team, put enough points on the board to stay close, and leave having lost the game by less than ten points, the trip will have been a success in my mind. Generally speaking I’m not in to moral victories. A loss is a loss, and I’d much rather not have any of them, but I won’t be nearly upset if we lose by four tonight as I was when we did it against Charlotte. I believe we have the talent to win this game, but even if we don’t, I like the fact that our guys are getting an opportunity against a really good opponent at this point in the season.

I haven’t done to much pre-game analysis of Vandy’s team. I know they lost a couple guys from last year’s run, but I believe they also picked up a pretty good freshman or to. I’m sure a pretty good statistical breakdown of Vandy can be found here.

I’ll be back tonight to make some comments throughout the game, so make sure to spend some time with the Old Gold & Blog.

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I know that to many fans (and apparently to many players) the Meineke Bowl in Charlotte is a bit of a letdown. Everyone was hoping for even bigger things this season, and we were only several close games from making that happen. I hope that fact motivates the team in future seasons, but for right now I hope that both players and fans will embrace the opportunity to win one more football game and finish with an impressive nine wins. Charlotte may not be all that glamorous, and the game may have one of the more unfortunate names out there, but that doesn't change the fact that this team has done big things and deserves our support. I know it's been said, but it's very true: 10 years from now the difference between Charlotte and the Champs bowl in Orlando will be entirely insignificant - what will matter is whether or not we won and improved our overall bowl record. I would have loved to see us play a fun game against a big name SEC or Big 10 opponent, but for now I'm going enjoy what we've got - a great football team that's fun and exciting to watch, one of the best coaches in the nation who isn't planning to go anywhere, and an AD who fully backs the program. Considering those things, I'd say we have it pretty good as Wake football fans. Go to Charlotte, have a good time, and then we can worry about winning ourselves another ACC Championship next season.

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