I wrote in my pregame that Wake Forest was better than its 15-14 record would indicate. Even I didn’t expect a game to come down to free throws in the final seconds.
Credit to Wake, whose season is over, whose coach, Steve Forbes, is almost certainly on his way out – if the people in charge of the athletics department down there can raise the money to get rid of him, as I suspect they will, so that they can find the next in a line of next guys.
The Deacs have nothing to play for, but nonetheless made it tough Tuesday night on a Virginia squad that has everything to play for.
ICYMI
The final was Virginia 75, Wake Forest 70; I like how Wake contested this one.
A lot of attacking the rim – the Deacons were 11-of-22 inside the 4.5-foot circle – and a lot more making it harder on UVA on the offensive end than a team that ranked 111th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency had any right to.
Let’s start there: Wake opponents had been shooting 66.9 percent on 10.9 makes per game at the rim this season; Virginia got 10 makes at the rim tonight, on 10-of-18 shooting (55.5 percent).
The numbers suggest UVA (26-4, 14-3 ACC) should have had a couple more makes at the rim.
The 10-of-32 shooting from three is, unfortunately for the ’Hoos, the continuation of a recent trend.
Even with solid efforts in recent wins over NC State (12-of-26 from three in a 90-61 win last week) and Miami (12-of-24 from three in an 86-83 win on Feb. 21), Virginia is shooting just 33.2 percent from three over its last 10 games.
In the previous 20: Virginia shot 36.6 percent from three.
Shoot 36.6 percent, and that’s a couple more makes from three.
Couple more makes at the rim, couple more threes, and a tight game in the closing seconds isn’t.
For Wake (15-15, 6-11 ACC), Mekhi Mason, who hadn’t done much of late – only got six minutes in the 88-83 win over Syracuse on Saturday; had a total of 11 points in 49 minutes in the two before that one – went off tonight.
Mason put in a season-high 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting – 4-of-7 from three, 5-of-5 at the rim, 4-of-4 at the line.
Juke Harris, averaging 21.4 points per game coming in, finished with 21, but was just 7-of-18 from the floor, 1-of-9 from three.
Player notes
- Thijs de Ridder led Virginia with 16 points, but didn’t score in the final 15:35.
- Jacari White had, for him, an odd night: 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting, but just 2-of-7 from three; all four of the makes were at the rim.
- Nice night for Johann Grunloh: 12 points (4-of-5 FG, 1-of-2 3FG, 4-of-5 FT), nine rebounds, three blocked shots in 27 minutes. His backup, Ugonna Onyenso, had two points, seven boards and three blocked shots in 13 minutes.
- Malik Thomas (11 points) and Dallin Hall (10 points) were the other double-digit scorers.
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Chris Graham
