Wake Forest will look for its fourth win in the past five games when it hosts Florida State in Atlantic Coast Conference play on Wednesday in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The Demon Deacons (11-5, 3-2) and Seminoles (5-11, 3-2) are both coming off bounce-back wins on Saturday. Wake Forest knocked off host Louisville 80-72, while the Seminoles defeated visiting Georgia Tech 75-64.
Wake Forest, which never trailed against the Cardinals and led by as many as 22 points in the second half, were led by Damari Monsanto’s 21 points and four rebounds.
Cameron Hildreth added 19 points and eight rebounds, while Tyree Appleby had 13 points, a team-high eight assists and four rebounds. Daivien Williamson finished with 13 points and two rebounds.
“I thought we played great for the first half,” Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes said. “To their credit, they put on the gas and did a great job of putting pressure on the room. To take the next step as an NCAA Tournament team, you have to put the pedal on when you have them down. I didn’t think we did that.”
Appleby averages a team-high 17.9 points, 5.8 assists and 1.5 steals for the Demon Deacons, while Hildreth averages 11.8 points and a team-high 6.4 rebounds per game. Monsanto averages 11.6 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.
Florida State overcame a slow start to take a three-point halftime lead against Georgia Tech before pulling away in the second half to earn coach Leonard Hamilton his 600th victory and 400th ACC win of his career.
Matthew Cleveland, who averages a team-high 14.4 points to go with 7.3 rebounds per game, had a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Darin Green Jr., who averages 14.1 points per game, added 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Caleb Mills, who averages 12.9 points and 3.6 assists per game, finished with 13 points and seven assists.
“I think our guys are understanding a little bit more of understanding what it takes to win at this level,” Hamilton said. “We’re not in that much better condition than we were early in the year, but they understand now. We challenged them that they have to make sacrifices with the type of team that we have now.”
–Field Level Media