With four losses in its last six matches, Wake Forest has faded to the wrong side of the NCAA tournament bubble, which probably requires the Demon -Diakons to make a significant driving in the Atlantic Conference tournament next week.
But First Wake Forest (20-12, 12-7 ACC) takes on Georgia Tech (16-14, 10-9) in the regular season final for both troops on Saturday in Winston-Salem, NC
The Demon -Diacons, with a victory, have a chance to catch the fourth seed in the ACC tournament, which brings with it a double village in the quarter finals.
Wake Forest comes from its most crucial loss of the season, 93-60, on No. 2 Duke on Monday.
“We were handled tonight by a team that played really, really good,” said Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes.
Playing Blue Devils in their last home game of the season was a scary task for Wake Forest. They held Demon Deacons’s two best threats, Hunter Sallis and Cameron Hildreth, to a combined 3 out of 17 from the floor and nine total points. The couple also had more turnover (six) than assists (four) against the long, active perimeter defense for Duke, which does not start any player shorter than 6 feet-6.
The atmosphere will be much more welcoming on Saturday when the Demondia cones honor five seniors, including their four best goalkeepers: Sallis (18.2 points per match), Hildreth (14.9), Tre’von Spillers (10.0) and Efton Reid III (8.9).
Georgia Tech comes into a role because it has won seven of its last nine matches, including a victory 89-74 Tuesday over Miami when Senior Lance Terry received a career pile of 31 points in its last home game.
“I haven’t seen a group grow so much from Christmas to the end of the year as much as this group,” said Yellow Jacket’s coach Damon Stoudamire.
During the Yellow Jacket’s nine-match run, 6-foot-9 Sophomore Baye Ndongo bloomed in an inner strength on average 18.3 points and 12.8 returns.
In addition, in the first five games in Yellow Jackets’ 7-2, the guard Naithan George was an average of 22.2 points. He is an average of 12.5 per match this season. In the last two games he has a combined 23 assists and becomes the first Georgia Tech player in 18 years who has double-digit Dimes in consecutive games.
“Whatever the game gives him, he takes,” said Stoudamire.
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