After losing to Boston College in of the worst losses of the Forbes era, there was really only 2 ways things were going to go: the team was either going to fold and fall apart, or use that game as motivation and bounce back. Thankfully, we got the latter—the Deacs put together one of their best offensive games of the season to beat the Syracuse Orange by a score of 88-83.
In many ways, this game was the exact opposite of the Boston College game. This time around, the Deacs had no trouble scoring however they wanted, and it was their defense that was letting them down early in the game. A lot of that had to do with the Orange being lights out from beyond the arc. Syracuse entered the game averaging 7 3-pointers per game on 33% shooting—they hit 10 in the first half alone on 56% shooting. Even with Myles Colvin’s 19 1st half points and the Deacs shooting 57% from the floor, they trailed at halftime because of the hot shooting from the Orange.
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The Deacs clearly made some adjustments at halftime on the defensive end, because the Orange were just 3-8 from downtown in the rest of the game. After trailing for the entire game, a Juke Harris 3-pointer with 10:28 remaining in the game gave Wake their first lead—the Deacs never trailed again. While Harris had a bit of an off day with just 13 points on 4-15 shooting, Myles Colvin picked up the slack with a 32 point outing. After going 1-16 from the floor in the previous 2 games, Colvin got back on track making 9 of his 12 shots, including 7 of his 8 3-point attempts.
The biggest difference between the Boston College loss and this game was the supporting cast. The Deacs had 5 players hit double figures in this one, and 6 of the 8 players who got in the game scored. Wake did a much better job attacking the paint and getting easy baskets instead of launching 3-pointers, and the results were night and day from the BC game. The Deacs finished the game shooting 58% from the floor and outscored the Orange 46-20 in the paint. Wake even outrebounded Syracuse by 12 and grabbed an offensive board on 10 of their 24 missed shots (42%). The front court of Tre’von Spillers and Cooper Schwieger combined to score 27 points on 13-17 shooting—Wake is going to be competitive with any team in the nation if those two can give them more games like that.
The win moves Wake to 6-10 in the conference and gives them a tie-breaker over Syracuse. While I don’t think they have clinched a berth in the ACC Tournament yet due to Notre Dame and Pitt winning today, the Deacs should be relatively safe as they are 2 games ahead of both teams. A miracle run in the tournament may be unlikely, but it is a whole lot more likely if Wake actually makes the tournament to start with.
Go Deacs!
