Wake Forest vs. UNC: GIF Recap

Wake Forest took on 15th ranked UNC on Wednesday, and got beat pretty badly, 87-71. The Deacs hadn't played a game since they played at Syracuse on January 13th, so the long break could have played a role in the loss. There were some positives in this game, but lets get through the bad first.

And the bad was the defense. The Deacs gave up way too many easy baskets in this one. Several times, they simply got beat down the court and let UNC have warmup layups.

I don't know if they were tired or just not hustling or what, but in the book of ways to lose a basketball game, you will probably find the phrase "let Kennedy Meeks beat you down the court." The defense in the half court was not much better. Several times UNC had guys wide open under the goal for more wide open layups.

Its not hard to shot 60% from the field for the game when a majority of your shots are layups. UNC scored 50 points in the paint in this one. That is way too many.

Some of this can be contributed to bad defense, but UNC has some really good big men that can also score over the defense. Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meeks, for example, combined for 35 points on 16-22 shooting.

And that's pretty much most of the bad. If an opponent  shoots 60% from the field and makes 50 of their points in the paint, its going to be really hard, if not impossible, to beat them.

Let's get to the good.

Codi MIller-McIntyre and Mitchell Wilbekin continue to play well on the offensive end. Miller-McIntyre finished the game with a team high 20 points on 6-14 shooting and added 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Wilbekin finished with 10 points and 3 assists.

If these 2 guys can continue to be aggressive and hit shots, while also finding teammates when they are open, the offense should continue to get better.

Another good thing from the game was the ball movement. The Deacs continue to move the ball well and make the extra pass in order to get other guys wide open looks.

And below is an example of the perfect possession against the zone. The ball moves fast and Devin Thomas gets a wide open layup.

And here's a great find by Madison Jones to Andre Washington for the easy dunk off the pick and roll.

In an strange turn of events, a Wake Forest team played well on offense and poorly on defense. If the Deacs wish to have success in the ACC, they need to continue the ball movement on offense, and tighten up the defense in the paint and in transition.