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It's very difficult to beat top 25 teams on the road. It's nearly impossible to win those same games when a team has just two players score in double-figures. Wake Forest's Devin Thomas and Bryant Crawford combined for 39 points, but the rest of the team combined for just 23 points, and the Deacs lost to Notre Dame by a score of 85-62. The loss dropped Wake Forest to 10-11 on the year (1-8 ACC), while Notre Dame improved to 15-6 (6-3).
Devin Thomas scored 19 points and grabbed 8 rebounds, while Bryant Crawford scored 20 points, had 3 assists, and only committed 1 turnover. The two combined to shoot 50% from the field, while the rest of the team shot just 38%. The team's third-leading scorer was Dinos Mitoglou, who finished with just 6 points.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Notre Dame had five players score in double-figures. The Irish shot 52% as a team. Overall, the Irish shot better from inside the arc, outside the arc, and the foul line. They also outrebounded the Deacs by 8 and had 4 fewer turnovers. It was a dominant performance, and was essentially over at halftime. Wake Forest cut the lead to 10 points after John Collins made a layup with 2:31 to go in the first half, but Notre Dame closed the half on a 9-2 run and led 46-29 at the break.
Notre Dame's Demetrius Jackson was doubtful headed into Sunday's contest, but his play did not indicate that. He finished with 14 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, and 6 steals. Zach Auguste finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds for Notre Dame.
Doral Moore gave the Deacs 12 solid minutes today. The big guy finished with 4 points, 2 rebounds and 2 blocks during his 12 minute stint. John Collins had 4 points and grabbed 2 rebounds in his 17 minutes of action. Bryant Crawford went 4-9 from deep in this game, but the rest of the team went 0-7 combined. Notre Dame had been susceptible to the deep ball headed into today's contest, but Wake Forest was not able to get the shots to fall.
Notre Dame will travel to Miami on Wednesday to take on the Hurricanes, while Wake Forest will host Clemson on Tuesday. January was a very month rough for the Deacs. Let's hope February is a lot better.