Wake Forest vs College of Charleston Key Matchup

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I know you are all probably excited to sit around and watch football all day, but don’t forget that Wake Forest is taking on the College of Charleston Cougars in the first round of the Wooden Legacy tournament at 4:30pm. I promise that the Cowboys and the Bills will still be playing long after this game ends, so there’s no (football related) reason you shouldn’t pop over to ESPN News and checkout the Deacs. Now, onto the key matchup.

The key matchup in this game is between two very good senior guards, who both happen to lead their respective teams in scoring. Grant Riller is a two time Mid-Major All American and is currently 24th in the nation in scoring with 21.4 points per game. With just 24% of his shots coming from beyond the arc and a 3-point shooting percentage of 25%, Riller is definitely much more of a driver than a long range shooter. He is very good at getting to the free throw line and shoots almost 8 free throws per game at around 85%. For the advanced stats junkies out there, through 5 games this season, Riller has a PER of 31.8 and a 63% true shooting percentage, so he is obviously very good at scoring at the basketball.

He’ll be going up against another veteran guard in Brandon Childress, who is averaging 17.8 points per game this season. Childress shoots the 3 ball at a slightly higher rate than Riller, with about 35% of his shots coming from beyond the arc. Childress is also very adept at getting to the free throw line, shooting 5 free throws per game at a slightly lower 76%. Just for the sake of comparison, through Wake Forest’s 5 games this season, Childress has a PER of 18.4 and a 55% true shooting percentage.

This should be an exciting matchup between the 2 senior leaders.