Recap: Wake Forest Ends the Streak, Beats Georgia Tech in Atlanta 80-64

They did it! For the first time in nearly 18 years, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons went into Atlanta and came out victorious with a road win over the Yellow Jackets. If you thought that streak was ridiculous, the Deacs also broke another one, winning back-to-back ACC road games for the first time since the 2008-09 season. They managed to break both streaks without Head Coach Steve Forbes, who was a late announced scratch due to illness. That is pretty impressive.

This game actually looked a lot like the last road win against Virginia. In the early goings, Wake just looked sloppy. They were turning the ball over left and right, flat out losing their guys on defense, and shot just 3-13 from beyond the arc in the first half. I think it was clear that Wake Forest was the more talented team, so it was frustrating to see the number of unforced errors Wake was committing that allowed Tech to keep the game close.

Early in the second half, Georgia Tech used a 5-0 run to take a 49-51 lead over the Deacs with 14 minutes remaining in the game, and suddenly, Wake Forest remembered that they are just better than GT. From that moment, the Deacs ended the game on a 31-13 run and just totally blew the Yellow Jackets off the court. Wake closed the game out doing basically whatever they wanted and finished shooting 57% from the floor with 48 points in the paint, 24 fast break points, and 23 assists on 33 made baskets. I don’t know what it is about this team and late game runs, but they should try to do that in the first half next game and see how that works out.

Stop me if you have heard this one before, but the Deacs were led by senior Alondes Williams yet again. Williams finished with a near triple double with 19 points, 9 assists, and 7 rebounds. Junior Jake LaRavia also finished the game with 9 assists and added 13 points and 5 rebounds. All five of the Wake Forest starters scored in double figures with Isaiah Mucius scoring 18 and Daivien Williamson and Dallas Walton both adding 11. That is exactly the type of balanced scoring this team needs to get into the upper echelon of the ACC this season.

We also got our first look at redshirt sophomore Damari Monsanto in his first game action as a Demon Deacon. Monsanto played just 12 minutes and finished with 6 points on 2-5 shooting from beyond the arc and grabbed an impressive 8 rebounds. Not bad for his first game in almost a year. He is definitely not shy about shooting the ball and is clearly going to be a huge addition for the Deacs in the rebounding department for the remainder of the season.

With the win, the Deacs move to 15-4 overall and 5-3 in the ACC. Wake seems to be putting together a quality NCAA Tournament resume and has a chance to add to it with an absolutely massive game against the North Carolina Tar Heels coming up this Saturday. We definitely need to pack the Joel for that one, assuming that the weather plays nice. Go Deacs!