Recap: Wake Forest Falls to Miami, Drops Second Straight ACC Road Game

The Wake Forest Men’s Basketball Team dropped their second straight ACC road game on Saturday, falling to Miami 84-92. The Hurricanes were in control of this one for the full 40 minutes, as Wake Forest got behind right to start with and trailed for the entirety of the game. The loss moves Wake Forest to 1-2 in the conference and 11-3 overall.

I was enroute back to North Carolina from the Gator Bowl when this game took place, so I watched it recorded late last night—I kind of wish I hadn’t now. If I told you that Wake scored 84 points, shot 54% from the field for the game, outscored Miami in the paint by 10, and turned the ball over 6 fewer times than the Canes, you might get the feeling that they came away with the win.

Unfortunately, the Deacs were so bad on the defensive end that none of those things mattered. Wake allowed Miami to shoot 62% from the floor and 50% from beyond the arc in this one, giving up a whopping 92 points. The Canes were pretty much able to get an open look from 3 or an easy layup every time down the court. Head Coach Steve Forbes called it “one of the worst defensive performances” that he had ever coached.

We should give some credit to Miami, though, as the Canes have some really good players that are incredibly difficult to defend. Isaiah Wong was able to basically do whatever he wanted against every defender Wake sent at him, finishing with a game high 25 points on 11-18 shooting. Charlie Moore finished with 18 points on 6-7 shooting and hit several NBA range 3-pointers. Kameron McGusty, Miami’s leading scorer this season, was held largely in check from the floor, but still scored 15 points after shooting 10-11 from the free throw line. The problem for Wake Forest is that in the ACC, every team has really good players that are difficult to defend. The Deacs aren’t going win many ACC games this season if they continue to play this poor on defense.

After starting with three straight road games in the ACC, Wake Forest will finally get a conference home game this Tuesday against the Florida State Seminoles. That will start a three-game home stand for the Deacs, which will hopefully help them get back into the win column in the ACC. They’re going to have play much better on defense to make that happen. Go Deacs!