It’s probably hard for some to believe that Wake Forest was once among the premiere programs in the ACC, and not all that long ago. Back in the 1990s, the program was more than competitive with the likes of Duke and North Carolina, making seven straight NCAA Tournament appearances and only once failing to win at least one game there. They won two straight ACC Tournament titles in that time.
The program was still relevant into the next decade, making five straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 2001-05, again failing to win a game only once under Skip Prosser. The program has never really been the same since Prosser’s tragic death in 2007, although they did reach the top spot in the polls briefly in 2009 before the season went downhill from there.
Of course, the ACC is different now. Back then, it didn’t include the likes of Louisville, Syracuse, Pittsburgh or Notre Dame. Back then, it didn’t seem like quite as much of an uphill battle to rise from around the bottom of the conference like it has been of late for teams like the Demon Deacons or Boston College or Georgia Tech.
But last night was the kind of night that hasn’t happened often in Winston-Salem in recent times. The Demon Deacons have given top teams all they can handle, but they usually succumb when it’s all said and done. This time around, they took over in a second overtime and pulled away from Duke 113-101.
The star of the night was a flashback to the good days of the 1990s, as Brandon Childress is the son of Randolph Childress, one of the program’s all-time greatest players and currently an assistant coach at the school. He didn’t do it all game, though, as this was as much a showing of mental toughness as anything. Childress missed his first 10 shots of the night, but made his first one count as he did it with 15.5 seconds left in regulation to send it to an extra session. He would finish by scoring 13 of his 17 points in the two overtime periods, hitting six of his final 10 shots.
Childress’ first field goal capped a rally from a nine-point deficit with 1:21 left, when it looked like Duke had this one. It was all Wake Forest in the second extra session, as they outscored Duke 16-4.
The big nights statistically belonged to Olivier Sarr (25 points on 7-9 shooting) and Chaundee Brown (24 points on 8-12 shooting and nine rebounds). Childress added five assists, but it was when he hit the shots that mattered most.
With the win, Wake Forest stays out of last place in the ACC as North Carolina held off NC State 85-79 in another damaging loss for the Wolfpack. For one night, the Demon Deacons could celebrate a big win, the kind of win they got many times a couple of decades ago and a little more recently than that.
Side Dishes
Michigan State is all alone in second place in the Big Ten, for now at least, after using a big second half to beat Iowa 78-70 in East Lansing. Penn State, Illinois and Wisconsin are even with them in the loss column, so they could catch the Spartans, and all of them are two games behind Maryland in the loss column.
San Diego State bounced back from their first loss of the season with a 66-60 win over Colorado State, taking over in the second half after trailing by two at the break.
Oklahoma scored a big 65-51 win over Texas Tech in Oklahoma City, taking advantage of a slow start by the Red Raiders. The Sooners led by 10 at halftime and pulled away from there to snap a three-game losing streak. Elsewhere in the Big 12, Baylor blew out Kansas State 85-66 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score might indicate, and Iowa State held off TCU 65-59 in Ames.
Other results of note: Dayton handled George Mason 62-55 in Fairfax to go to 15-0 in the Atlantic 10; Immanuel Quickley had 30 points, going 8-12 from long range, to lead Kentucky past Texas A&M 69-60; Auburn handled Ole Miss 67-58 behind 15 points and 11 rebounds from Austin Wiley; Xavier took care of DePaul 78-67 in Cincinnati; Bowling Green took over first place in the MAC East by handling Akron 78-60 despite 35 points from Loren Cristian Jackson; Loyola-Chicago edged Drake 64-60 as they try to stay with Northern Iowa; SMU handed Memphis another damaging loss, this one a 58-53 setback in Dallas; and Mississippi State pulled away from Alabama 80-73.
Detroit Mercy‘s appeal of a postseason ban was denied by the NCAA, a ban imposed by the Academic Progress Rate (APR). The ban applies only to this season, and as a result, they will not compete in the upcoming Horizon League Tournament. The Titans are 7-22 overall and 5-11 in the Horizon League, so short of a miracle run in the conference tournament, they were not heading the postseason play this time around. Oakland head coach Greg Kampe came to their defense on Twitter, and while he makes a good point, the question then becomes how you punish a program for a low APR.
Dear NCAA Why. The APR is an Antique. You gave us the transfer portal, do away with the APR. you’re punishing the kids at Detroit that had nothing to do with this. It’s wrong. Please fix it. Let those kids play!
— Greg Kampe (@KampeOU) February 25, 2020
Tonight’s Menu
The slate is busy, with a few good ones and several other very important games among those on tap.
- The Big East action gets going early with St. John’s visiting Villanova (6:30 p.m.), then Marquette hosts Georgetown (8:30 p.m.)
- A key game in the Big Ten comes up early as Rutgers travels to Penn State (7 p.m.), then Minnesota has a crucial game hosting Maryland later on (9 p.m.)
- The ACC gets going with arch rivals and old rivals meeting as Virginia Tech hosts Virginia and Pittsburgh hosts Syracuse (7 p.m.)
- It’s a big night of action in the Southern Conference as East Tennessee State visits Wofford and Furman travels to UNC Greensboro (7 p.m.)
- The best game on a full night of action in the Missouri Valley looks to be Indiana State at Southern Illinois (8 p.m.)
- A good matchup among teams chasing Stephen F. Austin in the Southland is Sam Houston State visiting Abilene Christian (8:30 p.m.)
- In SEC action, Tennessee visits Arkansas (8:30 p.m.) and LSU heads to Florida (9 p.m.)
- Out west, the best games late look to be Stanford hosting Utah (10 p.m.) and UNLV hosting Boise State (11 p.m.)
