9:20 PM That'll do it from Winston-Salem, Wake Forest takes this one 88-85 over the Arkansas Razorbacks. I'm Jordan Hansgen, signing off for VAVEL USA
9:20 PM Arkansas rallied back, but could not recover from giving up 48 points in the first half
9:18 PM Wake made 9 three pointers on the day
9:16 PM Mitoglou only had 10 points, but his last minute three turned out to be the game decider
9:16 PM Devin Thomas finished the game with 20 points and 12 rebounds
0:00 Arkansas' 3 does not fall and the Demon Deacons get the victory 88-85!
0:05 Hudson is fouled and two FTs coming up. He misses the first. He makes the second. Wake is now up 3
0:06 Wake Forest possession after the ball bounces out of play!
0:27 Arkansas calls their final timeout
0:34 Crawford fouled during the inbound. Goes to the line to miss the first, but makes the second
0:34 Watkins gets the easy two for ARK and cuts the lead to one
0:45 Mitoglou with the HUGE 3 to give the Deacons the lead!
1:09 Danny Manning and WF take a timeout
2:14 Bell gets the layup to fall and it is a tie game.
2:29 Thomas is fouled and will get two shots. Misses the first and second but a lane violation gives him another chance which he misses again
3:08 ...And Hudson does not convert. WF up 2
3:08 Hudson with the three and the foul! Wake is back up 2 with a chance to make it three.
3:25 Bell buries the three. ARK up 1
3:51 Durham scores again. Wake up only 2
4:21 Collins to the line for WF. Makes both
4:34 Durham gets another 3 for the Razorbacks
5:05 Thomas is on fire as he buries the dunk
5:30 Hannahs with the big 3 for ARK
5:47 Thomas gets another to go and the foul. Another three point play!
6:30 Crawford gets called for the charge
6:48 Durham gets the lead down to three again
7:05 Thomas answers back
7:23 Bell gets the floater to go
7:52 Thomas makes the shot. Wake up 5
7:52 Thomas converts the basket with the foul. Will go to the line for a chance at a three point play.
8:01 Kingsley at the line with a 1 and 1. Misses the first.
8:18 Mitoglou gets the lead back for WF with a three
8:45 Another foul on Wake. Hannahs to the line with a three point opportunity which he converts. ARK is now leading by 1!
9:08 Arkansas to the line. Kingsley to the line makes the first and the second. ARK down 2
9:24 Watkins scores again for the Razorbacks.
10:31 Kingsley at the line. Makes both. ARK down 6.
10:47 Collins with the big dunk to stop the momentum
11:07 Miles gets two more for ARK
11:47 Hannahs with the three as the shot clock goes off
12:20 Mitoglou gets two of his own and Wake is up 11.
12:50 Collins answers right back
13:05 Miles gets the jumper to go
13:19 Collins gets the basket and the foul, but misses the extra shot.
14:20 Hannahs gets the and one to cut the Wake lead to 7
15:17 Watkins gets the easy layup to go
15:31 Official Timeout WF 57 ARK 45
15:51 Durham gets the fancy layup to fall for ARK
17:17 Mitoglou scores another quick responding basket for WF
17:31 Kingsley scores again for ARK.
18:07 Wilbekin boosts the lead to 14 with the three point FG
18:33 Thomas answers right back for the Deacons
18:55 Kingsley gets the dunk after the offensive rebound for ARK
19:26 McClinton opens the scoring in the second half on a fast break layup
Halftime Cornelius Hudson was tremendous in the first half and Wake Forest has done well at both the three point line and the foul line
Halftime Wake Forest leads Arkansas 48 to 39
0:06 Whitt is fouled by Thomas on the drive. ARK at the line. Makes both
0:29 Thomas gets another to fall and Wake Forest is up 11
1:04 Thomas with the dunk. WF back up 9
1:44 Kingsley with another jumper for ARK
2:52 Whitt answers with a mid range jumper
3:09 Thomas is fouled and will get two shots himself to push the Deacons lead to double digits. Makes both. WF up 11
3:32 Wilbekin fouled on the drive and will get two shots. Makes the first and makes the second
4:12 Moore scores for the Deacons after the offensive rebound. WF 40 ARK 33
4:32 Kouassi at the line for a one and one. Makes the first, and the second
4:44 Beautiful outlet pass by Crawford leads to a layup for Watson. WF up 7
5:00 Wilbekin fouled by Bell. Makes both foul shots to put WF up 5.
5:55 Watkins gets the easy lay up and cuts the lead to 3
6:37 Kouassi gets the hook shot to go ARK down 5
7:09 McClinton gets the put back to fall for WF
7:32 Watkins makes the first and the second
7:32 Watkins is fouled on the drive and will take two foul shots.
7:57 Bell gets two for ARK
8:28 ARK called for moving screen
8:42 Hudson gets a THIRD STRAIGHT 3 to FALL! WF gets the lead up to 9. ARK calls a timeout
9:04 Hudson gets another 3 to fall
9:29 Another and one for ARK. Watkins misses the and one attempt
9:45 Hudson hits the three to push the lead up to 5
10:33 Hudson finds McClinton to regain the lead
10:45 Kingsley gets the shot to fall and the foul. Makes the and one to tie the game
11:17 Hannahs hits the three to cut the WF lead
11:40 ARK called for shot clock violation
11:54 Wake up 21-15 at the 2nd official timeout
12:10 Collins scores another for the Deacons
12:43 VanHorn finds Moore for the ALLEY-OOP! WF up 4
13:25 Hudson with a nice drive and draws the foul, but misses the dunk. Makes both at the line
13:27 Kouassi to the line for ARK. Makes both
13:50 Moore with the put back dunk for WF
14:27 Wilbekin leads all scores early with 6 points
14:27 Official Timeout
14:35 Bell scores again for the Razorbacks. WF 13 ARK 11
15:00 Thomas slams home the pass by Crawford
15:21 Bell ties the game. Hudson quickly gets the lead back for Wake
16:20 Kingsley gets the easy lay in to cut the lead to 2
16:52 Thomas is fouled on the rebound. WF 9 ARK 5.
17:45 Wilbekin hits another 3 for Wake
18:10 Whitt with the jumper for ARK
18:21 Huge block by McClinton for the Deacs
18:26 Crawford is fouled on a three point attempt. Makes all three
18:39 Mitoglou fouls Miles. He goes to the line and makes 1 of 2
18:59 Wilbekin responds with a 3
19:30 ARK strikes first with a jumper by Miles
20:00 Wake wins the tip and we are underway
6:45 PM Less than 15 minutes to tip. Wake has ended their warmup
6:32 PM Wake Forest has rallied back from double-digits twice this season. Both on the road at Bucknell and at Rutgers
6:28 PM Wake needs to watch the turnovers tonight. Arkansas averages about 8 steals a game
6:23 PM The game tonight will be Wake's first in a 4-game home stand
Wake Forest will really want to grab a victory in this game as they will have a lot of time to think about it as their next game will not take place until December 15th when they host UNC-Greensboro after their exam week. Arkansas will play next Tuesday at home against Evansville.
A win tonight can put Wake Forest in an even better position to prove to the selection committee that they are a new-look Demon Deacons team that is similar to the old-school successful Wake Forest teams of the early 2000's . Danny Manning is trying to change the losing culture at Wake Forest and make this team a perennial tournament team. The non-conference slate is the best way to make statements, and bad losses now can really damage a team's tournament odds.
The Wake Forest Demon Deacons have had problems in the past few years against SEC opponents, with their last victory being over the Vanderbilt Commodores in the 2006-2007 season. The Deacons are 0-8 in this span. Wake leads the all-time series against Arkansas, but last year, Arkansas caught Wake Forest on an off-night in an off-year and won 83-53 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. A good sign in the history of this matchup for the Demon Deacons is the fact that Wake has won the last game in the series in Winston-Salem 75-59, but that was back in the 1998-99 season.
The game will most likely come down to two main factors. Wake Forest’s perimeter defense and Arkansas’ rebounding ability. These are the two areas at which each given team has struggled at the beginning of the year and whichever team is successful in fixing their woes is the team most likely to walk out of the LJVM Coliseum with the win.
For Arkansas, their X-Factor has to be guard Dusty Hannahs. A pure scorer, he is averaging 18 points per game with a .486 field goal percentage and an outstanding .958 free throw percentage. He also shoots over 50% from the three. Wake Forest struggled stopping the Richmond Spiders from the three point line and if they do not sure up their defense, then Hannahs will very likely have a huge performance.
Another player that has played at a high level for the Demon Deacons is freshman guard Bryant Crawford. Crawford has been asked to play a lot of minutes and has been able to hit big shots and make plays for the Deacons each night. His only detriment thus far has been his turnovers. He is averaging 4.0 a game. Crawford will be tasked again with playing big minutes as Miller-McIntyre is still out and should be able to have another strong performance in his absence.
Wake Forest is tied for 25th in the NCAA in rebounding, by far their best statistic. A lot of this can be credited to the tremendous play of Devin Thomas, who is averaging 18.4 points per game and 11.3 rebounds per game. A double-double a night is very impressive and the senior star for the Deacons needs to continue that pace as the team relies on him heavily in both those statistics.
Tonight, Wake Forest will turn their attention to the Arkansas Razorbacks out of the SEC. The Razorbacks have had an up and down season themselves. With a 3-3 record with losses to the Akron Zips, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the Stanford Cardinal, Arkansas’ season has not gone as well as they’d have liked. Their wins have come against Southern, Charleston Southern, and Northwestern State. This will be their first true road game of the season and the Razorbacks will want to make a statement against a Demon Deacons team who may give them some trouble.
At Maui, Wake Forest beat Indiana and UCLA, a Bruins team that just last night upset the Kentucky Wildcats. The Deacons took third place in the tournament and overachieved there. They also took that momentum into the Big Ten-ACC Challenge and beat the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Monday on the road in a tightly contested matchup 69-68.
It is another game and most likely another non-conference game for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons without G Codi Miller-McIntyre. The Deacons have dealt well thus far this season while missing Miller-McIntyre going 5-2 on the year with their only losses being against the Richmond Spiders and the Vanderbilt Commodores in the Maui Invitational. The Spiders loss is not a good one however as it was a home game in Winston-Salem in front of their own fans. It was their last game before their solid performance at the Maui Invitational.
Hello and Welcome to VAVEL USA’s LIVE Coverage of the Arkansas Razorbacks - Wake Forest Demon Deacons in College Basketball. Tip-off for this game is at 7 PM ET, at which I, Jordan Hansgen, will bring you LIVE commentary from the game.