Stanford's win at BC makes their record for their first two seasons of ACC road games 4-11 - with one of those wins last season at Cal. Can they overcome the odds and sweep an east coast road trip? It should be a winnable game. Wake Forest has a 12-12 record, 3-8 in the ACC, & 8-6 at home. The Demon Deacons are favored by 4.5 & the over/under is 149.5 - making the implied score 77-72.5.
The two teams have pretty comparable ratings according to a variety of sources. Stanford/WFU ratings are: 69/66 per NET; 74/72 per KenPom; 69/65 per BartTorvick; 64/79 per Massey; & 84/61 per ESPNBPI. Their records broken down into Quads 1-4 are: 4-3/2-3/5-3/5-0 for Stanford and 0-8/3-4/2-0/7-0 for WFU. This is another opportunity for a Quad 1 win for Stanford (and a Quad 2 game for WFU). Like Stanford, the Deacons recently had a 5-game losing streak - vs. SMU, at Duke, at Pitt, vs. NC State, & vs. Louisville - before taking it to Georgia Tech 83-67 in Atlanta on Wednesday.
On a Wake Forest message board following the win at GT, one poster commented, "The Stanford game will probably tell us if this was simply beating up on a bad team or if we can make a little run here at the end of the season." This comment applies equally for Stanford after their recent wins vs. GT & at BC. Here is a preview and game thread from The WF perspective: https://www.bloggersodear.com/wake-fores...nford-16-9
The Deacons are #17 in the ACC in defense (77.6 ppg), and last in rebounds (33.3 rpg) & rebounding margin (-2.4). However, they lead the league in steals (8.79/game) and are #3 in turnover margin (+2.83). Stanford is 12-3 when winning the battle of the boards (vs. 4-6 when losing it) and 15-4 with a positive (or even) TO margin (vs. 1-5 when negative).
Wake Forest has two returning players that played significant roles in their two victories over Stanford last season:
#2 Juke Harris (6'7/200 So G) 21.2 ppg (#3 in the ACC - behind Ebuka's 22.4) on 45.9 FG% (#15), 36.2 3s% (#6), 2.7 3s/game (#6) & 76.9 FT% (#17); 6.7 rpg (#13); 1.5 steals/game (#14); & 33.5 minutes/game (#6);
#25 Tre'Von Spillers (6'7/215 Sr F) On his 4th school, '23 NJCCA All-American, '24 All-Sun Belt at App St; 11.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.3 blocks/game (#8 ACC); has fouled out of 4 games.
Other probable starters are:
#6 Myles Colvin (6'5/212 Jr G) 2 years at Purdue; 12.2 ppg, 85.7 FT% (#4 ACC);
#13 Cooper Schweiger (6'10/235 Jr F) 2 seasons at Valparaiso, Missouri Valley Freshman of the Year ('24) & All-MVC 2nd team ('25);
#10 Sebastian Akins (6'2/175 So G) 1 season at Denver, Summit League Freshman of the Year.
Significant subs include:
#8 Mehki Mason (6'5/202 Sr G) 2 seasons Rice/1 Washington; started the first 9 games, then averaged less than 4 ppg coming off the bench before breaking loose for 17 points with four 3s in 26 minutes in the Georgia Tech win;
#0 Omaha Billiew (6'8/230 Jr F) Gatorade PoY in Iowa, McDonalds All-American, and ranked 11th among recruits nationally by Rivals & ESPN. Has yet to live up to that billing in one season at Iowa State & now in his second season at WFU;
#7 Isaac Carr (6'4/187 Fr G).
Nate Calmese started the first 21 games for the Deacons, but has missed the last three with an ankle sprain and is listed as "Out" for today's game (as are Okpara, Skrinda, & Toure for Stanford). Calmese leads WFU & ranks in the top 10 in the ACC in assists & assists/turnover ratio, and he is #20 in steals. Akins has replaced him in the starting line-up.
Okorie needs just 2 points to get to 517 & pass Todd Lichti to become Stanford's all-time leading freshman scorer. More importantly, a win in this game is needed to keep alive Stanford's faint possibilities of a 20-win season, a .500 ACC record, and a first-round ACC tourney bye. NCAA tourney hopes are slim & none, but another Quad 1 win (with 3 more possibilities in the final 5 regular season games) would help.
The two teams have pretty comparable ratings according to a variety of sources. Stanford/WFU ratings are: 69/66 per NET; 74/72 per KenPom; 69/65 per BartTorvick; 64/79 per Massey; & 84/61 per ESPNBPI. Their records broken down into Quads 1-4 are: 4-3/2-3/5-3/5-0 for Stanford and 0-8/3-4/2-0/7-0 for WFU. This is another opportunity for a Quad 1 win for Stanford (and a Quad 2 game for WFU). Like Stanford, the Deacons recently had a 5-game losing streak - vs. SMU, at Duke, at Pitt, vs. NC State, & vs. Louisville - before taking it to Georgia Tech 83-67 in Atlanta on Wednesday.
On a Wake Forest message board following the win at GT, one poster commented, "The Stanford game will probably tell us if this was simply beating up on a bad team or if we can make a little run here at the end of the season." This comment applies equally for Stanford after their recent wins vs. GT & at BC. Here is a preview and game thread from The WF perspective: https://www.bloggersodear.com/wake-fores...nford-16-9
The Deacons are #17 in the ACC in defense (77.6 ppg), and last in rebounds (33.3 rpg) & rebounding margin (-2.4). However, they lead the league in steals (8.79/game) and are #3 in turnover margin (+2.83). Stanford is 12-3 when winning the battle of the boards (vs. 4-6 when losing it) and 15-4 with a positive (or even) TO margin (vs. 1-5 when negative).
Wake Forest has two returning players that played significant roles in their two victories over Stanford last season:
#2 Juke Harris (6'7/200 So G) 21.2 ppg (#3 in the ACC - behind Ebuka's 22.4) on 45.9 FG% (#15), 36.2 3s% (#6), 2.7 3s/game (#6) & 76.9 FT% (#17); 6.7 rpg (#13); 1.5 steals/game (#14); & 33.5 minutes/game (#6);
#25 Tre'Von Spillers (6'7/215 Sr F) On his 4th school, '23 NJCCA All-American, '24 All-Sun Belt at App St; 11.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.3 blocks/game (#8 ACC); has fouled out of 4 games.
Other probable starters are:
#6 Myles Colvin (6'5/212 Jr G) 2 years at Purdue; 12.2 ppg, 85.7 FT% (#4 ACC);
#13 Cooper Schweiger (6'10/235 Jr F) 2 seasons at Valparaiso, Missouri Valley Freshman of the Year ('24) & All-MVC 2nd team ('25);
#10 Sebastian Akins (6'2/175 So G) 1 season at Denver, Summit League Freshman of the Year.
Significant subs include:
#8 Mehki Mason (6'5/202 Sr G) 2 seasons Rice/1 Washington; started the first 9 games, then averaged less than 4 ppg coming off the bench before breaking loose for 17 points with four 3s in 26 minutes in the Georgia Tech win;
#0 Omaha Billiew (6'8/230 Jr F) Gatorade PoY in Iowa, McDonalds All-American, and ranked 11th among recruits nationally by Rivals & ESPN. Has yet to live up to that billing in one season at Iowa State & now in his second season at WFU;
#7 Isaac Carr (6'4/187 Fr G).
Nate Calmese started the first 21 games for the Deacons, but has missed the last three with an ankle sprain and is listed as "Out" for today's game (as are Okpara, Skrinda, & Toure for Stanford). Calmese leads WFU & ranks in the top 10 in the ACC in assists & assists/turnover ratio, and he is #20 in steals. Akins has replaced him in the starting line-up.
Okorie needs just 2 points to get to 517 & pass Todd Lichti to become Stanford's all-time leading freshman scorer. More importantly, a win in this game is needed to keep alive Stanford's faint possibilities of a 20-win season, a .500 ACC record, and a first-round ACC tourney bye. NCAA tourney hopes are slim & none, but another Quad 1 win (with 3 more possibilities in the final 5 regular season games) would help.