Preview:
We take on Wake Forest on Thursday afternoon. Wake Forest is 7-9 overall, ranked 110 by Massey, and is last among the 18 ACC members in conference at 0-5. That said, they have been competitive. They took Louisville to overtime before losing. Their losses to Clemson and to Virginia Tech were by single digits. But they have not beaten anyone better than Davidson at #113.
So on the one hand, this looks like an opportunity to get our first road win. On the other hand, everyone will expect that and a loss would be devastating.
Wake Forest has two players in double digit points per game. They are Elise Williams at 11ppg and Malaya Cowels at 10 ppg.
Williams is a 5'9" senior guard who has played her whole career at Wake Forest and is in the 1000 career points club. About 1 in 4 shots she takes is beyond the arc, which she makes at about 32%.
Cowels might be a bigger problem for us. She is a 6'3" redshirt junior who is making 59% of her shots. I wonder if this will be the game that we see Kennedy Umeh play--given that defending Cowels is probably going to be our toughest assignment.
Tamia Jones is a 5'8" grad student guard, just transferred in after starting 47 games for SMU. She leads the team in assists and provides them with an experienced point guard. She scores about 6 ppg.
The Demon Deacons also have a home-grown redshirt senior 6'2" forward and a sophomore guard who appears to be a three point shooting specialist.
WF is coached by Megan Gibbia in her second year. WF is not a high scoring team, but it does limit is opponents to under 70 ppg, so I expect a competent defense and a half-court offense that takes its time.
Last year they won 17 games--which had the WF crowd quite happy in what seemed like a very promising turn-around for WF. They won 12 games at home and defeated 4 NCAA tournament teams. This year does not seem (so far) to be living up to last year's promise. Its team stats are fairly even with its opponents except it has a rebounding deficit--so rebounding might be something for us to watch. They make around 6 treys a game.
Overall, Wake Forest is loaded with experience and it has some height and some quickness. Given where we are, it would be perilous to underestimate Wake Forest on their home floor. But I end where I began: this is a winnable game, and I hope our team welcomes the opportunity to get back on track.
We take on Wake Forest on Thursday afternoon. Wake Forest is 7-9 overall, ranked 110 by Massey, and is last among the 18 ACC members in conference at 0-5. That said, they have been competitive. They took Louisville to overtime before losing. Their losses to Clemson and to Virginia Tech were by single digits. But they have not beaten anyone better than Davidson at #113.
So on the one hand, this looks like an opportunity to get our first road win. On the other hand, everyone will expect that and a loss would be devastating.
Wake Forest has two players in double digit points per game. They are Elise Williams at 11ppg and Malaya Cowels at 10 ppg.
Williams is a 5'9" senior guard who has played her whole career at Wake Forest and is in the 1000 career points club. About 1 in 4 shots she takes is beyond the arc, which she makes at about 32%.
Cowels might be a bigger problem for us. She is a 6'3" redshirt junior who is making 59% of her shots. I wonder if this will be the game that we see Kennedy Umeh play--given that defending Cowels is probably going to be our toughest assignment.
Tamia Jones is a 5'8" grad student guard, just transferred in after starting 47 games for SMU. She leads the team in assists and provides them with an experienced point guard. She scores about 6 ppg.
The Demon Deacons also have a home-grown redshirt senior 6'2" forward and a sophomore guard who appears to be a three point shooting specialist.
WF is coached by Megan Gibbia in her second year. WF is not a high scoring team, but it does limit is opponents to under 70 ppg, so I expect a competent defense and a half-court offense that takes its time.
Last year they won 17 games--which had the WF crowd quite happy in what seemed like a very promising turn-around for WF. They won 12 games at home and defeated 4 NCAA tournament teams. This year does not seem (so far) to be living up to last year's promise. Its team stats are fairly even with its opponents except it has a rebounding deficit--so rebounding might be something for us to watch. They make around 6 treys a game.
Overall, Wake Forest is loaded with experience and it has some height and some quickness. Given where we are, it would be perilous to underestimate Wake Forest on their home floor. But I end where I began: this is a winnable game, and I hope our team welcomes the opportunity to get back on track.
