Wake Forest basketball continued defending their home-court advantage at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, this time defeating the Pitt Panthers 91-58.
According to the school, it is believed to be the only game where the Demon Deacons shot above 60% from the field, above 50% from three, and above 90% from the line. Redshirt sophomore guard Kevin “Boopie” Miller led the way for Wake (17-9, 9-6) with 18 points.
Pitt (17-9, 8-7) tried to stop junior guard Hunter Sallis from controlling the game. The Omaha, NE native, however, was able to hit three shots from beyond the arc and notched five assists. The Panthers were led off the bench by junior guard Ishmael Leggett with 15 points. This was just the fourth game in ACC play that Pitt shot under 30% from three-point range, shooting 27.3% on 33 attempts. Wake also improved to 15-3 when winning the rebounding battle, while Pitt fell to 1-6 on the year when losing that battle.
Takeaway #1: Wake defense from beyond the arc improving
At the beginning of the new year, Wake allowed Miami and Florida State to shoot a combined 50% from three-point range on 34 shots. In fact, the 7-for-13 effort by the Seminoles was the seventh time they had allowed an opponent to shoot over 36%.
In their first meeting, Pitt became the eighth team when they shot 42.1% from three range. Since that loss, the Deacons have been improving by forcing opponents into making bad shots from three.
This was accomplished by making Pitt shoot 27.3% on 33 attempts, the second time in four games where the Panthers shot under 30%. The defense held senior forward Blake Hinson to 20% on five attempts. This was massive for Wake, as the Deltona, FL native led Pitt in three-point percentage. His 42.9 shooting percentage also put him third in the ACC going into the game.
With the top shooting team from beyond the arc in the ACC coming into their building on Saturday, Wake will look to continue this trend
Takeaway #2: Hinson’s hot shooting cooled at the worst time
After starting ACC play with back-to-back 25% shooting from the field, Hinson started to show signs of improvement. This culminated with a dominant performance inside Cameron Indoor, shooting 80% on 10 attempts in the victory on Jan 20th.
In the two games prior to their trip to Winston-Salem, Hinson shot 58.1% on 43 attempts from the field.
Apparently, Wake Forest basketball didn’t get the memo about Hinson being a hot shooter in the league.
The Deacs held Hinson to just two points in the first half and ten for the entire game. This was his worst scoring performance since netting nine points against Georgia Tech on Jan. 23rd. This is his fourth game this season with ten or fewer points, with all but one coming against ACC competition.
Sixth-year head coach Jeff Capel gave credit to Wake Forest after the game, even comparing it to an old-school trip to the woodshed.
Another part of the game that went Wake’s way was turnovers. Looking at Hinson’s analytics, 30% of the possessions that he was on the court for ended in a turnover. He also had an assist on only 9% of those same possessions.
“For Cam [Hildreth] to be able to guard a guy that long, that big, and that physical and do such a good job guarding him is great,” fourth-year head coach Steve Forbes said on guarding a player like Hinson.
Ending the regular season with three games at home should help to improve Hinson’s scoring, as his last game at home saw him put 41 points on Louisville. This is, despite having his three worst shooting games of the season happening at home.
Takeaway #3: Team effort keeps the team engaged
“The most encouraging thing offensively was 18 assists on 31 baskets. We’ve been working really hard on that, so I’m really proud of them,” said Forbes.
He had nothing but praise for the team as they continued to block out all the outside noise about the team.
The work has been shown in the results. Going into this game, Wake has recorded an assist on 45.7% of their made field goals at home. This stat jumped a full percentage point after the victory against Pittsburgh.
Junior guard Cameron Hildreth, along with Hunter Sallis, each had five assists. According to the analytics, they led the team in assist rate percentage. Both players recorded an assist on at least 25% of the possessions they were on the court.
When junior center Efton Reid got into foul trouble, Forbes went to his bench and brought in Matthew Marsh. Marsh, a junior center out of Cornwall, England, had two clutch baskets and 4 rebounds to keep Wake ahead going into halftime.
“[He] picked us up when Efton Reid went to the bench with two fouls,” Forbes said. “I thought he played great…in the first half.”
This team effort will be put to the test with three of their final five games away from LJVM and wanting to secure that all-important double-bye in the ACC Tournament.
Next game for Pitt: vs. Virginia Tech (Feb. 24 – 5:30 p.m.)
Next game for Wake Forest: vs. Duke (Feb. 24 – 2 p.m.)