By Danielle Daniels
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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Competition within the 2024 National Invitation Tournament (NIT) carries into the weekend for Wake Forest men’s basketball (21-13), as the Demon Deacons prepare to host Georgia this Sunday (March 24) for a second-round matchup.
Tip off is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET inside LJVM Coliseum and the game will air on ESPN2.
Sunday will feature the second meeting between Wake Forest and the Bulldogs (18-16) this season, as the two sides met in Athens, Georgia, Nov. 10.
The Deacons are coming off a tournament-opener victory over in-state foe App State, 87-76, on Wednesday (March 20).
About the NIT
This year features the 86th edition of the annual NIT, as a new format for 2024 includes two exempt teams from each of six conferences: Atlantic Coast, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC.
For the third-straight season, the NIT seeded only the top half of the 32-team field. The bottom 16 unseeded teams were placed into the bracket by the NIT Committee as close to their area of natural interest as possible.
HOW THE DEMON DEACONS GOT TO THIS GAME:
3 20 2024
Redshirt sophomore guard Kevin Miller finished the night with a career-high 31 points on 9-of-14 shooting while also going a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line while three other Deacs netted 15-plus points.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Behind a career-best 31 points from redshirt sophomore guard Kevin Miller, the Wake Forest men’s basketball team continues to compete in March, defeating Appalachian State, 87-76, on Wednesday night in Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).
For just the third time this season, the Demon Deacons (21-13, 11-9 ACC) had four players finish with 15-plus points with Miller’s 31 leading the way. The other two occasions came against LSU (Nov. 19) and Elon (Nov. 6). Additionally, this is the fifth time this season that Cameron Hildreth, Kevin Miller and Hunter Sallis have done so in the same game. Wake Forest improves to 4-1 in those games with wins over Appalachian State, Boston College, Elon and Miami.
Wake Forest salted the game away at the free throw line against Appalachian State (27-7, 16-2 Sun Belt) as the 31 free throws marked the most this season. The Deacs knocked down a season-high 25 free throws, marking the most since the Demon Deacons had 33 free throws made against North Carolina on Feb. 7, 2023.
Wake Forest now holds an impressive 48-6 record at home since the start of the 2021-22 season including a 17-1 mark this season, the best since having the most home wins in program history during the 2021-22 season when Wake Forest finished with a mark of 18-2.
The Demon Deacons’ overall wins since the start of the 2021-22 season rank second in the country and leads the ACC during that time frame:
Rank Team Home Wins
1 Houston 49
2 Wake Forest 48
Miller led the team with a career-high 31 points on 9-of-14 shooting (3-of-5 from beyond-the-arc) in addition to three assists and two steals. The Chicago native is now one point away from reaching 1,000 for his college career. Additionally, he finished 10-of-10 from the line against the Mountaineers. It marked his second time this season going perfect from the line with at least 10 attempts, with the other coming in a 15-for-15 performance at NC State on Jan. 16..
With a jumper at the 10:56 mark in the second half, junior guard Cameron Hildreth became the 58th Demon Deacon all-time to join the 1,000-point club. The junior finished the contest with 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting, in addition to three rebounds and a block.
This is the first time this season that two players have had double digit rebounds in the same game with Andrew Carr and Efton Reid III pulling double double-figure boards. Reid finished with a double-double, posting 17 points and 12 rebounds.
Reid’s six double-doubles are the most in a single season by a Demon Deacon since Oliver Sarr had 13 during the 2019-20 season.
With the win, Wake Forests remains undefeated against App State, 22-0 all-time, in a series that dates back to 1951.
The Deacs will host the Georgia Bulldogs Sunday, March 24, for the second round of the NIT. Tip off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. ET inside LJVM Coliseum and the game will air on ESPN2.
COURTESY WAKE FOREST ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
ATHENS, Ga. — The Georgia Bulldogs will take on Wake Forest on Sunday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. in the second round of the NIT. The game will be played at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C., and will be televised on ESPN2.
Georgia, a No. 4 seed, defeated Xavier, 78-76, on Tuesday night in Athens. Wake Forest, a No. 1 seed, beat Appalachian State, 87-76, on Wednesday.
The Bulldogs and Demon Deacons met earlier this season in Athens, with Georgia earning an 80-77 victory on Nov. 11 to improve to 5-3 in the all-time series against Wake Forest.
HOW GEORGIA GOT TO THE SECOND ROUND:
ATHENS, Ga. – The No. 4 seed Georgia men’s basketball team edged past Xavier, 78-76, in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament on Tuesday evening inside Stegeman Coliseum.
The Bulldogs (18-16, 6-12 SEC) were led in scoring by Silas Demary Jr. with 16 points in the team’s first postseason game since 2017. RJ Melendez had 14 points, two steals and a pair of 3-pointers off the bench, while Noah Thomasson finished with 12 points. Justin Hill reached double-figures in scoring for the 15th time this season, finishing with 10 points, all of which came in the first half. Georgia led in the game for over 36 minutes and won the battle of the paint, scoring 44 points compared to Xavier’s (16-18, 9-11 Big East) 32.
Georgia jumped out to an eight-point lead at the midway point of the first half after a pair of 3-pointers from Hill. The Bulldogs capitalized on their offensive success in the opening 20 minutes to own a 46-34 advantage, highlighted by a buzzer-beating dunk from RJ Melendez, headed into the locker room. Georgia continued to find success against Xavier, going on a 15-2 run and forcing a timeout from the Musketeers after a triple from Melendez in transition. Xavier responded locked in on defense over the next seven minutes, outscoring the Bulldogs 19-6, with 15 from Desmond Claude, and getting Georgia’s lead down to seven points. A jumper from Lazar Djokovic brought it to a two-point game with 1:35 remaining. Leading by two points, Russel Tchewa sealed the Bulldogs win with just under two seconds left after his block at the rim, originally ruled a goaltend, was overturned. After Xavier was unable to get a shot off once it got the ball in bounds, Georgia earned the program’s first postseason win since 2016.
The Bulldogs’ Round of 16 opponent will the winner of the No. 1 seed Wake Forest and Appalachian State contest, set to tip off on Wednesday, March 20 at 8 p.m. ET in Winston-Salem.
Five Fast Facts
• Georgia’s first half scoring output of 46 points ties it for the most points scored in the opening frame this season. The team shot 50 percent from the field, including a trio of 3-pointers.
• Silas Demary Jr. led the team in scoring for the eighth time this season with 16 points. This marks the third time in the last four games the freshman has reached double-digits in scoring.
• Russel Tchewa recorded four assists in the game, marking the sixth time this season he recorded at least three dimes. In 103 career games at South Florida, Tchewa recorded 42 assists, while in just 34 games at Georgia, he is up to 45 assists.
• This marks the program’s first victory over a Big East opponent since winning at Marquette on December 2, 2017, and just the third time since then Georgia has played a team in the league.
• Georgia forced 15 turnovers from Xavier in the game, 10 of which were steals, and turned those extra possessions into 22 points. This marked the ninth time this season the Bulldogs racked up at least 15 turnovers, going 5-4 in those games.
Key Quote
Head Coach Mike White: “As a staff and as a team, we talk about the fact that we’ve got to learn from that. We’re always going to preach growth and learning through wins and losses, but we just got an NIT win. We just got a postseason win against a Big East opponent. It’s a good win for our program. It’s something that hopefully gives the returning players confidence moving forward. It’s another step in the right direction and obviously something we’ll use in recruiting. At the end of the day, everybody wants to be in the NCAA Tournament, but we’re honored to be a part of the NIT and honored to still be a part of it. To survive and advance.”
Team Notes
- Georgia’s first half scoring output of 46 points ties it for the most points scored in the opening frame this season. The team shot 50 percent from the field, including a trio of 3-pointers.
- The Bulldogs outscored the Muskateers in bench points by a 35-7 margin during the game. Georgia entered the night ranking 20th nationally in bench scoring at 28.6 per game.
- This marks the program’s first victory over a Big East opponent since winning at Marquette on December 2, 2017, and just the third time since then Georgia has played a team in the league. The Bulldogs fell to Providence in the Baha Mar Championship earlier this season.
- Georgia used its starting 11th lineup of Silas Demary Jr., Noah Thomasson, Blue Cain, Dylan James and Russel Tchewa for the fifth-straight game.
- The Bulldogs trailed for just 51 seconds during the contest, breaking the final tie of the game with 13:45 remaining in the first half. Georgia led for 36:06 in total.
- Georgia forced 15 turnovers from Xavier in the game, 10 of which were steals, and turned those extra possessions into 22 points. This marked the ninth time this season the Bulldogs racked up at least 15 turnovers, going 5-4 in those games.
Individual Notes
- Silas Demary Jr. led the team in scoring for the eighth time this season with 16 points. This marks the third time in the last four games the freshman has reached double-digits in scoring.
- Russel Tchewa recorded four assists in the game, marking the sixth time this season he recorded at least three dimes. In 103 career games at South Florida, Tchewa recorded 42 assists, while in just 34 games at Georgia, he is up to 45 assists.
- Justin Hill scored 10 points in the first half of Georgia’s opening round NIT game, marking the 15th time this season the senior has reached double figures off the bench.
- Noah Thomasson dropped 12 points in the contest. The graduate student has started in all 34 games this season and reached 10 points in 24 of them, averaging 12.7 per contest.
COURTESY GEORGIA ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
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