Deacons wilt in second half of ACC opener
Clemson turns Wake’s seven-point halftime lead into 20-point thrashing
Wake Forest came off a big road win with a good first half in its ACC opener on Friday night at Clemson.
The pendulum swung so far in the other direction that it became a 77-57 loss to the Tigers at Littlejohn Coliseum, where the Deacons haven’t won since 2009.
“All the credit goes to Clemson, they completely whipped us in the second half,” coach Steve Forbes said. “They turned the game, shot 70% in the second half. Exposed us defensively, which we did a good job of guarding in the first half.”
Clemson (6-3, 1-0 ACC) went from shooting 34.1% in the first half to making 14 of 20 shots in the second half. The Tigers also made all 15 free throws in the second half, making them 24 of 25 for the game.
Wake Forest (7-2, 0-1) went one six-minute stretch without a field goal in the second half, and had three separate stretches of going about two minutes without field goals—including for the last 2½ minutes, when Clemson closed the game on a 10-0 run.
“I thought we did a poor job of handling the physicality on drives,” Forbes said. “We were off-balance a lot, shot some airballs, which I’ve never seen us do. And then we took some bad shots, and bad shots lead to what? Transition baskets.
“Just kind of all over the place for us in the second half. I kept thinking if we could get a run there, maybe we’d have a shot, but we couldn’t get one.”
Friday night’s loss — the ninth straight season that Wake’s ACC opener has been a road game — doesn’t erase Tuesday night’s win at Wisconsin to close out the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
It’s just a step backward and an 0-1 start to league play.
Wake’s travel schedule had the Deacons return from Wisconsin around 4 a.m. Wednesday, and then board buses to travel to Clemson on Thursday.
Forbes wasn’t going to use fatigue as an excuse.
“No, I don’t think so,” Forbes said. “I mean, these guys all think they’re going to play in the NBA, you’ve gotta play 82 games. They’re young, I’m not going to use that as an excuse.”
Clemson was 1-for-10 on 3s in the first half; Wake Forest started the second half 1-for-11 from long range.
Tyree Appleby had eight points on 3-for-13 shooting following his 32-point explosion against Wisconsin; Cameron Hildreth scored 11 and had team-highs in rebounds (six) and steals (three), but was 3-for-10 from the field.
Wake Forest was outrebounded 38-24 and outscored 11-4 on fast-break points.
Daivien Williamson scored eight points in a row for Wake Forest as the Deacons broke ahead in the latter stages of the first half. That scoring burst gave him more points in that span alone than he had in Wake’s last five games, two of which he missed with a back injury. He finished with 12 points.
PJ Hall led Clemson with 21 points in 22 minutes, as the center continues to surge up to full speed after an offseason injury. Every Tigers starter finished in double figures.