Preview: Elon at Wake Forest

Within the natural progression of a season, college basketball teams get better.

Some take longer to develop than others; all of them hit their strides at different times. The fun part, especially true for teams with a bevy of transfers, is how much better they’re bound to be from the beginning of the season to the end.

Here at the beginning of Wake Forest’s season, though, it’s hard to know how much the Deacons can grow because of how many unknowns they have entering the season.

“Hopefully we can continue to get some of these guys back and just add to our depth,” coach Steve Forbes said last weekend after an exhibition game in which he had eight scholarship players available. “They have really good camaraderie, they’ve got good chemistry, they like each other.

“They’ll continue to work hard. But I hope I can get them back here.”

The big one — literal for his size, figurative for his impact — is 7-footer Efton Reid III. He’s a two-time transfer, first at LSU and last year at Gonzaga, whose waiver is still stuck in NCAA purgatory (as of early afternoon Sunday).

Wake Forest was missing transfers Abramo Canka (concussion) and Kevin Miller (ankle) in last weekend’s charity exhibition game against Alabama. Per Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, Canka has been cleared to play against Elon and Miller’s status is TBD.

The Deacons are hoping for a December return of sharpshooter Damari Monsanto as he recovers from the knee injury that ended his season last February, and guard Jao Ituka has a knee injury that’ll keep him out until January (at the earliest).

A team that entered the school year looking like Forbes’ deepest since he’d been at Wake Forest had eight scholarship players available for its dress rehearsal last weekend.

“The only two question marks going into the season to me were when was Damari going to be able to come back? And what would happen with Efton?” Forbes said.

Despite more question marks emerging, Wake Forest beat Alabama 88-80 in that exhibition, outscoring a team starting the season at No. 10 in KenPom rankings (for whatever that’s worth).

So, what questions have already been answered for Wake Forest?

Well, riding a combined 65 points by Cameron Hildreth and Hunter Sallis steered the Deacons to that win. Forward Andrew Carr is a solid, do-a-bit-of-everything player, and Matthew Marsh is always a lob threat around the basket. The freshman trio of Parker Friedrichsen, Aaron Clark and Marqus Marion bring some multi-dimensional things to the Deacons’ rotation, all checking different boxes.

That’s the group we know Wake Forest is entering the season with. We’ll see who else joins it.

And then we’ll see if the box gets checked of Forbes’ first NCAA tournament appearance with the Deacons.

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Here’s what to know ahead of Monday night’s game:

Time: 8 p.m.

Location: Joel Coliseum.

TV: ACC Network Extra.

Announcers: Dave Friedman (play-by-play) and Stan Lewter (analyst).

Series; last meeting: Wake Forest leads 38-6; Wake Forest won 89-70 in 2010.

Records (last year): Elon 8-24; Wake Forest 19-14.

Stat to watch: 29.2% | 35%.

The first number is Elon’s 3-point percentage last season, which was 355th in the country (out of 363); the second was Wake’s 3-point percentage defense last season, which was 247th.

Wake’s 3-point defense comes under the microscope a little more because of the seesawing of the exhibition game against Alabama.

The Crimson Tide made 8 of 12 3s to start last weekend’s exhibition; they made 1 of 12 to finish it.

“I just thought we kept the ball in front of us in the second half and made them shoot tougher shots,” Forbes said after the Alabama game.

That is, at least early in the season, an area worth watching. Wake Forest didn’t get torched from behind the 3-point line often last year, but the combined 33 3-pointers in losses to Virginia and Pittsburgh in January started the 4-8 close to the regular season.

Elon took a lot of 3-point shots last season and didn’t make a high percentage of them.

Matchup to watch: Elon’s guards against Wake’s guards.

This has everything to do with what Hildreth and Sallis did against Alabama.

Wake’s pair of oversized guards seemed to get dribble-drive penetration whenever they wanted in last weekend’s exhibition game. That was against a team picked to finish fifth in the SEC.

Seems fair to say Wake Forest should be able to take advantage of some matchups with Hildreth and Sallis in this game.

Phoenix to watch: Guard Zac Ervin (No. 14).

If the Phoenix does have a 3-point threat to watch, it’s Ervin.

The 6-5, 201-pounder led Elon with 61 3s last season and shot 33.3%. He tied for third on the team in scoring (9.3).

It’s the exhibition performance that lands Ervin in this spot, though.

In a 98-68 win over Division III member William Peace, Ervin led the Phoenix with 22 points and made 6 of 10 3-pointers. Curiously, he didn’t start the game; but he played the most minutes (24) of any Elon player.

Deacon to watch: Forward Andrew Carr (No. 11).

I mean, how boring would it be to pick the guy who scored 38 or the guy who scored 27 in the exhibition game?

Let’s go with Carr, starting his second season with the Deacons as a jack-of-all-trades forward.

The 6-10, 220-pounder was one of two Deacons to start every game last year (along with Tyree Appleby), and led Wake Forest in rebounding (6.0 per game) and blocks (31), and was fourth in scoring (10.7) and 3-pointers (33).

Carr’s role, like a lot of things for the Deacons, depends on the status of Reid’s waiver. With Reid, the Deacons have two 7-footers to anchor the middle, which should allow Carr to stay at the 4-position. Without Reid, it’s bound to be Carr or sophomore Zach Keller at the 5-spot.

What’s on deck: This is, strangely enough, your only chance to see Wake Forest at home until Nov. 24. The Deacons are at Georgia on Friday, and then play three games in the Charleston Classic before returning to play seven straight home games from Nov. 24-Dec. 30.

KenPom prediction: Wake Forest wins 81-61.

Deacons Illustrated prognosis: I mean, Jack Isenbarger ain’t walking through that door for the Phoenix anytime soon.

(just let me have the one Elon reference, now I’m done)

This should be as close to stress-free as any game for Wake Forest. There are bound to be some season-opener jitters to work through. Elon was better over the last month of last season (even had a stretch of winning six of eight).

But Wake Forest should get control of this game either before halftime or early in the second half.

It’s just, as discussed above, a matter of how many pieces are available to the Deacons — and when the ones that aren’t available become so. That becomes more of the focus after this game, as long as things go according to plan.