Wake Forest can go fuck themselves if they think I care about the damn shot clock error after what happened in football. Yea I got a little drunk Wednesday night, but it was a fun environment Wednesday night, so sue me. I’m concerned because my hope was restored after watching what I did at the Yum Center Wednesday night. I’ll break it down below.

                Louisville clutched up a big win at home. Wake Forest is a team that could continue to do well throughout ACC play, so hopefully this turns out to be a win that will only help our resume. I was pleased with the adjustments made offensively. There was a big emphasis on making cuts towards the basket and Sam did well with this along with others. There looked to be some offensive sets ran during the game and guys did well curling in towards the basket to get open looks. I’m pleased with the changes that were shown Wednesday, but we still only shot 39% from the field. I tend to think this was because we couldn’t finish at the rim, but it wasn’t something that I kept track of, but maybe Sunday I will. We made plays towards the basket that helped us get more free throw attempts, which only helped our struggling offense. Wednesday we had 34 free throw attempts, which is significantly more than other games. When we played Western Kentucky University (WKU)  we had seven free throw attempts and against DePaul we had only three, so this is definitely a stat that shows the difference of how we are running our offense. We will have to look out how  playing time changes because the rotation that went out for the 2^nd half towards the 12:00 minute mark looked good and stayed in for awhile. Sydney Curry looked very good in the short time he was in, which I will talk more about later.

                Our defense continued to look better. Wake Forest was a team that was averaging 58% from the field, but shot 38% Wednesday night. We limited Alondes to 15, which doesn’t sound like an accomplishment, but that guys a baller. I don’t think the numbers he’s put up were just padded from a weak schedule. I hope this only continues to show that we can limit by playmakers. Our defense truly locked in towards the last four minutes of the game and the pac line was a difference maker. Other than a couple guys that put themselves into no man’s land defensively, we made the right adjustments after the WKU game.

Player grades:

Williamson (B): Sam finished the night with 12 points and 8 rebounds. I wouldn’t mind seeing this Sam more often. Mack seemed to really help Sam out with the curls that were setup in the offense. Sam was finishing at the bucket with authority which I loved. You probably  heard my drunk ass all the way up top with that cram he had at the beginning of the game. Sam does still put himself in bad situations and I know this isn’t his ceiling.

Williams (A) Malik finished with 11 points and 6 rebounds. Malik continues to show out defensively and looked better with the ball in his hands. Malik has been putting the ball on the floor and been able to get to the basket that way surprisingly. Malik hit some key 3’s as well. Malik showed himself in all facets of the game Wednesday.

Davis (C) Dre finished the night with 0 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist. Dre put up a lack luster statline, but contributed by getting the ball into the lane and playing good defense.

Locke (B) Noah finished with 17 points and 3 rebounds. I may be harsh but its because I thought we we’re supposed to see a guy that could score at all levels. Noah was hot from three and clutched up for us, but this was his previous role for Flordia. I’ll start grading him like a role player if this is what he shows himself at the end of the year. I hope I’m wrong, but I think he may stay like this.

West (B-) Jerrod finished with 8 points, 3 assists, and 1 rebound. I honestly don’t know what to think about Jerrod, but he did contribute tonight. He continues to play good defense, but I still am unsure if he should be getting this many minutes. Mack was asked if he wants Jerrod to be more aggressive and his answer was no, so I think he wants him to lead the offense like he does. I’ll probably change my mind later, but I sometimes think Mason or El brings something better.

Curry (B+) Sydney finished with 6 points and 2 rebounds in only 6 minutes of playing time. Sydney put himself in the right positions to score last night and showed some good basketball IQ. The face he made contesting a layup and fouling him stayed in my mind. Scared the shit out of me actually all the way up top, so I’m sure that poor kid was that got pummeled by him. I need more of this. Sydney should earn more playing time based off of tonight.

Wheeler (B) Roosevelt had 3 rebounds in 6 minutes of playing time. Roosevelt didn’t stick out to me much, but he continues to rebound well in just short bursts of playing time, which is a good sign.

Cross (C) Matt finished with 2 points and 3 rebounds. The three he put up really pissed me off. That wasn’t only a bad shot, but he pissed and moaned down the floor after missing it. He was so far behind that it led to a quick transition points for Wake Forest, which cannot happen. He looked fine other than that. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt because I think he had struggled with COVID, but Mack did talk about how he used to do this in practice.

Withers (C+) Jaelyn had 6 points and 8 rebounds. Jaelyn impacted the game on the glass, but not much else stood out to me. He still puts himself in bad spots defensively where everything else breaks down around him. I’m waiting for Jaelyn to figure it out.

Ellis (C+) El finished with 0 points and 1 assist. I tend to think this performance was because he was running the point. He played good defense tonight, but his decision making needs to improve. He’s passing at times when he needs to just finish himself. I did not forget what I saw against Michigan State.

Faulkner (B) Mason finished with 11 points and 5 assists. Mason looks better offensively with decision making and I think we’re seeing him get back to 100% from that injury. Marques Maybin, host of the Maybin show on 93.9, continues to say he just needs to get in shape and he will look better defensively. I hope this is true because he gets beat so bad off the dribble sometimes and I think teams are trying to iso him because of it.

                Wednesday night was a fun one that gave me hope. I only think we are going to look better offensively if Mack builds on what we showed with teaching them how to make cuts to the basket. The ACC is relatively weak and we follow up this game with a weaker schedule until the end of January. Hopefully we show some consistency into this month and continue to get better. This team has potential that I still believe in.

-degenerateCARD

Stats from teamrankings.com and ESPN.com