Recap: Wake Forest Annihilates Campbell 99-51

I don’t really have much to say about this one—that was an absolutely beat down. Wake Forest dominated the Camels the entire game, leading by as much as 51 points in the 2nd half, to grab their 5th win of the season in blowout fashion.

This game was over as soon as it got going. Wake opened the game on an 8-0 run behind back-to-back 3-pointers, and that was about as close as Campbell got. With 8 minutes remaining in the half, the Deacs went on a 16-0 run over the span of 4 minutes to push the lead to 28 points and ended the half up 50-23. There is really just not much a smaller team can do when their opponent is shooting 41% from beyond the arc and they are 2-15 from 3.

Wake basically got whatever they wanted in this game with very little resistance. The Deacs finished the game with 42 points in the paint and shot 55% from the floor while holding the Camels to just 27% shooting for the game. The lead ballooned so high in the second half that commentators Evan Lepler and Stan Lewter were discussing the “Feast Week” turkey graphic and their Chick-fil-A orders while the game was going on. That is exactly what an ACC team that wants to make the NCAA Tournament in March should do against a mid-major opponent in a buy game, so it’s great to see Wake keep their foot on the gas and make a statement.

We got a glimpse of the potential of the Wake Forest depth tonight—of the 14 players who got in the game, 12 scored. The Deacs had 8 players score 5 or more points, including Juke Harris and Mekhi Mason, who led the way with 17 and 16 points respectively. The Deacs also assisted on 20 of their 34 made baskets, so it’s great to see the ball moving and everyone getting involved in the scoring.

The huge win was big for the metrics—the Deacs jumped 7 spots in KenPom up to 41 after the game. Hopefully the win has a similar impact on the NET rankings when they come out sometime in the next week. Wake has 1 more buy game against Northeastern on Black Friday before 2 very important games against Oklahoma in the ACC-SEC Challenge and a neutral site game against West Virginia. The Deacs may not have beaten a tournament team yet this season, so grabbing 1 or 2 of those would go a long way for the resume.

Happy Thanksgiving and Go Deacs!