Wake Forest has played five high-major non-conference opponents already, plus three ACC games.
The Demon Deacons are 10-4 overall and 2-1 in the ACC, with league wins over Boston College on Dec. 7 and at Syracuse on Dec. 31. The lone ACC loss was at Clemson on Dec. 21.
Beefing up the non-conference slate was important for coach Steve Forbes. WFU has wins over Michigan and Minnesota, and losses against Xavier, Florida and Texas A&M.
NC State (8-5 overall, 1-1 ACC) plays at Wake Forest (10-4 overall, 2-1 ACC) at 12 p.m. Saturday on the CW Network.
Overview
Wake Forest returns three starters from last year’s squad, including potential ACC player of the year candidate Hunter Sallis.
Sallis, senior wing Cameron Hildreth and senior center Efton Reid return for the Demon Deacons.
Appalachian State senior power forward transfer Tre’Von Spillers and Louisville sophomore point guard Ty-Laur Johnson round out the starting lineup.
Rankings
Wake Forest is No. 94 in the NET rankings this season, and NC State is No. 104.
ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) has the Demon Deacons ranked No. 74 overall, and the Wolfpack are No. 61.
KenPom.com has Wake Forest at No. 93, and NCSU checks in at No. 83.
Shooting
Wake Forest averaged 68.5 points per game and shot 42.9 percent from the field, 27.7 percent on three-pointers and 73.4 percent at the free-throw line.
Wake Forest freshman wing Juke Harris is shooting a team-high 36.7 percent from three-point land. Sophomore Davin Cosby has made a team-high 24 three-pointers and is shooting 31.6 percent from beyond the arc.
Rebounding
The Demon Deacons are averaging 34.6 rebounds per game and have a minus-1.6 rebounding margin. Wake Forest had 137 offensive rebounds with Spillers getting an impressive 47 and Reid grabbing 26.
Spillers is averaging 9.4 rebounds per game and Reid is at 6.1 boards a contest.
Defense
WFU is allowing 65.4 points per game, with opposing teams shooting 38.4 percent from the field and 30.9 percent on three-pointers.
Spillers has a team-high 19 blocks and both Sallis and Hildreth have 21 steals. Six different Wake Forest players have at least 10 steals.
Depth
Harris, Cosby, sophomore shooting guard Parker Friedrichsen and sophomore center Chrurchill Abass come off the bench for the Demon Deacons.
NC State offered and pursued both Harris and Cosby, with the latter a Alabama transfer. Cosby is averaging 6.4 points and Harris chipping in 4.0 points a game.
Star Watch
Wake Forest senior guard Hunter Sallis was one of the biggest surprises in the ACC last year.
The 6-foot-5, 175-pound averaged 4.4 points and 2.1 rebounds per game in his two years at Gonzaga. He exploded 18.0 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game last year at Wake Forest. He shot 48.7 percent from the field and 40.5 percent on three-pointers last year.
Sallis has dipped on his three-point shot, and is down to 28.4 percent. He has held steady across the board and is averaging 18.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game.
Sallis poured in a season-high 31 points and went 5 of 9 on three-pointers in a 67-57 win over Detroit Mercy on Nov. 23.
Sallis has been in top form the last two games — both ACC contests — with a combined 49 points and six assists — in the win over Syracuse and loss at Clemson.
Sallis had mixed results against NC State last year. In the first matchup, he went 4 of 9 for 12 points and six rebounds in 28 foul-plagued minutes. NCSU won 83-76 in Raleigh.
The second meeting in Winston-Salem, he exploded for 33 points and 4 of 6 on three-pointers in a 83-79 win.
Rivals.com had Sallis ranked No. 37 overall in the class of 2021 coming out of Omaha (Neb.) Millard North High.
Likely starters
NC State
PG — 12 Michael O’Connell (6-2, 195, Sr., 6.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 4.0 apg, 1.2 spg)
SG — 8 Jayden Taylor (6-4, 195, Sr., 12.5 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.2 spg)
G — 10 Marcus Hill (6-4, 185, Sr., 12.5 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.1 apg)
F — 3 Dontrez Styles (6-6, 212, Sr., 9.5 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 0.5 apg, 1.0 bpg)
C — 34 Ben Middlebrooks (6-10, 240, Sr., 9.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.3 apg, 1.3 spg, 1.7 bpg) or 1 Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (6-10, 240, Sr., 9.2 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 0.9 apg)
Wake Forest
8 Ty-Laur Johnson (6-0, 170, Soph., 3.9, 1.4 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.0 spg)
23 Hunter Sallis (6-5, 185, Sr., 18.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.1 apg, 1.5 spg)
6 Cameron Hildreth (6-4, 195, Sr., 12.7 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.5 spg)
25 Tre’Von Spillers (6-7, 215, Sr., 9.6 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 0.5 apg, 1.4 bpg)
4 Efton Reid (7-0, 250, Sr., 7.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 0.9 apg, 1.1 bpg)
Numbers Of Note
5 McDonald’s All-American’s who played at Wake Forest — Rodney Rogers (1990), Eric Williams (2002), Chris Paul (2003), Al-Farouq Aminu (2010) and Hunter Sallis (2021).
15 NBA first-round draft picks, with 10 coming since 1993. The latest one was Jake LaRavia, who went No. 19 in the 2022 NBA Draft.
39 ACC wins for Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes, who is 39-42 in the league.
Game within the game: WFU's Tre'Von Spillers vs. NCSU's Dontrez Styles
Wake Forest senior power forward Tre’Von Spillers has proven to be one of the top rebounders in the country.
Spillers is third in the ACC and No. 25 in the country with 9.4 rebounds per game. The 6-7, 215-pounder is chipping 9.6 points and 1.4 blocks per game. He is shooting 51.4 percent from the field and 53.6 percent at the free-throw line. He has four double-doubles for points and rebounds.
Spillers had 18 points and 16 rebounds in the 57-51 win over Minnesota on Nov. 29. He also had 15 points and 16 rebounds in the 80-64 win over North Carolina A&T on Nov. 7.
Spillers attended Military Magnet Academy in Charleston, S.C., and went to South Carolina-Salkehatchie his freshman year. He then transferred to Moberly Area Community College in Missouri, and then he made his way to Appalachian State.
Spillers went on to average 12.8 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.3 blocks for the Mountaineers, who went 27-7. He shot 60.4 percent from the field and 68.5 percent at the free-throw line. Spillers had a career-high 23 points against both Georgia State and South Alabama last year.
NC State will likely have both senior forward Dontrez Styles and senior post player Ben Middlebrooks try to keep Spillers off the board. Styles is averaging 9.5 points and 3.8 rebounds in 22.9 minutes per game, and is shooting 34.0 percent from three-point land.
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