Wake Forest is off to an uneven start at 5-4 and lost 76-54 to Penn State on Wednesday in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

WFU was likely tired against Penn State after playing three games in the Wooden Legacy championship Nov. 28-Dec. 1 in Anaheim, Calif. The Demon Deacons fell 77-70 to Boston College in the season opener Nov. 6, and also lost 67-65 to Charlotte in overtime Nov. 17.

NC State (6-2 overall) plays at Wake Forest at 2 p.m. Saturday on the ACC Network. Here is a scouting report on the Demon Deacons.

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Wake Forest has a veteran squad with some of the juniors starting to “grow up” this season.

Junior center Olivier Sarr from Toulouse, France, is fresh off of being named the ACC player of the week for his efforts at the Wooden Legacy. He had 21 points and 13 rebounds in the 73-66 loss to Arizona last Sunday. Junior small forward Chaundee Brown is still seeking consistency, but is third on the team with 11.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Both players are coming off the bench.

Rankings

KenPom.com has Wake Forest at No. 92 in the country this season, and ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) has the Demon Deacons at No. 106.

The Demon Deacons are ranked No. 91 in the old RPI formula used by the NCAA — according to RealTimeRPI.com. In the newly established NET rankings done by the NCAA, Wake Forest finished No. 187 in the country last year. The first NET ratings of 2019-20 should be released soon.

Shooting

Wake Forest can play four three-point shooters on the court at the same time, but some are stroking the ball a little better than others. Charlotte transfer Andrien White, who is the younger brother of Andrew White, who played for Kansas, Nebraska and Syracuse, is the best of the group. He’s shooting 46.7 percent on three-pointers. Northern Arizona graduate transfer Torry Johnson is 6 of 14 on three-pointers.

WFU is shooting 41.1 percent from the field and 33.6 percent on three-pointers (seventh in the ACC), which is better than last year’s marks. Senior point guard Brandon Childress is the key to the perimeter attack, but he has fallen from 36.8 percent on three-pointers last year to 26.1 percent this season. The 6-0, 195-pound Childress is averaging a career-high 15.1 points and 4.9 assists per game this season, but shooting just 37.8 percent from the field.

Rebounding

Wake Forest ranks fifth in the ACC with 40.8 rebounds per game and fifth in the league in rebounding margin (plus-5.67).

Sarr is tied for 46th in the country and third in the ACC with 9.6 rebounds per game, which is a nice bump from his 5.5 boards a game last year. Brown is second on the team with 6.5 rebounds per game, and three other players are grabbing at least four boards a contest.

Defense

Wake Forest second to last in the ACC in scoring defense at 68.4 points per game. Opponents are shooting 42.8 percent from the field, which is 13th in the league, and teams are shooting 30.3 percent from three-point land, which is eighth in the ACC.

Sarr paces the team at 1.2 blocks per game, but the Demon Deacons are only blocking 3.4 shots a game. WFU also doesn’t get many steals at 4.9 steals per contest.

Depth

Having Sarr and Brown as reserves gives Wake Forest a potent bench. Sarr has started twice and Brown has started four contests, but neither started against Penn State this week. The 7-0, 255-pound Sarr leads the way with 13.2 points, 9.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 24.7 minutes per game. The 6-5, 220-pound Brown checks in at 11.5 points and 6.5 boards in 28 minutes a contest.

Add in freshman power forward Ismael Massoud and sophomore wing Sharone Wright Jr., who started last year, and the Demon Deacons have a solid eight-man rotation. Wright, who has missed four games due to illness, averaged 7.1 points per game last year.

Sarr has come a long way since his freshman year when he wasn’t sure of himself offensively. He shot just 34.8 percent and averaged 3.2 points per game in 2017-18.

Sarr has climbed to 13.2 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, and is shooting 50 percent from the field. Twice this season he has scored 21 points, with the most recent against Arizona last Sunday. He has cracked 14 points in six of the last seven games. He has four double-doubles for points and rebounds.

To put his recent play in perspective, Sarr only reached double figures in four games last year. He had four points and six rebounds in 16 minutes during Wake Forest’s 71-67 win over NC State last year.

Sarr is coming off the bench with Raleigh native Ody Oguama starting. The freshman, who attended Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons, is averaging 14.4 minutes per game, while Sarr is third on the team at 24.7 minutes a contest.

NC State

PG — 11 Markell Johnson (6-1, 175, Sr., 12.0 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 6.0 apg, 1.9 spg)

SG — 13 C.J. Bryce (6-5, 210, 5th-Sr., 15.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 2.4 apg, 1.6 spg)

G — 10 Braxton Beverly (6-0, 180, Jr., 9.0 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.0 apg)

PF — 4 Jericole Hellems (6-7, 205, So., 12.3 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 0.8 apg, 1.1 spg)

C — 15 Manny Bates (6-11, 230, R-Fr., 6.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 0.5 apg, 3.4 bpg)

Wake Forest

PG — 0 Brandon Childress (6-0, 195, Sr., 15.1 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 4.9 apg, 1.2 spg)

SG — 13 Andrien White (6-3, 200, Sr., 8.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.4 apg)

G — 11 Torry Johnson (6-3, 175, Sr., 6.0 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 1.2 apg)

PF — 1 Isaiah Mucius (6-8, 195, Soph., 7.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.4 apg)

C — 33 Ody Oguama (6-9, 205, Fr., 2.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 0.1 apg, 1.0 bpg)

23.1 Percentage from the field for the five WFU starters in the loss against Penn State. The Demon Deacons starters shot 6 of 26 from the field.

77.3 Percentage of minutes played returning from last year. WFU returns six of its top seven scorers from last year.

3,292 Career college points between Wake Forest assistant coach Randolph Childress and his son, senior point guard Brandon Childress. Randolph scored 2,208 career points at WFU, and Brandon has 1,084. They are the sixth father/son duo in Division I history to combine for 3,000 career points at one school.

Childress led Wake Forest in scoring, assists, steals, minutes and three-pointers made last year. He does have more assistance in the backcourt thanks to the arrival of Charlotte transfer Andrien White and improved play of former Northern Arizona graduate transfer Torry Johnson.

Wake Forest simply goes as Childress goes, and that can be scary at times. Childress went 0 of 7 from the field for one point scored in the 76-54 loss at Penn State on Wednesday. Childress has been a sub-39-percent shooter his entire WFU career. He did grind his way to 19 points in the loss against Arizona, despite shooting 4 of 18 from the field.

Childress was on top of his game in the ACC opener against Boston College. He went for 24 points and seven assists in the loss.

NC State senior point guard Markell Johnson should be comfortable going against Childress. Johnson missed the first meeting, which the Wolfpack lost, but in the rematch, he torched the Demon Deacons for 25 points and went 6 of 9 on three-pointers in the win.

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