Scouting Wake Forest
Wake Forest has gone 8-1 with junior center Efton Reid eligible, which has helped position the Demon Deacons for a potential postseason trip.
WFU is off to a 12-4 start and 4-1 in the ACC, with league wins over Virginia Tech, Boston College, Miami (Fla.) and Virginia. The lone loss came at Florida State on Jan. 9.
The Demon Deacons also have non-conference wins against 11-5 Florida and 9-7 Rutgers.
Wake Forest travels to play NC state at 7 p.m. tonight on the ACC Network.
Overview
Wake Forest returned junior shooting guard Cameron Hildreth of England and former Delaware transfer Andrew Carr.
Gonzaga transfers Hunter Salis, a junior, and Reid both arrived, and Central Michigan sophomore transfer Kevin Miller has bounced back after getting hurt a year ago.
Wake Forest is the rare team with four players averaging over 13.2 points per game, and at some point down the road, the Demon Deacons will get back senior forward Damari Monsanta.
Rankings
Wake Forest is No. 46 in the NET rankings, and NC State is No. 73.
ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) has the Demon Deacons ranked No. 29 overall, and the Wolfpack are No. 61.
KenPom.com has Wake Forest at No.37, and NCSU is No. 71 this season.
Shooting
Wake Forest is averaging an impressive 80.9 points per game, and are shooting 47.8 percent from the field, 38.4 percent on three-pointers and 80.1 percent from the free-throw line.
Freshman guard Parker Friedrichsen has been a sniper off the bench at 43.3 percent on three-pointers, and Hildreth is right behind at 42.9 percent. The surprise has been Sallis at 38.0 percent after he was 25.6 percent last year at Gonzaga.
Rebounding
WFU is averaging 35.3 rebounds per game, have a plus-2.0 rebounding margin and have 144 offensive rebounds.
Reid is leading the Demon Deacons with 9.1 rebounds per game, and Carr is at 7.8 rebounds a contest. Carr has a team-high 38 offensive rebounds.
Defense
The Demon Deacons are allowing 69.3 points per game, and are allowing 41.7 percent from the field and 34.3 percent from three-point land.
Carr has 25 blocks and Reid has 19, and Miller leads the squad with 27 steals. Five different players have at least 10 steals.
Depth
Friedrichsen, sophomore post player Zach Keller and freshman power forward Marqus Marion have become steady players off the bench.
Friedrichsen, a former Notre Dame signee, is averaging 6.1 points per game and shooting an impressive 43.3 percent from three-point land.
Junior center Matthew Marsh, a former starter, hasn’t played since Dec. 18.
Star Watch
Junior guard Hunter Sallis had a heated recruitment coming out of Omaha (Neb.) Millard North High in the class of 2021.
Rivals.com ranked him No. 37 overall and he signed with Gonzaga over North Carolina, Creighton, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, Oregon and UCLA.
Sallis proved to be a semi-bust coming off the bench at Gonzaga his first two years. He averaged 4.4 points and 2.1 rebounds per game, and shot 50.9 percent from the field and 25.8 percent from three-point land.
The 6-foot-5, 185-pounder hit the reset button and he has blossomed at Wake Forest. He is averaging 18.0 points and 3.8 rebounds a contest in 35.3 minutes. He is shooting 48.2 percent from the field and 38.0 percent on three-pointers. Sallis is sixth in the ACC in scoring.
Sallis has scored in double figures in every game, with a season-high 24 points against both Florida on Nov. 29 and Towson on Nov. 17. He’s cracked 20 points in eight contests.
Sallis torched Virginia with a season-best 5 of 8 from three-point land for 21 points, plus nine boards in a 66-47 home win last Saturday.
Likely Starters
NC State
PG — 0 DJ Horne (6-1, 175, R-Sr., 14.7 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.4 spg)
SG — 1 Jayden Taylor (6-4, 195, Jr., 12.1 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 1.3 apg, 1.3 spg)
G — 14 Casey Morsell (6-3, 200, R-Sr., 11.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.7 apg)
PF — 11 Dennis Parker (6-6, 205, Fr., 7.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 0.5 apg)
C — 30 D.J. Burns (6-9, 275, R-Sr., 12.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.8 apg)
Wake Forest
PG — 0 Kevin Miller (6-0, 175, Soph., 17.6 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 4.3 apg, 1.7 spg)
SG — 23 Hunter Sallis (6-5, 185, Jr., 18.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.2 apg, 1.1 spg)
G — 2 Cameron Hildreth (6-4, 195, Jr., 16.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.7 apg)
F — 11 Andrew Carr (6-10, 220, Sr., 13.2 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 1.3 apg, 1.6 bpg)
C — 4 Efton Reid (7-0, 240, Jr., 8.2 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 0.9 apg, 2.1 bpg)
Numbers Of Note
4 Junior guard Hunter Sallis is the fourth former McDonald’s All-American to land at Wake Forest, joining former point guard Chris Paul and power forwards Al-Farouq Aminu and Rodney Rogers.
11 Wake Forest’s number of ACC player of the year’s, with Alondes Williams the most recent in 2022. He joined Dickie Hemric (1954-55), Len Chapell (1961-62), Charlie Davis (1971), Rod Griffin (1977), Rodney Rogers (1993), Tim Duncan (1996-97) and Josh Howard (2003).
23 NCAA Tournament appearances for Wake Forest, with the last one coming in 2017.
Game Within The Game: WFU's Kevin Miller vs. NC State's D.J. Horne
The 6-0, 175-pound Kevin Miller has bounced back after a season-ending injury four games into the 2022-23 season at Central Michigan.
Miller averaged 13.1 points and 4.6 assists her freshman year with the Chippewas, and shot a solid 36.0 percent from three-point land. Miller got off to a slow start his freshman year, but from Feb. 1-on, he scored at least 20 points in five games, and in double figures in all but one contest.
Miller was off to an improved start last year with CMU, bumping his averaging up to 18.5 points a contest.
The Chicago native made the move to Wake Forest, and the transition from the MAC to the ACC has been relatively easy for him. Miller is second on the team with 17.6 points per game and he’s shooting a career-best 38.5 percent on three-pointers. He’s made at least three three-pointers in four contests.
Miller had a career-high 27 points in the 86-82 overtime win over Miami on Jan. 6. He also had 25 points against Towson.
NC State senior guard D.J. Horne came off the bench against Louisville, and lit up the Cardinals for 27 points and went 6 of 9 on three-pointers. Horne is averaging a team-best 14.7 points and 2.8 assists per game, and is shooting 43.7 percent on three-pointers.
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