Wake Forest off to rough start
Game facts
No. 17 NC State (14-2, 2-1 ACC) at Wake Forest (7-8 overall, 0-3 ACC)
Game time: Tuesday, Jan. 15, 8 p.m. — Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Television: Raycom Sports
Probable starters
NC State
PG — 11 Markell Johnson (6-1, 175, Jr., 11.6 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 4.1 apg) or 10 Braxton Beverly (6-0, 180, Soph., 9.4 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 2.9 apg)
SG — 13 C.J. Bryce (6-5, 195, R-Jr., 11.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.6 spg)
G — 24 Devon Daniels (6-5, 200, R-Soph., 10.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.8 apg, 1.0 spg)
F — 2 Torin Dorn (6-5, 210, 5th-Sr., 14.2 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.4 spg)
C — 33 Wyatt Walker (6-9, 240, R-Jr., 6.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.1 apg)
Wake Forest
PG — 0 Brandon Childress (6-0, 190, Jr., 16.5 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 4.3 apg, 1.7 spg)
SG — 2 Sharone Wright Jr. (6-5, 180, Fr., 7.3 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 0.8 apg)
SF — 23 Chaundee Brown (6-5, 215, Soph., 11.9 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 1.3 apg)
PF — 10 Jaylen Hoard (6-8, 215, Fr., 14.7 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 1.3 apg)
C — 35 Ikenna Smart (6-10, 245, Sr., 2.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 0.2 apg)
Notes
Wake Forest
Location: Winston-Salem, N.C.
Nickname: Demon Deacons
2017-18 record: 11-20 overall, 4-14 ACC
2017 postseason: None
Head coach: Danny Manning seventh year overall (99-109) and fifth year at Wake Forest (61-80)
Wake Forest overview: The Demon Deacons had a great plan in place for this season, only to see it fall completely apart over the last year.
Wake Forest was building a terrific nucleus of power forward John Collins, center Doral Moore, point guard Bryant Crawford and shooting guard Keyshawn Woods for this season. None are currently on the roster with Collins going pro in 2017, and Moore and Crawford entered the draft last spring. Woods earned his degree and transferred to Ohio State.
The expected bumpy season took a turn for the worse after losing 93-91 in overtime against Houston Baptist on Nov. 23 and then 73-69 to Gardner-Webb on Dec. 29. The Demon Deacons opened the ACC slate with three-consecutive losses and wins could be few and far between for coach Danny Manning.
Backcourt: Junior Brandon Childress has exceeded all expectations from coming out of High Point (N.C.) Wesleyan.
The son of Wake Forest great and assistant coach Randolph Childress, he is shooting a surprising 45 percent from the field and 44.3 percent on three-pointers. Both marked improvements from when he shot 37.9 percent in both categories last year. He also has improved from 9.1 points per game to 16.5 with his increase to 36.9 minutes per game.
Childress has scored in double figures in every game, and exploded to make 7 of 10 three-pointers en route to a season-high 28 points in the 92-79 loss at Georgia Tech on Jan. 5. That was the third time this season he reached 20 points or more.
Freshman wing Sharone Wright Jr. is the son of former Clemson center by the same name, who was a first-round NBA Draft pick.
Wright is shooting 43.4 percent from the field and 24.2 percent on three-pointers, and he had one of his top games against Duke on Jan. 8. He had 12 poitns and five boards in the 87-65 loss vs. the No. 1-ranked Blue Devils. The former Rivals.com three-star prospect has reached double figures in six contests this season, including a career-high 14 points in the loss to Houston Baptist.
Graduate transfer Tony Johnson, a 6-foot-3 and 170-pound redshirt junior from Northern Arizona, was brought in to provide some depth. He is averaging 5.4 points and 1.5 assists in 21.3 minutes per game for the Demon Deacons, but is shooting poorly. Johnson is just 5 of 21 on three-pointers and shooting 32.8 percent overall.
Johnson had a season-high 12 points in the loss against Gardner-Webb, which was the second time he’s cracked double figures this season. He averaged 11.5 points per game at Northern Arizona last year.
Freshman wing Michael Wynn originally signed with East Carolina, but ended up at Wake Forest following the Pirates coaching change. The 6-6, 200-pounder had done little this season, but erupted for 11 points in 12 minutes in the 76-65 loss at Miami on Saturday.
Frontcourt: Freshman power forward Jaylen Hoard of Carnon, France, played at High Point Wesleyan in high school. The former NC State target has delivered on his lofty ranking for the Demon Deacons. Rivals.com had Hoard as a five-star prospect and No. 27 overall in the country in the class of 2018.
The smooth operator started his ACC career with 19 points and eight rebounds in the Georgia Tech loss. He also had 23 points and 15 boards in the 83-61 win over Cornell. Hoard has scored in double figures in all but two games, and has three double-double for points and rebounds.
Hoard isn’t going to be a big shot-blocking presence with eight this season, and he’s 5 of 26 on three-pointers, but shooting 47.4 percent overall. He ranks 15th in the ACC in points per game (14.7) and tied for eighth in rebounds a contest (8.0).
Sophomore wing Chaundee Brown was the touted Wake Forest recruit in the class of 2017. Rivals.com ranked him No. 38 overall in the country, but he had an uneven first season, averaging 7.6 points per game and shooting 41.1 percent from the field.
Brown’s shooting numbers are relatively the same at 41.3 percent from the field and 35.4 percent on three-pointers this season, but he has been more consistent. The Orlando, Fla., native had a season-high 22 points in the loss at Miami. He has scored in double figures nine of the last 10 games, and he’s an active rebounder with grabbing at least six rebounds in seven contests this season.
Graduate senior center Ikenna Smart arrived from Buffalo, but he attended Greensboro (N.C.) New Garden Friends in high school. Smart and sophomore Olivier Sarr have tag-teamed the center spot.
Sarr is the best shot-blocker of the three with 15 blocks on the season, but also has had four fouls or more in eight games (fouling out of two). The 7-0, 235-pounder from France is averaging 5.9 points and 5.3 rebounds a contest and shooting 41.5 percent from the field. He had 14 points and nine rebounds in the 80-56 win over Charlotte on Dec. 6.
Smart averaged 3.6 points and 3.5 rebounds per game at Buffalo last year, and is right around those numbers for Wake Forest. He has just six blocks this season. He had a season-high six points, plus five boards against Cornell.
Freshman forward Isaiah Mucius joins Hoard and Wright as building blocks for the future and can either forward spot. The 6-8, 190-pounder from Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H., was ranked No. 106 overall in the country by Rivals.com.
Mucius has come off the bench to average 7.5 points and 3.8 rebounds a contest, but is shooting 39.3 percent from the field and 31.0 on three-pointers (13 of 42). He had a season-high 17 points, plus seven boards in the 84-74 loss at Richmond on Dec. 1.
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