Wake Forest wants to get back to a game situation as soon as possible.
The Demon Deacons are reeling and hopeful a Wednesday matchup against visiting South Carolina State in Winston-Salem, N.C., could be a good tonic.
Wake Forest (4-1) suffered its first loss of the season Sunday in the final of the Jamaica Classic at Montego Bay, Jamaica.
It wasn’t only the defeat in overtime to Loyola Marymount that was disturbing. It was the way it happened. The Demon Deacons failed to protect an eight-point lead in the last two minutes of regulation.
“My job is to get our team to play the right way at the end of the game,” Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes said. “Obviously, I didn’t do that, so I’m going to have to go back and look at it and see where we can fix it, but it’s inexcusable.”
Forbes called it one of the most frustrating losses of his career. Poor free-throw shooting and turnovers were among the biggest issues.
“The little things are big things,” Forbes said. “They end up getting you.”
There are some positives for the Demon Deacons, who’ll play their fourth home game of the season when SC State (0-5) arrives.
The Bulldogs’ defeats have included setbacks to power conference teams South Carolina and Kentucky.
“I’ve always been a glass is half-full guy,” coach Erik Martin said. “What we get out of this is to get up, be on the road, grind, and bond.”
SC State is playing 11 consecutive road games to begin its schedule.
“The goal is to get through this and make sure our spirits are still up and we’re still a team,” Martin said. “Losses can rip you apart but hopefully being on the road a lot my team bonds.”
Five games into the season, it appears that Wake Forest has tapped successfully into the transfer market for the second season in a row. Tyree Appleby is averaging 19 points per game. However, he committed five of his total of 13 turnovers for the season in the Loyola Marymount game.
“The reality is our offense was terrible when it comes to handling the ball,” Forbes said.
Wake Forest guard Daivien Williamson has been hampered with a back ailment, so he was limited during the weekend.
SC State’s leading scorer is Gary Rakeim with 9.6 points per game.
–Field Level Media
