No. 5 seed North Carolina (21-12) vs. No. 4 seed Wake Forest (21-10)
Thursday, March 13 — 2:30 p.m.
Charlotte, N.C. — Spectrum Center
TV: ESPN (Dave O’Brien, Cory Alexander, Angel Gray)
Radio: Tar Heels Sports Network (Jones Angell, Tyler Zeller)
Quotables
“The pitch is we are focused. We were very fortunate to be successful against a really good Notre Dame team. That was a one-point game earlier in the year in South Bend. Our eyes and our preparation is on what is real, and what is real is our preparation in regards to our play tomorrow against a very good Wake Forest team.” — UNC coach Hubert Davis on Wednesday, when asked after the Tar Heels pounded Notre Dame for his sales pitch to the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
“That’s definitely fair. And I’m sure as we, as we talk more about it, starting tonight and starting in a couple hours, slowly we’ll start to view it like that. But I don’t want to put any extra pressure on these guys. We’re out here to play basketball, here to play games and here to play free. We’re playing our best basketball.” — UNC guard Seth Trimble after Wednesday’s rout of Notre Dame, when asked if the Tar Heels’ ACC Tournament quarterfinal matchup against Wake Forest could be considered an elimination game for NCAA Tournament consideration.
Pregame Notes
First ACCT Meeting in 25 Years: Carolina faces Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament for the first time since March 2000, as part of Thursday’s matchup in the quarterfinals. These teams met once during the regular season, and the Demon Deacons prevailed 67-66 at home in January. UNC struggled mightily from 3-point range that night at Joel Coliseum, and finished just 8-for-32 beyond the arc. At one juncture, the Tar Heels were an abysmal 3-for-22 on 3-point attempts. UNC coach Hubert Davis is one win shy of reaching 100 career coaching victories.
ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi moved the Tar Heels into his projected NCAA Tournament field on Wednesday night, after Iowa knocked off Ohio State in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament. Lunardi jumped UNC among the last four teams in his 68-team field, and dropped Ohio State to the last four teams out. Oklahoma, Indiana, Xavier and Carolina were listed in that order among Lunardi’s new last four teams in the bracket.
The Tar Heels now have a 60.1-percent chance of making the NCAA Tournament, according to Bart Torvik’s college basketball database. Those odds are better, according to Torvik, than fellow bubble teams Ohio State (53.1 percent), San Diego State (45.7 percent), Boise State (24.7 percent), Colorado State (18.7 percent) and Texas (14.2 percent).
The Tar Heels are introduced on Wednesday at the ACC Tournament. (Photo: Jim Hawkins / Inside Carolina)
Looking at Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons earned the No. 4 seed in the ACC Tournament, after closing the regular season 21-10 overall and 13-7 in conference play. Wake Forest, UNC and SMU finished in a three-way tie for fourth place in the conference standings, and the Demon Deacons held the head-to-head tiebreakers over both teams. Wake Forest was listed among the next four teams out of ESPN’s projected NCAA Tournament field, according to Lunardi’s update on Wednesday night.
Wake Forest won four straight games to begin this season, securing home victories against Coppin State (by a 64-49 margin), NC A&T (80-64) and USC Upstate (85-80), and a profitable non-conference win against Michigan (72-70) at the Greensboro Coliseum. Then, the Demon Deacons dropped three of their next six games. That stretch included losses to SEC opponents Florida (75-58) and Texas A&M (57-44), and a road loss at Xavier (75-60). Wake Forest responded by winning eight of its next nine games, capped by the home win over Carolina (67-66).
The Demon Deacons were 15-4 overall when they defeated on Jan. 21. But since that point, Wake Forest has lost six of its last 12 games. The slippage has included defeats at home to Duke (63-56), Florida State (72-70) and Virginia (83-75), and road losses at Louisville (72-59), NC State (85-73) and Duke (93-60).
Wake Forest is under fifth-year coach Steve Forbes. He joined the Demon Deacons after presiding over a run of success at East Tennessee State (2015-20). Forbes has made various assistant-coaching stops, including Texas A&M (2004-06), Tennessee (2006-11) and Wichita State (2013-15), among others. Wake Forest’s 79 victories since the 2021-22 season are tied for the third-most in the ACC with Clemson. The Demon Deacons are 57-7 at home across that same stretch, the second-most home wins nationally. But Wake Forest hasn’t reached the NCAA Tournament under Forbes.
All-ACC First-Teamer Drives the Deacs: Hunter Sallis leads the Demon Deacons. He’s averaging 18 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game on the season. He earned All-ACC first-team honors for the second season in a row. He became the first Wake Forest player to earn first-team all-conference honors in back-to-back seasons since Tim Duncan (from 1995-97). But Sallis has struggled some lately. He’s averaging 13 points per game over the last three games, and is shooting 29.2 percent from the field, including 23.1 percent from 3-point range during that stretch.
Sallis, a former McDonald’s All-American and consensus five-star recruit coming out of high school, is in his second season with the Demon Deacons. He spent his first two college seasons at Gonzaga. Sallis topped Wake Forest in scoring last season, producing 18 points per game. He entered this season as the second-highest returning scorer in the ACC, behind only UNC guard RJ Davis (21.2 points per game last season).
Returning starter Cameron Hildreth plugs in alongside Sallis for the Demon Deacons. He’s is in his fourth season at Wake Forest, and is supplying a career-best 14.9 points per game. Hildreth has started 92 games at Wake Forest, and played in 130 total games across his college career.
Bottom of the ACC Barrel Beyond the Arc: Wake Forest ranks as the worst 3-point shooting team in the ACC, connecting on just 29.2 percent of its attempts as a team. That’s more than 2 percentage points less than Miami, second-worst in the league at 31.3 percent from 3. The Demon Deacons have 177 makes from 3-point range this season, the fewest in the ACC. Wake Forest checks in No. 349 nationally in 3-point shooting, or six spots from the bottom. The Demon Deacons are the worst 3-point shooting team among the major conferences in the country.
Hildreth is the only Wake Forest regular shooting better than 31 percent on 3-pointers (minimum 10 made 3s). He’s making 33.3 percent from 3-point range. Parker Friedrichsen had 50 makes from 3-point range as a freshman last season, while shooting 36.5 percent from deep. But this season he only has hit 20 triples, and is shooting 25.3 percent beyond the arc. He has knocked down just one 3-pointer across the last five games.
Last Meeting: Wake Forest squeaked past Carolina 67-66 in January. RJ Davis delivered 21 points and Elliot Cadeau finished with 14 points and 13 assists, but the Tar Heels went just 8-for-32 from 3-point range that night at Joel Coliseum.
Series History: UNC leads the all-time series 165-70. The Tar Heels have won 18 of the last 25 meetings against the Demon Deacons, including 14 of the last 19. Carolina is 13-8 all-time against Wake Forest at the ACC Tournament.
Projected UNC Starters:
3 Elliot Cadeau (So., 6-1, 180) — 9.4 ppg, 6.2 apg, 2.9 rpg
4 RJ Davis (Gr., 6-0, 180) — 17.1 ppg, 3.8 apg, 3.6 rpg
9 Drake Powell (Fr., 6-6, 195) — 7.5 ppg, 3.2 rpg
22 Ven-Allen Lubin (Jr., 6-8, 230) — 8.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg
24 Jae’Lyn Withers (Gr., 6-9, 220) — 6.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg
Projected Wake Forest Starters:
4 Efton Reid III (Sr., 7-0, 250) — 9 ppg, 6.5 rpg
6 Cameron Hildreth (Sr., 6-4, 195) — 14.9 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.7 apg
8 Ty-Laur Johnson (So., 6-0, 170) — 6.3 ppg, 2.8 apg, 2 rpg
23 Hunter Sallis (Sr., 6-5, 195) — 18 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 2.8 apg
25 Tre’Von Spillers (Sr., 6-7, 215) — 9.9 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 1.3 bpg
UNC Info
Wake Forest Info
