Can Wake Forest Turn Things Around and Right the Ship in Pittsburgh?
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The Wake Forest Demon Deacons need a moral boost right now. After convincingly falling to SMU and Duke last week, the Deacs sit at just 2-5 in ACC play. Now they travel to Pitt for a chance at a bounce-back ACC victory before hosting rival NC State this weekend at the Joel.
In the Deacs' last two outings, they were competitive for most of the first half before giving up costly scoring runs heading into the locker room. The key in this one will surely be to avoid long scoring droughts and miscommunications on the defensive end. Consistency has been a real test for this team, and they need to play for a full 40 minutes to be able to get the win.
According to Coach Steve Forbes, a big reason for the recent struggles has been that their guards, outside of Juke Harris, have been getting "physically whipped." I could not agree more with this statement. Wake guards have been committing costly turnovers and not playing attached enough defensively to help out an already undersized frontcourt.
Defensively, Wake Forest gave up 16 offensive rebounds to the Blue Devils and 11 to SMU. It is paramount that every player gets on the glass, especially against a Pitt team that has an offensive rebound percentage well above average at 34.7%.
It has also been the guards' cold shooting that Wake needs to flip on Tuesday night. Saturday against Duke, Myles Colvin, Nate Calmese, Sebastian Akins, and Mekhi Mason were a combined 3-for-18 from the floor. As transfers, these players were brought in to provide the Deacs with a scoring punch that needs to start coming through consistently for the rest of the season.
Key in on Cooper Schwieger
Outside of Juke Harris, Cooper Schwieger may have been the lone bright spot on Saturday for the Deacs. He is starting to gain confidence and had his best game as a Demon Deacon. He finished with 12 points on an efficient 5-7 from the field.
Maybe the best sign for the Deacs is that when Cooper fouled out in the second half, he looked visable frusterated and was showing some fire I have not seen from him all season. Let's hope this fire is taken out on a Pitt team that is severely lacking size in their frontcourt.
Pitt starts 6'10 senior Cameron Corhen as their primary big. He is averaging 12.6 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, but outside of him, the options in the frontcourt are next to none. The next biggest starter is 6'6 freshman Roman Siulepa. Look for Cooper to keep attacking offensively and have a productive game alongside his frontcourt running-mate, Tre'Von Spillers.
This game is slated for a 6 pm tipoff on ACC Network. Like in North Carolina, Pittsburgh is facing some severe winter weather and cold temperatures outside. The task will be for the Deacs to heat things inside the building and bounce back to stabilize the season.
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Justin is a student at Wake Forest University. He is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and aspiring finance major interested everything sports. In his freshman year, Justin completed an internship with the Wake Forest Ticketing Department where he gained some valuable insight into the sales and operations aspects of collegiate athletics. Before working with Wake Forest On SI, Justin was a contributing writer for Wake Forest’s student publication The Old Gold and Black. Currently, Justin serves as a student manager on the Wake Forest Men’s Tennis team. In his free time Justin enjoys spending time with his family and friends on the golf course and traveling.