The Journey Begins for Wake Forest Men's Basketball Against American
In this story:
The long wait is over, and a new college basketball season is finally upon us! The Deacs first opponent up is the American Eagles from the Patriot League, who will make the trip to the Joel. Let's preview this matchup and give thoughts on what the Deacs need to do to secure their first victory.
Opponent Preview
American is coming off a very strong season as they finished last year as Patriot League Champions and made it into the NCAA Tournament. They were unable to make it out of the First Four, but still had a very good season nonetheless.
As for their roster, American lost their top player from a season ago, Matt Rogers, who was an All-Patriot League First Team selection. However, they are returning four of their top eight scorers from a season ago. One of these returners is junior Greg Jones, who was recently named Patriot League Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. He averaged 10.3 points per game a season ago and earned first-team defensive accolades in the Patriot League as a sophomore.
There is a lot of unpredictability on American's roster, as it features six new freshmen. The Eagles fell in their lone exhibition game to Howard, 77-63. They are picked to finish fourth this year in the Patriot League. Being a team with postseason experience, American will certainly be ready for the challenge, and Wake will need to play a good game to put them away.
Key for the Deacs: Ball Movement
The Deacs looked to showcase their refreshed offense under new assistant coach Nick Friedman. There has been a lot of talk this offseason about a more fluid offense from Wake, and we have seen this in exhibitions so far. However, this new-look offense has to come to play when the lights turn on.
The Deacs need to move the ball quickly to get up the court in transition and generate open shots. They did this very effectively in their exhibition vs ETSU, generating over 20 non-contested three-point attempts, and Calmese spearheaded the offense with 12 assists.
With the Eagles returning Greg Jones, who is a defensive presence, and another member of their frontcourt in Matt Maylock, the Deacs' offense cannot get stagnant. To get open shots against the Eagles' defense, Wake will need to move the ball to generate open threes and driving lanes. Look for Nate Calmese to be setting up guys like Juke Harris and Mekhi Mason on the perimeter and getting the ball in the paint to Spillers as a lob threat.
Wake was very iso heavy last season, and the offense appeared stagnant the majority of the time. Opening night will be a great opportunity for Wake to showcase their new-look offense by getting everyone involved and generating open shots off good ball movement. Go Deacs!
The season opener will tip at 8 p.m. and be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
Recommended Articles
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.