Oklahoma Races Past Wake Forest in the ACC/SEC Challenge

The Deacs fall to the Sooners as the game got out of hand in the second half

Wake Forest guard Mekhi Mason against Oklahoma | Evan Harris/Wake Forest on SI

Well, that was not pretty. Wake Forest falls to Oklahoma in a game that was the first non-conference home loss in the Steve Forbes era. The Sooners outscored the Deacs 49-33 in the second half to push their way in front in a big way. Let's go through how it happened:

1st Half Highlights

Both teams got off to a slow start offensively. The Deacs got going thanks to threes from Juke Harris and Omaha Biliew. The Sooners were able to match and make it a very tight first half. Both teams were very inaccurate from the field. The Sooners shot 35.7% and Wake shot 34.6% from the floor in the opening frame. It was a tightly called first half, as both teams committed 12 fouls.

The Deacs seemed to fall in love with the three at times, as Oklahoma was playing tight defense. They only shot 31.3% from three in the opening frame and were saved by the fact that Oklahoma shot 21.4% from three. Turnovers were a key part of the equation. The Deacs forced eight turnovers, but committed seven of their own.

Juke Harris and Nate Calmese led the way when it came to scoring. Juke had 12, and Calmese had 9 in the opening frame, including a nice three to take the team into the locker room. Oklahoma got 9 from big man Derrion Reid and 7 from Xzayvier Brown. When it was all said and done, the Deacs trailed by two points going into the break thanks to a Sooner push in the final minutes of the first half.

2nd Half Highlights

The Sooners got off to a fast start in the second half, scoring on their opening four possessions. The Deacs countered with some offense of their own. There was some obvious discomfort from the fans throughout the second half with the officiating crew. Wake was hit with some ticky-tack fouls and was not exactly getting the benefit of the doubt on the offensive end.

The Sooners were able to stretch a lead to 10 at the nine-minute mark. They continued to grow it thanks to Tae Davis getting into the paint. The Deacs could not get shots to fall and were getting outrebounded by the Sooners. Around four minutes, the Sooners grew their lead to 18 points, and the Deacs could not keep up.

Oklahoma bigs Tae Davis and Derrion Reid killed the Deacs. Davis finished with 18 and Reid with 16. Nijel Pack also chipped in with 13, including three 3-point field goals. The offense came alive in the second half for the Sooners as they shot 62% from the field in the second half, including 45.5% from three.

On the Wake side, Juke led the way with 22 points. The only other player in double figures was Nate Calmese with 13. Wake only shot 27% from three. Overall, it was just a very poor night offensively, especially from guys the Deacs count on like Tre Spillers, Mekhi Mason, and Myles Colvin. Oklahoma out-rebounded the Deacs 42-24, which certainly played to their advantage.

There is no way to sugarcoat it; the Deacs had a really rough night at a really bad time. They will be back in action Saturday against West Virginia in Charleston.