Series History: Wake Forest Basketball vs LSU
Many Wake Forest fans will remember the team’s game last year against LSU — the two squads faced off in the championship of the Emerald Coast Classic in Destin, Fl.
But, this was not the first meeting between the Demon Deacons and the Tigers. Before Saturday’s upcoming matchup in Atlanta, the two squads have played four times, splitting the series 2-2
Read below for a breakdown of the games between these ACC and SEC foes.
1981-82
Coming off a second-round exit in the NCAA Tournament the previous season, Wake Forest faced off with LSU in a neutral site game in late December.
Leading into the game, the Deacs were 5-1 and unranked with wins over Marquette and Davidson, but an ugly season-opening loss to Richmond. The Tigers, on the other hand, were also unranked at 2-3, with their only victories coming against St. Peters and UTEP.
Led by future NBA first-round pick Howard Carter, the Tigers slugged out a 70-64 win over Wake Forest, a team that also starred two seniors who would go on to play in the pros — Jim Johnstone and Guy Morgan.
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The Deacons would go on to finish 21-9, third in the ACC and No. 18 in the nation. Wake Forest, for the second-straight year, bowed out of the NCAA Tournament in the second round with a 56-55 heartbreaker to 2-seed Memphis. LSU ended the season 14-14, fifth in the SEC, and would lose in the first round of the NIT to Tulane.
2015-16
Wake Forest and LSU would not play each other again for 34 years and a day, when they returned to the court in Baton Rouge for a renewal of the late December matchup from the 80s.
The unranked Deacs traveled to Louisiana with an 8-3 record and coming off an eight-point loss to No. 6 Xavier. Earlier in the season, they had beaten the likes of Rutgers, Arkansas and No. 13 Indiana. LSU, at 7-4, had no marquee wins, with losses to College of Charleston, NC State, Marquette and Houston.
Behind a 19-point effort from freshman guard Brandon Crawford, Wake Forest went on to win 77-71. After only playing five minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, forward Devin Thomas scored 14 of his 16 points in the second, while fellow senior Codi Miller-McIntyre led the team with a career-high 12 rebounds.
An early 14-5 run in the first half allowed the Deacs to enter the locker room with a five-point edge, but LSU scored six-straight points out of the half to take the lead. Behind a double-double performance by future NBA player Ben Simmons, the Tigers went on to lead by as much as five, but the Deacs battled back.
With 3:29 remaining and trailing by three, sophomore forward Konstantinos Mitoglou hit a three to put the Deacs ahead for good.
The win, the final in out-of-conference play, proved to be a bright spot on an otherwise disappointing season for Danny Manning’s Deacs. Wake Forest would finish the season 11-20 and 14th in the ACC with a 2-16 record. LSU ended their campaign 19-14 and third in the SEC.
2016-2017
A year later, the teams faced off, this time in Winston-Salem. Wake Forest entered the game again at 8-3, dropping ranked matchups to No. 3 Villanova and No. 18 Xavier. LSU, at 8-2, had wins over Houston and College of Charleston.
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Unlike the previous year’s close game, the Deacons throttled LSU in the Joel, 110-76. Mitoglou played a key role once more for Wake Forest, knocking down 10 of his 14 shots from the field, 8 of 11 from behind the arc, on the way to a career-high 28 points.
Crawford, who scored 19 points in the matchup in 2015, recording his first career double-double with 20 points and 11 assists.
Despite beginning the game on a 10-run, the Deacs entered halftime with a slim 43-38 lead. But, out of the locker room, Wake Forest ran away fast. After starting the second half with nine-straight points, the Deacs shot 73.5% from the field, including 78.6 from deep.
Six Demon Deacons scored more than 10 points in the win — along with Mitoglou and Crawford, Austin Arians (15), future NBA star John Collins (15), Keyshawn Woods (14) and Mitchell Wilbekin (10) joined in on the scoring bonanza.
In a slight turnaround from a shocking ACC record in 2015, Manning and the Deacs finished the season 19-14 and 10th in the ACC. The team also made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2009-10 season, falling to Kansas State in the First Four. LSU ended the year with a 10-21 record.
2021-22
For the first time in five years, the Deacs and Tigers met again in the championship of the Emerald Classic in Florida. In their second year under head coach Steve Forbes, Wake Forest entered the game at 6-0 with prolific play coming from several key transfers like Alondes Willliams and Jake LaRavia. LSU was also 6-0 with a key win over Penn State.
Despite 20 points from guard Daivien Williamson, including 14-straight over a five-minute span, the Deacs dropped their first game of the season 75-61 to the Tigers. LaRavia (15) and Williams (14) also finished with over 10 points.
After trailing 6-1 early in the first half, Wake Forest embarked on a 10-0 run to take a five-point lead. But LSU did not back down, striking back with 15-straight of their own. After an 8-0 stretch for the Deacs near the end of the half, the Tigers scored 10 of the final 12 points of the half to enter the locker rooms leading by 10. Wake Forest only shot 25% from the field in the half.
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Despite momentarily narrowing the deficit to within single-digits, LSU continued to build their lead in the second half, with Efton Reid hitting seven of his nine shots.
After the Tigers built their largest lead of the night, 19, Wake Forest fought back one final time with a 9-2 run to cut the deficit down to 12. But, with only four minutes remaining in regulation, LSU rode the clock down to a comfortable victory.
In their best season in years, and most total wins since 2002-03, Wake Forest stunned the ACC by finishing 13-7 and fifth in conference play. Despite being left out of the NCAA Tournament, by perhaps just a game, Williams and Forbes won ACC Player and Coach of the Year respectively. LSU ended the season with a 22-12 record and lost to Iowa State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
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