Takeaways from Wake Forest's win over Fairfield
Wake Forest defeated Fairfield 71-59 in the first game of the 2022-2023 season on Monday night. We learned a lot about this year’s team in the season-opener. Here are our takeaways from the 12-point victory:
Steve Forbes subbed like a madman
Forbes said after the Winston-Salem State game that he was looking for some of the reserve players to find separation and earn playing time. That’s still clearly the case, as every scholarship player aside from Robert McCray saw at least a few minutes of action. The bench played a key role in deciding this one, scoring 29 of Wake’s 71 points.
Sophomore Cameron Hildreth added 14 points and three assists off the bench. Swedish newcomer Bobi Klintman also thrived with 11 points and a team-high six rebounds. Even as Forbes begins to solidify a rotation, expect him to continue to go deep into the bench as the season gets into full swing.
READ: Key Stats in Wake Forest's win over Fairfield
Something is up with Damari Monsanto
Outside of Daivien Williamson, Monsanto was the only other returnee to average over 4.0 points per game last season. He showed flashes of elite level scoring in the 17 games he played in after returning from an achilles injury. Everything that came out about his offseason progression was glowing — the junior lost over 20 pounds and almost looks unrecognizable physique-wise. Monsanto stood out in every live period of the practices I went to, hitting shots from all over the court and wreaking havoc on the defense.
But he saw limited playing time in the Winston-Salem State exhibition and only four minutes of action against Fairfield, going 0-2 from the field while pulling down three rebounds. He took a three early in the shot clock from the left wing that almost dropped, and made a really nice behind-the-back dribble move to create a midrange look for himself. Monsanto was one of the first men off the bench, but was subbed out right after committing a foul on a Fairfield three-pointer with a late and careless contest.
“Damari had a great week of practice,” Forbes said after the game. “I was very upbeat about him. He made a couple of defensive mistakes early. I went with the players I thought could win the game. That’s how it’s going to be. But I’m not down on him. The lights come on and we have to play and there’s two sides of the ball. I was going to play him in the second half but Lucas [Taylor] was playing well so we played him. You’ll see plenty of Damari Monsanto.”
It appears that Monsanto’s defensive play is what rendered him a non-factor in this one, but he’s not a liability on that end so it seems a little extreme. If Monsanto doesn’t play closer to 20 or so minutes against Georgia, there might be another layer to this.
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The Deacs went “small” down the stretch
For the last 5:56 of the game, Forbes trotted out a lineup with no true center. Daivien Williamson, Cameron Hildreth, Tyree Appleby, Bobi Klintman and Andrew Carr closed this one out for Wake Forest and looked pretty good doing it, outscoring Fairfield 21-10 during that stretch. I put “small” in quotation marks because both Carr and Klintman are both listed at 6-10 - but the three clear “bigs” on the roster are Zach Keller, Matthew Marsh and Davion Bradford. Klintman and Carr aren’t as built, but they have the size to make this lineup work, and having their skill level at the four and five respectively is closer to a pro-style lineup.
Minutes at the five was one of the decisions from Forbes that I was most looking forward to seeing, so seeing him take out the three traditional bigs was certainly a noteworthy choice from Forbes in crunch time of a relatively close game. Matthew Marsh had the looks of a potential starter this year, but he looked absolutely lost defensively on the handful of possessions he was out there. Bradford did a pretty solid job on Fairfield’s Supreme Cook on the low block, and the experience of starting those 27 games in the Big 12 is evident. He’s got a good looking stroke from the charity stripe too (3/4 on the night).
Keller is clearly the best offensive option between the three and his teammates generated a handful of open three pointers for him off of pick and pop action. He held his own defensively too. Keller’s quick and smooth shot from deep is a new dimension for this team. Dallas Walton and Khadim Sy could definitely knock down the three-ball, but their releases were slower and less fluid. Nobody seems to be a great rebounder who played minutes at the five tonight, which is likely one of the most important traits that Forbes is looking for when divvying up minutes.
Lucas Taylor = Isaiah Mucius?
Mucius was a key player on last year’s team, and he thrived in a role that was different than the one he had his first three years in Winston — he became a 3-and-D guy. 197 out of the 260 (76%) shots he attempted were from behind the three-point line. He attempted 5.8 treys per game, which was a huge jump up from the 2.6 he averaged his first three years in Winston. Point is is that Forbes and the staff molded Mucius into a role where they wanted him to almost exclusively let it fly off the catch and shoot. And with Alondes Wiliams driving and kicking or skipping it over the top to him, he got plenty of great looks. He rarely put the ball on the floor or looked to create his own offense.
That role could now be sophomore guard Lucas Taylor’s to fill. To play good defense, let it rip from deep, and to keep the ball moving and not feel the need to put it on the floor. Mucius played great defense all season too, and Forbes’ referred to Taylor as a “lockdown defender” this summer, so we’ll see if he can carve out a key role as a 3-and-D player. It was surprising to see Taylor start over Hildreth, who was awesome off the bench. Hildreth brings a lot to the table but his three-point shot does not look much improved this offseason. He was 0-2 from deep and one was a bad air ball from the corner. Hildreth is a more complete player but if Taylor can shoot it well, keep it simple offensively, and defend well on the perimeter, he’ll likely hang on to that starting spot.
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