Wake Forest Basketball Looks to March on Against Morehead State

The Deacs will face another home test before the awaited challenge against Michigan next week.

Myles Colvin throwing down alley-op for Wake Forest in game against American | Wake Forest Athletics

The Deacs will be in action again Friday night at the Joel as they take on the Morehead State Eagles of the Ohio Valley Conference. This is the first meeting between the two teams, and both teams will come into the matchup with a 1-0 record. Let's look at the matchup and keys to the game for the Demon Deacons.

Opponent Preview

Bearcats Arrinten Page (22) waits to leap with the ball during their game against the Morehead State Eagles at Fifth Third Arena on Friday November 8, 2024. Bearcats lead the game at halftime with a score of 37-19. | Phil Didion/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Coming into the new season, the Eagles were picked to finish in the middle of the pack of the Ohio Valley Conference at fifth place. Over the past few years, Morehead State has been very good, posting a 64% win rate since 2020-21, which ranks among the best in the conference during that stretch. The Eagles won their first matchup of the season against NAIA opponent Midway. They were almost upset in this game, winning by just six points.

As for players to watch, two newcomers for the Eagles were featured on the conference Preseason Players to Watch List: Devon Cunningham and Chase Dawson. Both of these guys are transfer guards who had standout seasons last year at their previous programs. In their first game, Jon Caroll, a 6'7 junior forward, led the Eagles in scoring with 20. Keep an eye out for him to see how he responds after this good performance.

Key for the Deacs: Defensive Rotation

Mar 13, 2025; Charlotte, NC, USA; Wake Forest Demon Deacons head coach Steve Forbes argues with the official in the second half at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

For our first game preview, we talked about how the Deacs' offense needed to be more solid than a season ago. Well, we definitely saw that on Opening Night. There are some areas however, defensively, that the Deacs could clean up in game two.

Against American, Wake showed a very aggressive defensive style. They would look to trap the man with the ball and force turnovers. The strategy did successfully force turnovers; the Deacs had a total of 16 steals. However, defensive lapses at times gave American some easy shots at the rim they were able to convert on.

Looking back at the game film, when Wake was trapping the ball, the defenders on the back end seemed a little slow to shift. This led to American being able to find some open men for easy shots out of double teams. In this game, look for the Deacs to be a little tighter defensively and rotating with the trap to prevent defensive lapses.

After seeing the Deacs' aggressive defense on film, Morehead State will likely look to counteract it with fast ball movement to find open shooters. I do really like the Wake's new defensive style and think it will give them a huge advantage; they just need to be a little more active on defense and moving with the ball to prevent giving their opponent easy openings. After game one, I am expecting Wake to make the necessary adjustments and come out ready to put on a good showing in game two. Go Deacs!