Wake Forest Basketball Welcomes Campbell Coming Off of Bahamas Trip
In this story:
The Deacs will be back at the Joel tonight at 7 pm against the Campbell Camels from the Coastal Athletic Association. The game will be streamed on ACC Network Extra. The Deacs are coming off a trip to the Bahamas, where they lost narrowly to Texas Tech and beat Memphis thanks to a Myles Colvin three at the buzzer.
Tonight, Wake will have to refocus after the thrilling victory and play a solid opponent. This will be the first real challenge for this team coming off of success, so it will be interesting to see how they deal with it and if they will rise to the occasion. Let's go through everything you need to know for the game.
Opponent Preview
The Campbell Camels are 3-3 so far this season. Two of these losses are to Power Five teams in West Virginia and Wisconsin. The Camels had West Virginia on the ropes when they played in Morgantown, falling by just eight points. The Camels are rated 195 at KenPom, which is higher than any of the other home matchups the Deacs have faced to this point. This is certainly a game Wake Forest should win, but the Camels are a well-built team that must be respected.
The Camels are really good at getting to the free-throw line. 30.3% of their points come from the free throw line, which is good enough for third best in the nation. The Deacs will need to play good defense without fouling to limit this. The Camels are led by speedy 5'11 guard DJ Smith. So far this season, Smith is averaging 22 points per game, which is 17th best in the nation. He is the engine behind this Campbell attack that will need to be limited. Sophomore big man Dovydas Butka is averaging 15.3 points per game, so he is a weapon for the Camel attack as well.
Key for the Deacs: Stay Hungry
As mentioned earlier, this is the first time we will see this team coming off a big win. Myles Colvin's miracle shot was all over social media and was a thrilling moment for the team. Now the Deacs will have to refocus and continue to do what has made them great all season: move the ball and generate turnovers.
The Deacs have forced turnovers on 21.7% of opponents' possessions so far this season. This is a huge advantage that allows Wake to get out and run in transition to score easy baskets. The offense has been significantly improved this season in part because of the pesky defense. The Deacs will need to bring this same defensive intensity to tonight's game. Staying hungry and playing with the same intensity they have all season will go a long way to the Deacs continuing to grow as a team.
Recommneded 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.