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High-octane Offense: Deacons pull away down stretch for 120-88 victory behind Teague's 31 points
Journal Photo by Bruce Chapman
Jeff Teague of Wake Forest drives to the basket in the first half against Jason Aycock of UNC Wilmington.
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Published: November 20, 2008
Wake Forest shifted into a higher gear than it has had in years last night and pulled away from UNC Wilmington to a 120-88 victory in front of 10,061 at Joel Coliseum.
Jeff Teague scored a career-high 31 points in 24 minutes, James Johnson had 25 points nine rebounds, four assists, three blocks and three steals, and Chas McFarland contributed 19 points and eight rebounds in 22 minutes as the 20th-ranked Deacons set the record for points scored at Joel Coliseum, which opened for the 1989-90 season.
The offensive onslaught, during which the Deacons outscored the Seahawks 76-22 on inside baskets, tied for the third most points ever scored by Wake Forest, and the most since a 120-65 victory over Clemson in 1955.
The Deacons set the school record in a 122-109 victory over Duke in 1975, and also beat SUNY-Buffalo 121-56 in 1983.
"We want to keep pushing the ball," Coach Dino Gaudio said. "We want to do that. We want to push and keep our foot on the accelerator."
UNCW's fate was probably sealed even before Coach Benny Moss decided to play the same up-tempo style that had produced a 108-101 overtime victory over Appalachian State and a 107-95 win against Troy. Even with leading scorer Chad Tomko held to seven points -- 23 below his average -- the Seahawks trailed only 69-60 with 15:44 left.
But starting with a dunk from L.D. Williams that extended the lead to 74-62, the Deacons outscored the Seahawks 20-6 to take put the game away.
Wake Forest's largest lead was 34 at 116-82.
Johnny Wolf, a transfer from Xavier, led the Seahawks with 24 points and Dominique Lacy contributed 20 points and 11 rebounds. UNCW shot 48 percent and made 12 3-pointers on 30 tries, but was outrebounded 52-30 and committed 24 turnovers.
"When you're biggest player is 6-7, 210, we have to play to our strengths," Moss said. "I'd rather do it that way against a team like Wake Forest because at least we have a shooter's chance.
"If we just let them line up 35 seconds every single time, they're just going to pound it down our throat even more."
Freshman Al-Farouq Aminu struggled with his shooting touch early, missing six of his first seven shots from the floor. But he kept playing well enough to finish with 12 rebounds and five assists to go with his 11 points.
"You're not going to make every shot you take so you've got to keep playing and try to fight it through," Aminu said. "I was missing some shots that I usually probably make, but if I let it get to me and let it compound, it's going to do nothing but hurt the team.
"So I just tried to keep rebounding and doing all the other things like passing and stuff like that and just let the game flow."
The Seahawks' best shot at an upset came when Teague picked up his second foul with nine minutes left in half and sat out until the second half began. The Deacons led 36-16 when Teague left the lineup, but UNCW wasn't able to pull any closer than 61-44 by halftime.
Given his 11 field goals on 16 attempts, Teague was asked how well he could have performed if he hadn't experience foul trouble.
"I'm not sure," Teague said. "Maybe I could have had a really good night."
Johnson showed his versatility by playing four different positions, wing guard, wing forward, power forward and center. During one stretch the Deacons deployed a lineup of Teague and Harvey Hale in the backcourt, L.D. Williams and Aminu at forwards and Johnson at center.
During another stretch, while Teague was nursing his two fouls on the bench, Johnson swung to wing guard.
"It's fun when I'm remembering what to do," Johnson said. "Other times it's kind of a frenzy. But I've just got to lock into the mental part of basketball and the physical part will come."
Ish Smith, who was cleared to play Tuesday after recovering from a broken foot, was in uniform last night but didn't play. Gaudio said he hopes to get Smith some minutes in the Deacons' next game against Winston-Salem State on Monday.
"Monday was eight weeks since he had the surgery," Gaudio said. "We'll see. I would love for him to play on Monday night but we will see how he progresses."
■ Dan Collins can be reached at 727-7323 or at dcollins@wsjournal.com.
UNC WILMINGTON -- Downey 1-1 0-0 3, Lacy 8-14 3-7 20, Tomko 3-13 0-0 7, Wolf 7-13 7-8 24, Felder 4-6 0-0 11, Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Jeralds 1-1 0-0 3, Sheets 1-4 0-0 3, Stephenson 3-4 5-7 11, Moore 2-6 1-3 6, Bald 0-0 0-0 0, Aycock 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 30-63 16-25 88.
WAKE FOREST -- Aminu 5-11 1-3 11, Johnson 11-16 2-4 25, McFarland 9-14 1-2 19, Teague 10-17 9-12 31, Williams 4-6 0-0 8, Clark 2-3 0-0 4, Hale 1-7 5-6 8, Lepore 0-0 0-0 0, Walker 0-1 0-0 0, Weaver 1-3 1-2 3, Hoekstra 0-0 0-0 0, Woods 4-5 3-3 11. Totals 47-83 22-32 120.
Halftime--Wake Forest 61-44. 3-Point Goals--UNCW 12-30 (Felder 3-3, Wolf 3-7, Downey 1-1, Jeralds 1-1, Moore 1-2, Sheets 1-4, Lacy 1-5, Tomko 1-7), Wake Forest 4-13 (Teague 2-2, Johnson 1-2, Hale 1-6, Aminu 0-1, Williams 0-2). Fouled Out--None. Rebounds--UNCW 30 (Lacy 11), Wake Forest 52 (Aminu 12). Assists--UNCW 20 (Tomko 7), Wake Forest 19 (Aminu, Hale 5). Total Fouls--UNCW 24, Wake Forest 25. A--10,061.
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