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Deacons will try to use size, speed against Vikings
Wake Forest playing in first NCAA Tournament game since 2005
Journal Photo by Bruce Chapman
Guard Ish Smith of Wake Forest heads downcourt with the ball during practice in Miami yesterday.
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2009 NCAA TOURNAMENT
Published: March 20, 2009
MIAMI
On their best days, when they're ripping and running, lobbing and dunking, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons are as pretty a college-basketball team as you'll ever find.
But can they grind?
Therein may lay the answer to whether the fourth-seed Deacons (24-6) will have their way tonight against 13th-seed Cleveland State (25-10) in the first round of the Midwest Regional at American Airlines Arena.
They're 17-1 this season when they've scored 80 points or more, and Coach Gary Waters of Cleveland State said yesterday that the Vikings' whole game plan is built around making sure they don't score 80.
"As a mid-level team, if you don't control the tempo and you let the high-major team play their tempo, the game's over," Waters said. "This team wants to score 81 points a game, and they want to get out and have a highlight reel.
"So we've got to shut some of that stuff down."
The setting will likely favor the Vikings, who knocked off Butler on the Bulldogs' home court of Hinkle Fieldhouse to win the Horizon League championship. Points are hard to come by under the bright lights of the NCAA Tournament, and often harder still for a team not used to the surroundings.
Wake Forest made its last NCAA Tournament appearance in 2005, before anybody on the current roster arrived.
"Obviously the NCAA Tournament is the biggest stage besides the NBA Finals, ever," junior Ish Smith said. "So it could be a little bit of pressure.
"But Coach (Dino) Gaudio does a good job of lightening the pressure off us. It's knowing it's just a game. We've played it since we were little and (we've got to) go out there and play the game as if it was Dec. 30 instead of March.
"You've got to go out there with no pressure and play the game with no conscience and hope for the best."
The Deacons, with Jeff Teague averaging 19.1 points, James Johnson averaging 14.8 points and 8.5 rebounds and Al-Farouq Aminu averaging 12.8 points and 8.2 rebounds, score 81.4 points a game. The Vikings, who get 15.3 points and seven rebounds a game from J'Nathan Bullock, 12.9 points a game from Norris Cole and 10.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.4 assists a game from Cedric Jackson, score 66.1.
Gaudio has warned his players what to expect early tonight, when the arena remains as unfamiliar as the opponent.
"Coach has explained that to us," L.D. Williams said. "After the first TV timeout it might be 10-6, or 10-8. We know how it's going to be. It's just about being able to get through that part of the game, get through that stretch when we might not score like we normally do.
"This is the NCAA Tournament and we know teams really play defense -- especially Cleveland State, which has been one of the better defensive teams in the country. So it's just about how we execute in the half-court because we know a lot of times we might not be able to get out and run."
Wake Forest's half-court offense has been an enigma this season. The Deacons have played it well at times, beating Duke 70-68, Virginia 70-60, and Maryland 65-63. But they appeared lost in the last game they played, losing to Maryland 75-64 in the ACC Tournament while missing 52 of 74 attempts from the floor.
The Terps packed the lane and dared the Deacons to shoot from outside. The Deacons obliged by taking 25 3-point attempts, of which they made just three.
"We know we're not a great 3-point shooting team," Smith said. "As a team we have to know that's not our strength. Coach said it earlier, `10 to 12 threes, that's a good sizable amount for us. It doesn't have to be any more."
The Deacons would rather not have to rely on their half-court offense. They're 7-5 this season when scoring fewer than 80 points.
"I think that's going to be the difference between being good and being great," senior Harvey Hale said. "I remember a time when that's the only thing we could do, was execute offense, because we really didn't have talented guys. Now we really have talented guys.
"If we run the offense we'll be really good. And if we can run and execute we'll be really dangerous."
The Deacons have what could be a decisive size advantage inside, that is if they're able to take advantage of it. They start a front line of 7-0 Chas McFarland, 6-9 Johnson and 6-9 Aminu and bring 6-11 Tony Woods and 6-11 David Weaver off the bench. The Vikings start three guards, with 6-5 Bullock at power forward and 6-9 Chris Moore at center.
"We have to try to take advantage of our size by throwing the basketball inside a little bit," Gaudio said. "(Cleveland State), in the past, has doubled the post. We've seen that. We've worked against that.
"But we've also got to get second and third opportunities when we miss shots. And that's been good to us this year."
In their dreams, the Deacons will fly up and down the court tonight, score points in flurries and win going away. But Waters said yesterday that the longer the Vikings can stymie Wake Forest and keep the game close, the better shot his team will have at pulling off the upset.
"That's because they're expected to win," Waters said. "They're expected to do what they're supposed to do. And when a team that's close, now a little pressure grows and people think there's a possibility.
"Then, in essence, the crowd swings over, and that's where the problem comes. Now everybody is rooting against you."
■ Dan Collins can be reached at 727-7323 or at dcollins@wsjournal.com.
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