Wake Forest will try to pick up where it left off before Christmas when it plays Radford at 7 p.m. today at Joel Coliseum.
Last seen, No. 6 Wake Forest was a blur as it streaked past East Carolina 95-54 in Greenville on Dec. 22. After shooting 56 percent from the floor, dishing out 28 assists and holding the Pirates to four second-half field goals on 30 attempts, the Deacons took four days off for Christmas before reassembling Saturday.
"I wish we had played quickly thereafter," Coach Dino Gaudio said. "But that's the way it is."
What really pleased Gaudio about the performance were the assists, the most ever by Wake Forest on an opponent's home court and just two shy of the school record set against Davidson in 1978. The unselfishness, plus the ability to play the second half without a turnover, allowed the Deacons to outscore the Pirates 50-9 during one stretch and 54-17 in the second half.
"As soon as we came back we showed them every one of those 28 assists," Gaudio said. "It's like we said -- and I keep revisiting this -- the big three (keys) for this season we told our kids is no distractions, leadership and chemistry.
"And whenever we can reinforce one of those things, that was a big one for chemistry. I said ‘You guys really shared the ball with one another.' "
The difference that junior Ish Smith can make was apparent against the Pirates. In easily his best game since returning from a broken foot, Smith had nine assists and two turnovers in 25 minutes, made 4 of 7 shots from the floor and scored 11 points.
His steady hand at point guard, especially in the second half, allowed Jeff Teague to rotate to wing guard and become an even more dangerous offensive threat. Although Gaudio has shown no inclination of changing his starting lineup, he did reward Smith for his play at East Carolina.
"The last two days we've sort of dove-tailed him in a little bit more with Jeff in that first group," Gaudio said. "As a matter of fact (Sunday) in practice, we had six guys with gold shirts, and he was one of the six.
"I like to mix it up, but I wanted those two guys to play a little bit together."
Radford, out of the Big South Conference, is coached by Brad Greenberg, the brother of Coach Seth Greenberg of Virginia Tech.
Junior guard Amir Johnson leads the Highlanders (4-8) with 32.5 minutes a game and 68 assists, and senior guard Martell McDuffy averages 12 points and shoots 37 percent from 3-point range.
But Radford's strength is the inside duo of juniors Artsiom Parakhouski and Joey Lynch-Flohr. Parakhouski, a 6-11 center from Minsk, Belarus, who transferred from the College of Southern Idaho, is averaging team highs of 14.4 points and 9.4 rebounds. Lynch-Flohr, a 6-8 center-forward from Fairfax, Va., is averaging 12.6 points and 4.8 rebounds.
"These guys have really good inside players, Parakhouski and Lynch-Flohr," Gaudio said. "I think our big guys will be challenged more inside than they've been thus far this season.
"Parakhouski had 20 rebounds against Duquesne, 13 of them on offense. He's the leading rebounder in their league."
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