Despite missing a game as a sophomore in 2008 with a broken hand, senior L.D. Williams of Wake Forest has played 138 minutes over five games against N.C. State in his career.
So at least he knows what to expect when the Deacons play the Wolfpack in the ACC opener for both tonight at 7:45 at Joel Coliseum.
"I mean, us and N.C. State, we duke it out every year," Williams said. "It's like a big title fight between the two teams.
"I know they're going to come tough, ready to play us, and we've got to do the same thing."
More will be known about both teams after tonight's 229th game between the two former Wake County neighbors, before Wake Forest moved to its current campus in 1956. Both survived the preliminary part of the schedule relatively unscathed.
N.C. State is 8-1 after bouncing back from a 65-53 home loss Northwestern to win at Marquette 77-73. Wake Forest is 7-2 after rebounding from back-to-back losses to William & Mary and Purdue to reel off a three-game winning streak against Gonzaga, Elon and UNC Wilmington.
"I think we're playing pretty well," Coach Dino Gaudio of Wake Forest said. "Our defense is good.
"We have to do a little better job of executing in the half court and I want to see us continue to do a little better job on the backboard as well."
The Deacons, on Dec. 13, rolled to a 90-50 victory over Elon, which turned around four days later to give N.C. State all it could handle before succumbing 79-76. But the Wolfpack could point to mitigating factors.
Junior guard Javier Gonzalez, one of the most dramatically improved players in the ACC, injured his hamstring on Dec. 5 at Marquette, missed a game against Georgia Southern and then returned to play just 20 minutes against the Phoenix. Gonzalez was mediocre at best last year when he struggled through injuries to average 6.6 points and 3.3 assists a game. He began this season on fire and comes into tonight's game averaging 10 points, 6.4 assists and 4.1 rebounds.
"You know what, a couple of years we played Gonzalez like we played (Demetri) Goodson from Gonzaga," Gaudio said. "In other words, we almost never guarded him. We let that (defender) go in the lane.
"And I was pulling up the stats and he's 34 (percent) right now on 3-pointers. And I pulled up stats from last year he was 43 percent. So he is really shooting the basketball. We've got to be well aware of that. He can make threes."
Tracy Smith, a physical 6-8 junior, leads the Wolfpack with 18.3 points and 9.4 rebounds a game and senior Dennis Horner is averaging 15 points and 5.1 rebounds -- which gives N.C. State a strong offensive presence in the post. The Deacons, on the other hand, are struggling for inside production from anyone other than 6-9 sophomore Al-Farouq Aminu, who bounced back from a mini-slump to make seven of 12 shots against UNCW for 17 points to go with 13 rebounds.
Meanwhile, the Deacons' other four post players -- 7-0 Chas McFarland, 6-11 Tony Woods, 6-11 David Weaver and 7-0 Ty Walker -- combined for five points in 50 total minutes against the Seahawks. They were a combined two of seven from the floor.
"It's a big challenge for our big guys, trying to guard Smith inside and conversely scoring the ball inside," Gaudio said. "We just need our big guys to be more aggressive and assert themselves inside - to start taking the ball to the basket more and maybe putting some foul pressure on the other team's post guys."
dcollins@wsjournal.com
727-7323
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement