Teague is hopeful of regaining his form

Through Wake Forest's 16-game winning streak at the beginning of the season, guard Jeff Teague was hands down the best guard in the ACC.

Tonight at Miami, he might not be the best guard on the court.

The Hurricanes have lost three games in a row -- two in overtime -- despite the exploits of Jack McClinton, a 6-1 senior averaging 18.4 points game. McClinton, who last season was the first Miami player named first-team all-ACC, leads the conference with 2.9 3-pointers a game and a 3-point percentage of .445.

He has led the Hurricanes in scoring in five of the past six games, averaging 22 points a game during that stretch.

Even so, Miami is attempting to pull out of a three-game nosedive. The Hurricanes lost at home to Virginia Tech 88-83 in overtime, at N.C. State 84-81 in overtime and at Maryland 73-68 on Saturday.

Their next three games are against No. 7 Wake Forest at 7:30 tonight, at No. 4 Duke on Saturday and at home against No. 3 North Carolina on Feb. 15.

Wake Forest is 17-2 and 4-2 in ACC play. Miami is 14-7 and 3-5.

"One thing we've got to look at is it's a great opportunity," Coach Frank Haith of Miami said. "This league is a great basketball league. We saw Georgia Tech beat Wake the other day and they hadn't won a game in this league. That tells you how competitive this league is.

"We've just got to kind of put those games behind us. You can't get too high and you can't get too low. I think for us right now we can't get too down. We can't panic."

The Deacons will also have to pick themselves up after stumbling at last-place Georgia Tech for their second loss in three games. Wake Forest's defense slipped in both losses, and Teague wasn't the dominant player he was earlier.

Teague scored 23 against Virginia Tech, but managed one basket, a 3-pointer, in the Deacons' final 11 possessions of a 78-71 loss. He has since scored 11 against Duke and 16 against Georgia Tech, while making 10 of 28 field-goal attempts.

Opponents are clearly paying more attention to Teague. Duke used David McClure, a 6-6, 200-pound senior, on him much of the game and among the cast assigned to Teague at Georgia Tech was Nick Foreman, a physical 6-3, 197-pound walk-on freshman who picked up four fouls in seven minutes.

Despite the special focus on Teague, he has shot five free throws in the past three games after averaging almost 14 during the previous four games.

"The last couple of games everybody is denying the ball from me when I give it up," Teague said after the loss at Georgia Tech. "I've just got to get used to it and keep playing and just keep working harder to get the ball."

Coach Dino Gaudio denied that Teague is frustrated, instead calling him resolved to regain his edge. Teague spent Sunday's off day from any required activity watching the tapes from the loss at Georgia Tech, and concluded he and Ish Smith needed to regain the synergy they played with last season.

Smith broke his foot in the preseason, missed the first two games and has yet to start this season. But he has seen his role expanded, and has averaged 23 minutes during the last three games.

"The one thing he suggested -- and it was good, I liked what he said -- was that, ‘Ish and I need to practice more together.' " Gaudio said. "He meant it in a good way. He said, ‘Now all of a sudden we're out there together and we don't have the same feeling with one another that we did last year.' "

"And that was his suggestion, and that's what we're doing a little more of."

Gaudio said the Deacons would be foolish to pay too much attention to McClinton at the risk of allowing Dwayne Collins of Miami to dominate inside. Collins is a 6-8, 238-pound junior averaging 12.2 points and 7.6 rebounds while shooting 62 percent .

"They're the number one team in the league in rebounding differential," Gaudio said. "We've got to rebound. You've got to guard their 3-point shooting. They're a terrific 3-point shooting team.

"And the kid Collins inside is as good a post player as there is in the country. I really believe that."

■ Dan Collins can be reached at 727-7323 or at dcollins@wsjournal.com.

Game day

Wake Forest at Miami

• Site, time: BankUnited Center; 7:30

• TV/radio: ESPN2 Ch. 32; WBRF 98.1; WZTK 101.1

• Of note: The Deacons will try to rebound from their loss to Georgia Tech against the top-ranked rebounding team in the ACC. The Hurricanes, coached by Frank Haith, a former Wake Forest assistant, lead the conference with a rebounding differential of plus-8.3 per game. Wake Forest ranks fourth with a differential of plus-6.1. The Deacons, who lead the conference in field-goal percentage (.497) and field-goal percentage defense (.368), will be looking for more production from center Chas McFarland, who because of foul trouble has averaged only 16 minutes over the past three games. Wake Forest has lost two of the three to Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech after winning its first 16 games of the season. Miami is in a precarious situation, having lost three straight (to Virginia Tech, N.C. State and Maryland) with Wake Forest, Duke and North Carolina up next on its schedule. The game will feature two of the best players in the ACC in Jeff Teague of Wake Forest and Jack McClinton of the Hurricanes. Teague ranks second in the ACC with 20.6 points a game, McClinton fifth with 18.4.

Duke at Clemson

• Site, time: Littlejohn Coliseum, Clemson, S.C.; 9 p.m.

• TV/radio: ESPN Ch. 33; WIST 98.3

• Of note: No. 4 Duke (19-2, 6-1 ACC) leads the ACC but opens a difficult stretch tonight, with four of the next six on the road. The Blue Devils bounced back from their loss at Wake Forest by routing Virginia 79-54 on Sunday. Kyle Singler leads Duke in scoring (16.2 ppg) but had a season-low five points against Virginia. Gerald Henderson (15 ppg) scored 18 against the Cavs. No. 10 Clemson (18-2, 4-2 ACC) rallied from a 15-point deficit in the second half to win at Virginia Tech 86-82 last week. K.C. Rivers scored 29 and hit seven 3s, and Trevor Booker added 21 points and 13 rebounds and leads the Tigers in both categories (14.8 ppg, 9.1 rpg). Duke has won 20 straight against Clemson in the regular season, but Clemson won the last meeting, 78-74 in last season's ACC Tournament semifinals.