Wake Forest's double-barrel shotgun start to the basketball season will continue with today's game against East Carolina at the Greensboro Coliseum, the site of this season's ACC Tournament.
Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Both teams opened their seasons with victories Friday night, when the Deacons thumped Oral Roberts 76-56 and the Pirates rolled past Virginia-Wise 77-60.
Wake Forest, playing its first game since the departure of James Johnson and Jeff Teague to the NBA, got 25 points and 13 rebounds from sophomore Al-Farouq Amini as well as impressive debuts from freshmen Ari Stewart and C.J. Harris.
Stewart, a 6-7 forward from Marietta, Ga., scored 11 points, and Harris, a 6-2 guard from Winston-Salem, contributed eight points, four assists and strong defense on the perimeter.
The Deacons dominated Oral Roberts 51-25 on the backboards by virtue of 20 offensive rebounds, and held the Golden Eagles to 39-percent accuracy from the field.
"I thought we did some really good things," Coach Dino Gaudio said. "We rebounded the ball really well, and I thought we guarded for the most part, in the first half, very, very well.
"It was a good win for us. I told the kids we'd look back on this and this would be a very, very good RPI win."
The Deacons, after missing their first nine 3-point attempts, hit five of their last eight and put the game away. Aminu hit three of five 3-point attempts, and Stewart made two of five.
"I think they're going to cause a lot of people problems," said Coach Scott Sutton of Oral Roberts. "If they can get guys like Stewart and Aminu that can knock down shots, they'll be very good."
The Pirates did most of their damage against Virginia-Wise inside, outscoring the Cavaliers 52-18 in the lane. Chad Wynn led East Carolina with 16 points and 10 rebounds, with 12 of his points coming in the second half.
Darrius Morrow scored 14, and Brock Young and DaQuan Joyner scored 12 each.
Wake Forest's Gary Clark, a junior guard who averaged 2.5 points a game last season, will miss his second straight game with mononucleosis.
Wake Forest routed ECU 95-54 last season in Greenville, extending its all-time record against the Pirates to 6-0.
dcollins@wsjournal.com | 727-7323
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