Deacons win big

GREENSBORO

Wake Forest needed far less than its Sunday best to blow East Carolina out 89-58 yesterday in front of 5,416 at Greensboro Coliseum.

Al-Farouq Aminu ruled the lane, scoring 23 points to go with nine rebounds. Ish Smith contributed 14 points, six rebounds and four assists, and Tony Woods tied his career high with 12 points as the Deacons shot 54 percent from the floor and held the Pirates to 25 percent.

But the Deacons also committed 26 fouls that resulted in the Pirates shooting 40 free throws. And they were outrebounded 43-41 while allowing East Carolina to hustle for 25 offensive rebounds. And if it wasn't so early in the season, other sources of concern might be the Deacons' 15 turnovers and 10 missed free throws.

"We've got to be thankful and blessed for the way we did play, but we've still got to continue to work and push to get to the elite level," Smith said. "As well as we played, we've still got a long ways to go defensively. We didn't shoot free throws well or shoot the ball well.... We still can clean all that up, and we will. We've just got to keep working."

Coach Dino Gaudio said he saw what he most wanted to see, a team that held the Pirates of Conference USA to 14 field goals on 57 attempts and played hard throughout.

"If we're guarding, and we're playing hard, all those other things will get better for us," Gaudio said. "I really believe that.

"And so far we've really done that."

Brock Young, a nephew of Danny Young, a former WFU standout, led ECU with 17 points.

Wake Forest capitalized on a technical foul called against Coach Mack McCarthy of the Pirates to score the first two points of the second half for a 20-point lead. ECU could pull no closer and the lead swelled to 87-51 on a dunk by freshman Ari Stewart with 3½ minutes remaining.

Official Mike Stuart assessed the technical on McCarthy as McCarthy was leaving the court at halftime, and freshman C.J. Harris made both free throws for the Deacons.

Woods, who did not score in the opener, played particularly well in the first half on his way to eight points and five rebounds in the first 20 minute. He finished with four field goals on eight attempts, six rebounds and two blocks.

"It was a big step up from the first game," Woods said. "The defense was different. In the first game there were maybe two or three people around me and in this game it wasn't so much like that. I had more of a chance to go one-on-one."

Sophomore transfer Konner Tucker, recruited for his outside touch, hit two 3-pointers on two attempts, but otherwise the Deacons made two of 10 from beyond the 3-point arc. They compensated by outscoring East Carolina 58-20 in the lane and 20-0 on fast-break baskets.

Smith scored four of the fast-break points on the first two dunks of his career. But he also missed four of six free throws after missing both attempts on Friday.

Smith shot 29 percent from the line as a sophomore before improving to 79 percent as a junior.

"One thing I've learned is that during my freshman year and sophomore year ,I really let it get to me," Smith said. "I think a sign of weakness is when you miss one and you can't get back.

"I missed a couple today, and it's something to work on, but each shot is different and you can't let the last shot affect your next shot. It's not a big deal."

dcollins@wsjournal.com.



727-7323

WFU Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF PT

Aminu 26 8-12 6-8 6-9 2 3 23

Woods 24 4-8 4-6 2-6 1 2 12

McFarland 24 2-5 0-0 0-4 2 3 4

Smith 27 6-13 2-6 0-6 4 2 14

Williams 24 2-3 0-0 1-4 2 4 4

Harris 21 1-3 4-4 0-0 1 3 6

Stewart 20 4-6 0-0 1-2 0 4 9

Tucker 9 2-3 1-2 0-1 0 0 7

Walker 11 3-6 0-0 2-4 0 1 6

Godwin 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Weaver 11 2-4 0-1 2-2 0 4 4

Totals 200 34-63 17-27 16-41 12 26 89

Percentages: FG .540, FT .630. 3-Point Goals: 4-12, .333 (Tucker 2-2, Aminu 1-2, Stewart 1-2, Williams 0-1, Harris 0-2, Smith 0-3). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 6 (McFarland 2, Woods 2, Walker 2). Turnovers: 15 (Stewart 4, McFarland 3, Aminu 3, Woods 2, Smith, Harris, Williams). Steals: 11 (Williams 3, Aminu 3, Smith 3, Stewart, McFarland).

ECU Min FG-A FT-A O-T A PF PT

Morrow 31 2-8 8-12 5-9 0 2 12

Abrams 24 0-9 0-0 4-7 1 3 0

Wynn 30 4-6 3-4 3-6 0 4 11

Young 25 5-13 5-6 0-1 0 0 17

Sherrod 27 0-5 5-8 3-3 2 3 5

Sargent 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Gaines 10 0-0 1-2 1-2 0 1 1

Turner 16 0-6 0-0 2-3 1 2 0

Straughn 22 3-5 2-2 4-8 0 1 9

Joyner 14 0-4 3-6 1-2 0 2 3

Totals 200 14-57 27-40 25-43 4 18 58

Percentages: FG .246, FT .675. 3-Point Goals: 3-22, .136 (Young 2-6, Straughn 1-2, Sargent 0-1, Turner 0-3, Sherrod 0-4, Abrams 0-6). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 3 (Wynn, Joyner, Abrams). Turnovers: 22 (Wynn 5, Sherrod 5, Abrams 4, Young 3, Morrow 3, Joyner, Straughn). Steals: 8 (Sherrod 3, Straughn, Turner, Gaines, Young, Morrow). Technical Fouls: Bench.

Wake Forest 46 43 -- 89


East Carolina 28 30 -- 58

A--5,416.