The end of a six-year run of the Twin City Shootout will come tonight when Winston-Salem State ventures across town to take on Wake Forest.
The fourth regular-season game between the two schools (the first two were exhibitions) will be at 7:30 at Joel Coliseum.
Because the Rams will be Division II again next season, they are not on any future Wake Forest schedules, according to Athletics Director Ron Wellman. Playing WSSU in a regular-season game when it's a Division II school would not help Wake Forest's strength of schedule.
Wellman said that there is a possibility of playing an exhibition game again at some point.
Tonight's game will see the Deacons (3-0) take on the Rams (1-3) as both schools continue to try to round into shape early in the season.
Coach Bobby Collins of the Rams says that playing the Deacons won't be easy. "They have a lot of manpower," he said.
The Rams are a lot deeper than last season's team that went 8-21, and will likely start center Corey Morris (6-10), power forward McIntoche Alcius (6-8) and small forward Shelton Carter (6-5) with shooting guard Brian Fisher (6-2) and either point guard Andrew Jackson (6-2) or freshman Marcus Wells (6-1).
The Deacons received some good news yesterday when Konner Tucker, a sophomore guard who re-injured his right ankle last Wednesday in a win over High Point, returned to practice. Coach Dino Gaudio said whether Tucker plays will depend on how his ankle responds after the day of practice.
Guard Gary Clark, who has missed the first three games while recovering from mononucleosis, was also at practice yesterday, but was not in uniform and did not participate. Basketball trainer Greg Collins said that there's a chance that Clark might return next week.
Gaudio said no consideration has been given as to whether Clark, a junior who averaged 7.2 minutes a game last season, would apply for a hardship waiver to preserve his season of eligibility.
Fisher, the only senior in the starting lineup for the Rams, has played in the previous three games against the Deacons. He had some advice for the eight newcomers to the Rams' roster.
"Really, you don't have any room for error," Fisher said. "You have to rebound, hit your shots and play defense and keep them out of transition because they are a really good basketball team."
Jackson, a junior-college transfer who is from Wilmington, was a high-school teammate of Ty Walker of the Deacons. The two have remained close friends, and Jackson is looking forward to the challenge.
"I'd like to come out with a win, we're not just trying to give them a good game," Jackson said. "We are trying to get a win, too. If we can go out there and give full effort, and box out and do the little things then we'll be all right."
The Rams, who are receiving around $30,000 from Wake Forest, have lost to Oregon (94-43), Colorado State (57-40) and Cal Davis (99-79) but last week beat Division II Atlanta Christian (94-57). They have struggled with their shooting, making 35 percent of their shots and shooting 28 percent on 3-pointers.
Collins says that the Rams must pay special attention to leading scorer Al-Farouq Aminu, who is averaging 23.3 points a game and shooting 69 percent from the field (24 of 35).
"We have to get back in transition and I've watched film on them and they are going to pound the ball on the inside," Collins said. "We have to make those adjustments."
Collins says that they would like to keep Aminu away from the basket.
"We want to make him a jump shooter because when he slashes to the basket he's drawing fouls or he's scoring," Collins said about Aminu, who is 4 of 8 on 3-pointers this season. "He's a pro already and we know that so we'll have to have a team effort to stop him."
jdell@wsjournal.com.
727-4081
Dan Collins contributed to this story.
The Twin City Shootout
Date Winner Score
Nov. 24, 2008 Wake Forest 62-31
Nov. 23, 2007 Wake Forest 73-53
Feb. 7, 2007 Wake Forest 87-71
*Nov. 3, 2005 Wake Forest 88-84
*Nov. 11, 2004 Wake Forest 89-63
*First two games were exhibitions
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