Deacs get a second chance

Wake Forest home to Miami after losing to Hurricanes last month

By: By Dan Collins | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: February 02, 2010

When Coach Dino Gaudio of Wake Forest attempted to play man-to-man defense last month at Miami, he found his team lacked an obvious essential.

There was only one man playing the vital center position in that game, and he wasn't playing for the Deacons.

"Dwayne Collins really, really hurt us." Gaudio said of Wake Forest's 67-66 loss on Jan. 9. "He played really, really well.

"He was a big strong guy, like a man against boys down in Miami."

Collins, the Hurricanes' 6-8, 241-pound senior, has been limited recently with an aching back, which contributed to his less-than-dominating performance (seven points, four rebounds in 28 minutes) in Sunday's 82-75 home victory over Virginia Tech. But the success he had against Wake Forest, when he hit nine of 12 shots from the floor while amassing 23 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots, should provide sufficient motivation for tonight's rematch with the Deacons, set for 7 o'clock at Joel Coliseum.

Wake Forest is 14-5 and 4-3 in the ACC coming off Thursday's 79-58 loss at Georgia Tech. Miami is 16-5 and 2-5.

"He's not 100-percent like he was at that point in time," Coach Frank Haith of the Hurricanes said. "Dwayne was very live in his game when we played Wake the first time.

"He was very active on both ends of the court. He was blocking shots, he posted hard and he scored around the basket. But he also stepped out and made a couple of jump shots. He had his game on.

"I think we can compete with everybody in this league when he's playing at that level."

Center Chas McFarland of the Deacons has had his good moments this season, but few of them came at Miami, where he missed all five field-goal attempts and managed four points and three rebounds. McFarland bounced back to average 12 points and 9.5 rebounds in the next four games against Maryland, Duke, North Carolina and Virginia, but was missing in action again last Thursday at Georgia Tech.

Overpowered by Georgia Tech's inside duo of Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors, McFarland contributed six points and five rebounds while missing six of nine shots from the floor.

"I'm concerned," Gaudio said. "Chas has usually played well against the other big kids in the league, from last year's Tyler Hansbrough (of North Carolina) and the first time when we went down to Georgia Tech (two years ago) and he scored 28 and did a really good job on defense.

"But he has to do a better job of that, in not allowing the ball into the post."

Another concern may be the development of Miami's Reggie Johnson, a 6-10, 295-pound redshirt freshman from Winston-Salem Prep, whose inside play has complemented that of Collins in recent games. Johnson had a breakout game with 15 points and nine rebounds in a 79-75 loss to Boston College on Jan. 19, and then played well down the stretch of the Hurricanes' victory over Virginia Tech on Sunday to finish with seven points and four rebounds in 13 very effective minutes.

Haith has changed his starting lineup, inserting 6-7 senior Adrian Thomas and moving 6-1 sophomore Malcolm Grant to a reserve role. But the biggest change for the Hurricanes since the earlier game against Wake Forest on Jan. 9 has been the emergence of Johnson.

"Reggie has really made great strides in his game," Haith said. "Obviously he has lost a lot of weight and that has really helped him.

"But in terms of his hands and his footwork, he has become a guy that we can throw the ball to in the post and have some positive things happen. That presence is something we have needed on this team."

dcollins@wsjournal.com

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