If rock bottom has a basement, that's where Wake Forest found itself after Wednesday's 74-39 drubbing by Georgia Tech in front of 6,062 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
The Deacons, shooting just 26 percent from the floor, 13 percent from 3-point range and 35 percent from the free-throw line, scored their fewest points since Dwight Eisenhower called the White House home and were blown out for the fourth time in four ACC games.
Glen Rice scored 21 and Iman Shumpert added 20 points in Georgia Tech's most lopsided victory against an ACC opponent. The Yellow Jackets, carrying the momentum of Sunday's victory over North Carolina, improved to 9-8 overall and 2-2 in ACC play.
The Deacons fell to 7-12 with its eighth loss in the last nine games and have lost their four ACC games by an average margin of 26 points.
"It's one of the toughest things I've ever been a part of,'' sophomore C.J. Harris said. "I've never been on a losing team like that.
"It shows that we just have to stick together. The sun will shine tomorrow. We've got to look at it that way and go back to work.''
Not since a 44-34 loss to North Carolina on Jan. 8, 1959 has Wake Forest scored as few points. The Deacons trailed 44-26 at halftime and managed just 13 points in the second half, so if Georgia Tech had not scored again it would have still won by five.
"Shots are not always going to fall, but when they don't it's going to make the game extra hard to win,'' freshman Travis McKie said.
Freshman point guard Tony Chennault made his much-anticipated return from a broken foot, but the rustiness of missing the last 17 games was evident. He played 15 minutes, contributing three points and committing four turnovers.
"Just the pace of the game was kind of fast,'' Chennault said. "It was faster than I thought it would be. So that will come with me just playing basketball again and getting back in more basketball shape.
"It's like riding a bike. Eventually it's going to come back to you.''
Shumpert, coming off Sunday's 30-point performance against North Carolina, had 15 points in the first 15 minutes as the Yellow Jackets built a lead that would never be threatened. The game was all but settled when Shumpert and Rice nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to extend the lead to 32-16 with four minutes remaining in the first half.
But the low point for Wake Forest was to come, when the Deacons missed their first 11 field-goal attempts of the second half, played 12½ minutes without hitting a field goal and fell behind by 42 (74-32). Even by making three of their last five shots from the floor, the Deacons shot 19 percent (4 of 21) after halftime.
"I really can't explain it, to be honest with you,'' McKie said. "We've just got to run the offense, cut hard and just try to hit the open man and make shots.''
Coach Jeff Bzdelik offered his opinion on the Deacons' second-half woes.
"I think in the second half when you're down like that, guys just have a tendency to really just start pressing,'' Bzdelik said. "And what happens is nothing good happens.
"But yeah, we had good looks and we just need to keep battling.''
Ari Stewart led Wake Forest with nine points. J.T. Terrell was 0 for 9 from the floor, Ty Walker was 1 for 7, Stewart was 3 for 9 and Harris was 3 for 10.
"It's hard to gain confidence when you're not shooting the basketball,'' Bzdelik said. "So the more that we can see that ball go through that rim, the bigger that rim gets.
"Tonight when we struggled to make shots, even from the free-throw line, that rim seems really small and you struggle with your confidence — especially a young team.
"Again, it's an unforgiving league. Nobody's going to feel sorry for us, and we don't expect that. And we've got a huge game on Saturday.''
Indeed the Deacons do. That's the day Duke visits Joel Coliseum.
dcollins@wsjournal.com
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