Two of Wake Forest's best victories this season have been won away from the friendly confines of Joel Coliseum.
Their worst loss was suffered at home.
"Sometimes I think we play better on the road than we do at home,'' coach Jeff Bzdelik said Thursday. "Maybe what I'll start doing is take them for a bus ride around the state and put them up in a hotel and drive in and play.''
No such tactics will be necessary today when the Deacons play Clemson at Littlejohn Coliseum. They'll enter the predictably raucous arena having already pulled out a tough victory at Nebraska and dominating Boston College in the Eagles' Conte Forum.
And they'll be more than 200 miles from their worst day of the season, a 76-50 flogging by N.C. State in front of the home fans at Joel Coliseum.
Overall the Deacons are 3-3 on their opponents' home courts, with a victory at High Point and a hard-fought six-point loss at Maryland to show for their efforts. Their performance at least suggests it's a team with a tougher hide than the one that was 1-11 — with the one win being against Elon in Greensboro — in road games a year ago.
"We've responded well on the road thus far in terms of our competitiveness and our fearlessness,'' Bzdelik said.
Today's game will start at noon. Wake Forest, which has lost five of its past seven, is 11-9 overall and 2-4 in ACC play.
Clemson, which stopped a three-game losing streak by beating Georgia Tech last Saturday, is 11-9 and 2-3.
The Deacons won't know until today the status of senior center Ty Walker, who suffered a concussion that sidelined him for the second half of Wednesday's loss to Florida State.
Walker, after being held out of Thursday's practice, accompanied the team Friday to Clemson, where he practiced on a limited basis while not participating in any drills involving contact.
Walker will be evaluated again this morning, at which time the Wake Forest medical staff will determine whether he will be available.
Bzdelik said Thursday that the absence of Walker — who has averaged more than five blocks over his past five games — would be a blow.
"Obviously, you've seen what kind of impact he has on the game,'' Bzdelik said. "He affects the game in a very positive way for us from a defensive standpoint.''
Regardless, Bzdelik said the challenge today will be similar to what his team faced in last Wednesday's 75-52 home loss to Florida State. The Tigers aren't as experienced or as physically mature as the grizzled Seminoles, but they play a similar deliberate style, they have plenty of muscle inside with juniors Devin Booker (6-foot-8, 245 pounds) and Milton Jennings (6-9, 225) and senior Catalin Baciu (7-2, 255) — and a dangerous outside shooter in senior Andre Young.
They'll also be well rested, having not played for a week.
"They're a confident team at home, and they've had a week of preparation so they might throw something new at us,'' Bzdelik said. "But for the most part they're a team that's very good defensively.
"They're very similar to Florida State in a lot of ways — the way they defend and they have a couple of physical guys inside. They're big and long.
"And they also have a couple of guys who can hurt you from beyond the arc.''
Young, who is shooting 41 percent from the floor and 36 percent from 3-point range, leads Clemson with 13.6 points a game. Senior Tanner Smith, the Tigers' most versatile player, is averaging 10.9 points and 5.5 rebounds, and Booker is averaging 10.4 points and a team-high 6.7 rebounds.
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