The Wake Forest Demon Deacons and Virginia Tech Hokies tip off tonight at 7pm. Wake has had a pretty good season overall at 16-11, 6-8 in conference. The Deacs are coming off a disappointing overtime loss to Georgia Tech on Saturday resulting in a three game losing streak. Wake's greatest weakness is road games where they are an abismal 2-7 in conference play.
The Hokies on the other hand come into this game having won three games in a row, with the last one coming at home versus Boston College. Virginia Tech is now 17-11 overall, including 8-6 against conference foes. They are 11-2 in true home games.
Wake Forest is having a stellar year considering they have a new head coach and most of their lineup consists of Freshmen and Sophmores. James Johnson (true freshmen) leads the Deacs in scoring at 15.0 ppg to go along with 8.4 rpg. Gaurd Jeff Teague supplies the offense with explosive speed and pentetration. The Deacs had trouble most of the season from the perimeter, hence their struggles on the road. They do seem to be shooting the 3pt shot better the second half of the season. This certainly will factor into the outcome of tonight's game. The Demon Deacons shot 39.3 percent from the floor, including 5-of-26 from three-point range, and they pulled down 10 fewer rebounds than the Yellow Jackets.
The Hokies are scoring 69.2 ppg and allowing just 65.3 ppg to opponents. They are led by A.D. Vassallo at 16.3 ppg and J. Allen leads the team in rebounds with 7.7 rpg. These two teams played earlier this season in Winston-Salem where the Deacs pulled out a 77-75 victory. Tonight's game is big for both clubs. They both need all the victories they can in order to have a shot at making the tourny.
Two facts to note:
Wake Forest has not lost 3 games in a row the entire season, nor has Virginia Tech won 3 games in a row. Wake is on a 3 game slide, and VT has won it's last 3. Look for VT to come out a little slugish since they have had a full week off.
I look for this to stay close and feel as though Wake Forest may pull out conference road win number 3.
WAKE +5.5
The Hokies on the other hand come into this game having won three games in a row, with the last one coming at home versus Boston College. Virginia Tech is now 17-11 overall, including 8-6 against conference foes. They are 11-2 in true home games.
Wake Forest is having a stellar year considering they have a new head coach and most of their lineup consists of Freshmen and Sophmores. James Johnson (true freshmen) leads the Deacs in scoring at 15.0 ppg to go along with 8.4 rpg. Gaurd Jeff Teague supplies the offense with explosive speed and pentetration. The Deacs had trouble most of the season from the perimeter, hence their struggles on the road. They do seem to be shooting the 3pt shot better the second half of the season. This certainly will factor into the outcome of tonight's game. The Demon Deacons shot 39.3 percent from the floor, including 5-of-26 from three-point range, and they pulled down 10 fewer rebounds than the Yellow Jackets.
The Hokies are scoring 69.2 ppg and allowing just 65.3 ppg to opponents. They are led by A.D. Vassallo at 16.3 ppg and J. Allen leads the team in rebounds with 7.7 rpg. These two teams played earlier this season in Winston-Salem where the Deacs pulled out a 77-75 victory. Tonight's game is big for both clubs. They both need all the victories they can in order to have a shot at making the tourny.
Two facts to note:
Wake Forest has not lost 3 games in a row the entire season, nor has Virginia Tech won 3 games in a row. Wake is on a 3 game slide, and VT has won it's last 3. Look for VT to come out a little slugish since they have had a full week off.
I look for this to stay close and feel as though Wake Forest may pull out conference road win number 3.
WAKE +5.5
