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No. 24 UNC Looks To Stop Fall Against Wake Forest
Chapel Hill, NC (Sports Network) - Ishmael Smith scored 20 points with seven rebounds and six assists and C.J. Harris added 20 points with four treys, as Wake Forest rolled past slumping No. 24 North Carolina, 82-69, at the Dean E. Smith Center.
The defending-champion Tar Heels (12-7, 1-3 ACC) lost their third straight for the first time in the Roy Williams era and have lost four of five overall. A lack of outside shooting -- North Carolina made just 6-of-26 threes -- and lack of depth on the interior due to injuries to Tyler Zeller and Ed Davis, North Carolina's top frontline star who missed the contest with an ankle injury, have led to the losing skid.
Al-Farouq Aminu added 13 points and 11 rebounds and Ari Stewart drained three second-half threes en route to 11 points for the Demon Deacons (13-4, 3-2), who responded from a Sunday night loss at Duke.
Will Graves paced the Tar Heels with 16 points while Travis Wear, starting for Davis, scored 13 points and Deon Thompson added 13 points.
A back-and-forth first 10 minutes saw a near gridlock on the scoreboard until a 10-0 Wake Forest spurt handed the visitors a 26-18 edge capped by L.D. Williams' transition layup.
The Tar Heels rallied late, trimming the halftime deficit to 36-33 on a late three from Leslie McDonald. Graves' trey early in the second half brought the home team within one, 40-39, and brought the home crowd to its feet.
The excitement was short lived.
Wake reeled off the next seven points capped by Harris’ three and the advantage grew to 52-43 on a Stewart three on the secondary break from the right wing. Another triple from Stewart not even a minute later gave Wake Forest a double-digit edge, 55-45.
He drained another, his third trey in less than two minutes, to open a 13- point edge and the margin stayed comfortable for the rest of the game. North Carolina drew within 60-51 on a Thompson bucket just inside 10 minutes, but the margin grew back out to 15 at 68-53 on Harris’ triple moments later.
This marked the 216th all-time meeting between the two programs with North Carolina still holding a 151-65 edge...Wake Forest shot 50 percent from the floor and made 9-of-16 from beyond the arc...North Carolina grabbed 19 offensive rebounds.
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