Dino’s Demon Deacons Deliver Decisive Defeat

The defending champion Tar Heels couldn’t dodge their third straight loss in the Smith Center Wednesday night. North Carolina suffered their first three-game losing streak under Coach Roy Williams after falling to fiery Wake Forest, 82-69. The Demon Deacons improved to 13-4 and 3-2 in the ACC while topping the Tar Heels for the fifth time in the spacious Smith Center. Number 24 North Carolina was supposed to put Wake’s C.J. Harris in his place in their own arena. Instead, it was the fab freshman from the Forest who put the Heels in their place with a season high point production. The fantastic freshman finished with 20 points, tying daring point guard Ish Smith for game highs. Smith responded to Sunday’s Duke loss by going 9-of-17 from the field in Chapel Hill. Ari Stewart contributed 11 points in the victory and repeatedly overpowered the Heels from three point range. The backcourt duo of Harris and Stewart continued their trend of tallying points for Wake Forest on the road. North Carolina played without star sophomore shooter, Ed Davis. The seven foot forward, Tyler Zeller, also sat out with an injury for Williams’ struggling club.
Wake Forest dropped 36 points in the first half but UNC only trailed by three at the break. The Tar Heels converted ten offensive rebounds in the first half, but were outrebounded in the end by an oppressive Deacons defense. Al Farouq Aminu grabbed 11 to go along with his 13 points. Chas McFarland, the senior center, also had a double-digit rebound night. McFarland blocked four shots and picked up 10 rebounds in thirty minutes on the hardwood. The senior passed the 500 rebound mark in his 92nd game. The Deacons began pulling ahead for good in the second half. Stewart made back-to-back threes in the span of one and a half minutes over three possessions. Wake Forest came into the contest shooting a measly 33% from long range, good for fewest in the ACC. The Deacons were more massive than meek from the arc in Wednesday’s win. They shot 56% and hit 7 of 8 3-pointers in the second half for an impressive icing at perennial powerhouse UNC.
Will Graves garnered the most buckets for the losing side. The big blue senior scored 16 points, snatched 8 rebounds and was 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Deon Thompson, a member of the championship team from a year ago, added 13 points. First-year player, Travis Wear, also doled out 13 points for UNC. Wake Forest is the top defense against the three in the conference, and last night upheld that claim. In addition, North Carolina’s defense couldn’t guard Wake’s three point attempts. The Deacons made it look easy from the rainbow and from the floor. The visitors were 50% from the floor, successful on 30 of their 60 attempts. Coach Dino Gaudio’s ruthless defense was thrifty in blocking seven shots and seizing six steals during the stellar road win in front of 20,000 Tar Heels fans. The instate rivals held the Tar Heels to 36% shooting and Smith simply beat them downcourt with early layups. UNC finished 6 for 26 beyond the arc and didn’t score any fast-break points. The Tar Heels faded quickly during the second half despite their attempts to make it a game. UNC is 1-3 in the ACC for just the fourth time in the proud program’s history. They allowed a team ranked 11th from downtown decisively defeat them from the arc in their own building. Wake’s crushing blow was the fourth of the kind in five games for the skidding, sliding Heels.

Parting Points: N.C. State upset Duke 88-74 on the same night UNC was trounced by Wake Forest. Georgetown hands Pitt their first Big East loss. In other Big East news, Jim Calhoun is taking a leave of absence from the Huskies, who toppled St. John’s Wednesday at the Morgue in Hartford.

Song of the day- Sublime’s “Wrong Way”