Wake Forest has finally regained a bit of confidence and now the Demon Deacons will see how far that carries them.
Stanford will arrive as the opponent for Saturday’s game at Winston-Salem, N.C., after Wake Forest snapped a five-game losing streak last time out versus Georgia Tech on Wednesday.
“We were down a little bit throughout the season and we picked it back up,” Wake Forest guard Juke Harris said. “You see how great we can be.”
Wake Forest (12-12, 3-8 Atlantic Coast Conference) has work to do, especially in home games. The Demon Deacons lost their last four at home.
Stanford (16-9, 5-7) began its two-game trip by winning 70-64 at Boston College on Wednesday, giving the Cardinal a multi-game winning streak for the first time in more than a month. They beat Georgia Tech to end a five-game skid last Saturday.
Travel to the East Coast has become less stressful for the Cardinal.
“Last year, it felt like we were astronauts doing something no one’s done before,” Stanford coach Kyle Smith said of the team’s first go-around in the ACC. “Now it’s like, you know what, we’ve got our little routine.”
Another boost from guard Mekhi Mason could do wonders for Wake Forest. He racked up 17 points in the Georgia Tech game for his first double-figure output since prior to Thanksgiving. Mason made four 3-pointers to match his season high.
“He was a starter earlier in the year and he’s struggled a little bit, but he’s had great resilience and he’s been a great teammate,” coach Steve Forbes said. “Good things happen to good people.”
Harris has consistently been Wake Forest’s leading scorer, including in seven of the team’s last nine games. He eclipsed the 20-point mark in the past three games, pushing his scoring average to 21.2 points, which is the third-highest mark in the ACC.
Second on the scoring list is Stanford’s Ebuka Okorie at 22.4 points.
Harris averages 2.7 makes from 3-point range, barely ahead of Stanford’s Benny Gealer (2.5). Okorie accounts for 1.9 made threes per game.
The key for the Cardinal might be excelling in open-court situations.
“It was hard enough in the halfcourt,” Smith said after the Boston College game. “Anyone is a lot better in a broken field. … The transition probably gave us the best chance.”
