The Wake Forest Demon Deacons (8-6, 1-1 ACC) beat the Syracuse Orange (12-3, 1-1 ACC) 73-67 for the first time in series history. a 5-0 advantage Cuse held before tonight.
The Deacs bullied their way into the Orange zone early on and ultimately looked the bigger and tougher team all game long. An example of this was on the boards as Wake Forest outrebounded Syracuse 38-29.
Then, as Wake Forest’s leading scorer Keyshawn Woods [8] left with a knee injury, Syracuse began to find their rhythm by passing the ball inside. The Orange regained the 27-25 lead behind 10 unanswered with 2:09 remaining in the first half.
Wake Forest continued to attack the middle of Syracuse’s zone after halftime and even though the Orange appeared to protect the hoop better, fouls piled up. The most significant player in foul trouble was sophomore guard Tyus Battle, who was benched after being called for his fourth personal foul at the 12:55 mark. This was the turning point of this game. A 7-0 Orange run was suddenly erased by a borage of Demon Deacon 3-pointers.
Junior guard Frank Howard finished with 23 points (5-7 3PT) and five assists. Battle had 13 points (1-7 3PT). However, both guards combined for 11 of the team’s 13 turnovers. Oshae Brissett added 16 points and seven boards.
Following the game, Coach Boeheim said, “We made some really good offensive plays to get back into the game, stopped playing defense and gave them three straight corner threes. We just can’t do that… they made big time shots and that’s why they turned the game.”
Next up, Syracuse heads back to the Carrier Dome and will face Notre Dame Jan. 6 at 3 p.m.
