The Wake Forest Demon Deacons (11-16) will bring the regular season to a close on their home court when they square off against the No. 23-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish (18-8) at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The game gets underway at 9:00 pm ET on Wednesday, Feb. 24 and will air on EFC and ES3.
The Demon Deacons easily got past Boston College 74-48 on Sunday. Doral Moore was the game’s high scorer with 19 points on 7-for-8 shooting. The Fighting Irish are coming off a bitter 63-62 loss at the hands of Georgia Tech on Saturday. Bonzie Colson stood out for Notre Dame, posting 10 points, six rebounds, and one assist.
The Demon Deacons do a great job at getting to the charity stripe. They rank 14th in the nation in FTA rate (45.0), but Notre Dame is among the best in the nation at keeping opponents off the line (ranking 24th by allowing a FTA rate of 27.7). Moreover, the second-ranked offense of the Fighting Irish (offensive efficiency of 121.0) will try to exploit the 322nd-ranked defense of the Demon Deacons (defensive efficiency of 110.5).
This will be the second matchup of the season between these two teams. The Fighting Irish won the first game 85-62. Zach Auguste played a big role with 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Notes
In its last game, Wake Forest won by a margin of 26 points. Notre Dame is 7-0 in games decided by a margin of 18 points or more. Wake Forest has a 1-4 record in blowouts.
Ranked second, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have an offensive rating of 121.0. The Wake Forest Demon Deacons, on the other hand, rank 322nd with a defensive rating of 110.5.
Notre Dame has an average field goal percentage of 48.4% (ranked 19th). Wake Forest is an abysmal 1-7 when opponents have a similar or higher field goal percentage.
The Wake Forest Demon Deacons average 19.0 three point attempts per game and are 7-6 when attempting at least 20 in a game. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish average 20.0 attempts and have a solid record (10-4) when attempting 20 or more.
Wake Forest ranks 68th in blocks per game with 4.4 and Notre Dame ranks 100th with 4.0 blocks per game.
Wake Forest ranks 100th in offensive rebounding. Notre Dame ranks 221st in defensive rebounding.
On average, Wake Forest forces a turnover rate of 15.2%. When Notre Dame turns over the ball at a similar or higher rate, the team has a solid 8-5 record.
