On Friday the Florida Gators played a spirited tilt against the #13 ranked Baylor Bears and while they couldn’t come up victorious, the team, media, and fans alike earned respect for the team’s talent, intensity, and resilience.
Florida (4-2) will get the chance to turn those attributes into a win on Wednesday when they take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (3-3).
If you’ve been paying attention to Florida basketball over the last several years you’ll remember that smack dab in the middle of SEC season conference play would pause temporarily and the league would play in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. That is no more, and it has been replaced with the SEC/ACC Challenge, and instead of happening during conference play it will happen in the fall.
This year the Gators and Demon Deacons get matched up with Florida heading on the road to Winston-Salem. Wake Forest is 3-3 this season and for them, the storyline has been taking care of business against mid-major opponents while struggling to come up victorious against high-major foes. They have wins over Elon, Towson, and Charleston Southern–but they have fallen short to Georgia, Utah, and LSU. The Demon Deacons were picked 6th in the preseason ACC poll and will be expected to be a tough out in that league, but so far their season isn’t off to a glowing start. Currently they sit at 82nd in KenPom, a number that closely mirrors the NET rankings, and for Florida the magic number for Wake Forest is 75. Since this will be a road game for the Gators, it will be considered a quadrant-1 game if Wake Forest finishes in the top 75 of the NET. If they finish 76th or lower, it will be a quadrant-2 game. Not that this matters greatly–but it always looks good on a team sheet to have as many quad-1 wins as possible so the Gators will be hoping to not only come away victorious but have the Demon Deacons play a strong season and make this game valuable.
Offensively Wake Forest has been potent with a number of players capable of handling the ball and making intelligent reads. Head coach Steve Forbes has had great success with transfers in recent years, as shown by last year when he grabbed Tyree Appleby in the portal from Florida and Appleby averaged 18.8 points and 6.4 assists per game on his way to being named ACC Player Of The Year over blue chip talents at schools like Duke, North Carolina, and Virginia. The year prior, Oklahoma transfer Alondes Williams won ACC player of the year after taking a huge step under Forbes’ development. Clearly Forbes has a keen way of evaluating talent, and he can coach offensive basketball at a high level despite not being able to get the same level of talent at Wake Forest that other ACC schools can.
This year Hunter Sallis from Gonzaga looks to be next in line when it comes to Forbes’ masterful work in the portal. The 6’5” wing has averaged 18.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game–all while hitting 44% of his threes. Sallis is a player that can do a little bit of everything and he plays the game with a high IQ–exactly what’s required to thrive in Forbes’ complex and effective system. Though he has point guard abilities, Sallis often plays shooting guard or small forward, meaning that Wake Forest has the luxury of two or three comfortable ball handlers on the floor at all times.
Taking on true point guard responsibilities is Central Michigan transfer Kevin Miller who has also been a portal star for Wake Forest so far. The 6’0”, 175 pound guard might have been on the small side for some high-major teams that evaluated and passed on his talents, but he’s been rock solid so far averaging 17.3 points and 4.0 assists per game. Not only have his overall numbers been good but he has loved to step up in big games posting 22 and 7 against Georgia and 19 and 8 against LSU. Miller is always probing and keeping his dribble alive, waiting for the moment a defense falls asleep before finding a teammate.
A player with some NBA buzz, Cameron Hildreth will be excited to take on a Riley Kugel matchup that will likely be fascinating enough to get some scouts tuned in for. The 6’4” native of Worthing, England was somewhat of an unknown before going to Wake Forest but his excellent feel for the game has NBA teams taking note. He’s currently posting 17.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.0 assists–often taking on the role as primary initiator when he’s on the floor. If you’re keeping track, that means Hunter Sallis, Kevin Miller, and Cameron Hildreth can all take on point guard duties–and they’re often on the floor together.
Providing the bulk down low is Andrew Carr, a 6’10”, 220 pounder that isn’t particularly muscular but plays the game with excellent intelligence and anticipation. That anticipation makes him an excellent shot blocker with 2.2 per game in addition to his 15.0 points per game that he largely gets working as the screener in pick and roll actions with one of Wake Forest’s talented guards.
With so much ball handling, shooting, and IQ in addition to a fantastic head coach you can see why Wake Forest is so good offensively but where they’ve lost games this season is on the defensive end. The Demon Deacons don’t have great athleticism or size, and because of that they play an extremely conservative brand of defense where they will stack the strong side of the floor to try and take away drives. They give up a ton of threes because of it and when opponents get hot Wake Forest can start to give up points in a hurry. Defensive rebounding has also been a major issue and that could be a massive problem going against the Gators who are currently second in the country in offensive rebounding.
When it comes to depth, the major advantage goes to Florida–even if Micah Handlogten is unable to play. So far this season no one has played their bench less than Wake Forest and while their starting group is outstanding–foul trouble has been extremely detrimental to them. Florida will try to make this game as fast and physical as possible which could wear down the Demon Deacons from both a stamina and foul trouble standpoint.
Right now Florida has earned some favor by playing hard in losses to Virginia and Baylor, but those moral victories won’t show up on an NCAA Tournament resume. Games like this one against Wake Forest are wins they need to muster if they are going to reach their season and while going on the road is never easy, they’ll likely be disappointed if they don’t come away victorious.
Florida and Wake Forest tip off at 7:15 on November 29th, and the game will be televised on ESPN U.