Virginia Basketball at Wake Forest Game Preview, Score Prediction

The Virginia Cavaliers travel down to Winston-Salem on Saturday to take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in a pivotal ACC matchup. Both teams come into the game with a 6-2 record in conference play, tied for second in the ACC standings, and riding a four-game winning streak. Something's gotta give. 

Read on for a full preview of Virginia at Wake Forest, including details on the game, an opponent scouting report, game notes, and a score prediction. 

Game Details

Who: Virginia Cavaliers (14-3, 6-2 ACC) at Wake Forest Demon Deacons (14-5, 6-2 ACC)

When: Saturday, January 21st at 2pm ET

Where: LJVM Coliseum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

How to watch: ESPNU

How to listen: SiriusXM 158 or 193, SXM App 955 | Virginia Sports Radio Network -

All-time series: Wake Forest leads 71-69

Last meeting: Wake Forest defeated Virginia 63-55 on January 15th, 2021 in Charlottesville

Opponent Scouting Report: Wake Forest

2022-2023: 14-5, 6-2 ACC
Notable results: Georgia 81-71 W, Wisconsin 78-75 W, at Clemson 77-57 L, LSU 72-70 L, Rutgers 81-57 L, Duke 81-70 W, Virginia Tech 77-75 W, at North Carolina 88-79 L, at Louisville 80-72 W, Florida State 90-75 W, at Boston College 85-63 W, Clemson 87-77 W

The 2021-2022 season was a unique one for the Wake Forest men's basketball program. Alondes Williams won ACC Player of the Year and Steve Forbes was named the ACC Coach of the Year and the Demon Deacons won 23 games in the regular season. Yet, due primarily to the national perception that the ACC was having a "down year", Wake Forest was left out of the NCAA Tournament. 

It's a totally different-looking team for Wake Forest this season, as Daivien Williamson is the only returning player from the team's top five scorers last year. Of Wake's top four scorers this season, two came off the bench last year and the other two are transfers. Steve Forbes has found success in consecutive seasons picking up key transfers to fill in at specific positions of need on the roster and this season has continued that trend, as Forbes replaced the losses of Alondes Williams and Jake Laravia with a pair of talented transfers in Tyree Appleby and Andrew Carr. 

The first month of the season was a bit of roller coaster for the Demon Deacons, who survived an overtime upset bid against Utah Valley on November 15th only to lose in another overtime battle against Loyola Marymount five days later. Wake picked up a big 78-75 win at Wisconsin in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, but then suffered a 20-point blowout at Clemson in the next game, followed by a two-point loss against LSU. The Deacs ended up losing three out of four games in that stretch, capped off by a 24-point loss at Rutgers on December 17th. 

Since then, however, Wake Forest has caught fire to start ACC play, winning six of the last seven games, including an 11-point win over then-No. 14 Duke on December 20th and most recently, a 10-point win over No. 19 Clemson, handing the Tigers their first ACC loss of the season. 

Wake Forest's offense is no joke. The Deacs have scored at least 80 points in each of their last four games and come into this game ranked 32nd in the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency and have the ACC's 4th-best scoring offense at 77.9 points per game. The defensive end of the floor isn't nearly as strong, as Wake is ranked 12th in the ACC in scoring defense at 72.1 points per game allowed and the Demon Deacons are 139th in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency rankings. 

This game features two of the ACC's top three teams in terms of three-point shooting percentage. Wake Forest is 3rd at 37.6% from three as a team and Virginia is second at 38.2% (Clemson is the ACC's leader at 38.7%). The Deacs have three players who are shooting above 40% from three on a high volume of attempts. 

Florida transfer Tyree Appleby is the catalyst for Wake Forest's entire offense. The 6'0" graduate guard is second in the ACC in scoring at 19.1 points per game and leads the conference in assists with 6.1 helpers per game, just ahead of Kihei Clark and Reece Beekman, who rank second and third in assists, respectively. A veteran in his fifth season of college basketball, Appleby makes great decisions with the ball and takes good shots. He shoots 47.0% from the floor, 42.6% from three, and 82.4% from the free throw line, where he takes more than six foul shots per game. Stopping Appleby will require excellent on-ball defense from Reece Beekman and Kihei Clark and sound team-defense from the rest of the Cavaliers on the floor. 

Joining Appleby at the guard positions are redshirt junior Damari Monsanto and sophomore guard Cameron Hildreth. A 6'6" sharp-shooter, Monsanto is shooting 40.5% from three on more than seven three-point attempts per game and averages 12.0 points per game. Hildreth, a 6'4" guard from England, is in the midst of tremendous sophomore leap, averaging 13.1 points per game on 48.4% shooting from the floor and leading Wake Forest in rebounding at 6.3 boards per game. 

6'10" junior forward Andrew Carr, a Delaware transfer, can stretch the floor, shooting 34.8% from three, and averaging 11.9 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. His matchup with Ben Vander Plas and Jayden Gardner will be key in this game. Rounding out Wake's normal starting five is 7'1" center Matthew Marsh, another England product, averaging 6.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. 

Wake Forest brings in another seven-footer off the bench in junior center Davion Bradford. The presence of Marsh and Bradford could mean that Kadin Shedrick could see more playing time in this contest. Shedrick has scored just two points in the last three games, playing a combined nine minutes over the last two games as Virginia has found success with a small-ball lineup featuring four guards and either Ben Vander Plas or Jayden Gardner at center. Shedrick can reassert himself into the rotation with a strong performance at Wake Forest on Saturday. 

6'0" graduate guard Daivien Williamson, who averages 8.9 points per game and a shoots 40.0% from three, and 6'10" freshman forward Bobi Klintman, who was recruited by Virginia out of high school, gives Wake Forest more scoring options and versatility off the bench. 

Game Notes

• Wake Forest leads the all-time series 71-69 and the Demon Deacons have a 41-16 advantage over the Cavaliers in games played in Winston-Salem.
• Virginia had a nine-game winning streak going against Wake Forest until a 63-55 loss to the Demon Deacons last season in Charlottesville. 
• UVA has won each of the last four meetings in Winston-Salem, including a 65-63 overtime victory back on January 26th, 2020, the last time these two teams met at Wake Forest.
• Virginia is 10-5 against Wake Forest under Tony Bennett.
• Wake Forest is 10-0 at home this season and a combined 28-2 at home over the last two seasons.
• Virginia is 3-2 in true road games this season.
• Tony Bennett is one win away from his 400th career victory as a head coach.
• Kihei Clark is nine starts away from becoming UVA's all-time starts leader and he needs 44 assists to pass John Crotty for first on Virginia's all-time assists list. 
• Armaan Franklin is 35 points away from reaching the 1,000 career points milestone.

Prediction

The LJVM Coliseum has turned into one of the toughest places to win in the ACC over the last couple of seasons as Wake Forest is 28-2 at home over the last season and a half and 10-0 at home so far this year. With two teams tied for second place battling it out on a Saturday afternoon, expect a big and energized crowd to give Wake Forest a home court advantage. 

With that said, the Cavaliers come into this matchup having won in each of their last four trips down to Winston-Salem. Both of these teams have executed at a high level on the offensive end this season, especially during their current four-game winning streaks. But on the defensive end, Virginia has a clear and distinct advantage. Defense travels. If the Cavaliers can deliver a classic Tony Bennett defensive performance on Saturday and do enough to disrupt Tyree Appleby and the Wake offense, the Hoos should be able to gain the upper hand and come away with a monumental ACC victory. 

Score prediction: Virginia 73, Wake Forest 71