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A year removed from winning its first 14 games, including a shocking victory at Michigan State, James Madison has made little noise this year.

The Dukes of the Sun Belt Conference have a chance to change that when they travel to Wake Forest (8-3) for the only game on their schedule against a power conference school, Tuesday in Winston-Salem, N.C.

It’s been an uneven start for James Madison (6-4) and first-year coach Preston Spradlin, who arrived after four straight seasons with at least 22 wins at Morehead State.

Spradlin bristles at comparisons to last year’s 32-4 James Madison squad, which reached the round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament.

He pointed out that his Dukes have already played eight opponents in the top-200 NET rankings, while last year’s squad played only eight teams all year ranked in the top 200.

“I told you it was going to take some time for this team to get together and to figure it out and it’s a process,” Spradlin said.

The Dukes have only one rotation player back from last year, Xavier Brown, who is averaging 13.9 points, 3.4 assists and a team-high 1.9 steals per game.

Texas A&M transfer Bryce Lindsay is James Madison’s top scorer at 14.2 points per game.

After a nine-day break for exams, the Dukes figure to be well rested. In its last two games, both at home, James Madison handled Tennessee State and Utah Valley.

Seton Hall transfer Elijah Hutchins-Everett scored 26 points and Southern Indiana transfer AJ Smith added 23 points in the wins.

Wake Forest will attempt to remain perfect at home, where it is 6-0. All three of the Demon Deacons’ losses have come to teams that have been ranked at some point this season.

Hunter Sallis paces Wake Forest in scoring at 16.3 points per game. Tre’von Spillers averages 10.6 points and a team-high 9.5 rebounds.

Like James Madison, Wake Forest enters after a nine-day rest, following its 72-66 home win over Boston College in its Atlantic Coast Conference opener on Dec. 7.

“We need it,” Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes said of the break. “We need to get better before we play James Madison.”

Cameron Hildreth rose against Boston College, recording 22 points and 10 rebounds.

–Field Level Media