Wake Forest has done much of the groundwork to stay in contention in the Atlantic Coast Conference and boost its credentials for postseason consideration.
The Demon Deacons will try to take another crucial step when they host Florida State on Wednesday night in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Wake Forest (18-6, 10-3 ACC) has reached the 10-win mark in league play in four straight seasons after defeating Cal 76-66 on Saturday, completing a road sweep of the league’s new Bay Area members.
This will mark the final visit to Winston-Salem for retiring Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton.
“Coach Hamilton’s teams, they’re just so disruptive defensively,” Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes said. “It makes playing against them very challenging, and that’s what I would say is unique about his teams.”
The Seminoles (14-9, 5-7) certainly would like to generate late-season momentum.
“We can’t look too far down the road,” Hamilton said. “We have to worry about what we can control, and that’s just our preparation each day. We have to then hope to be so consistent with our preparation, get our confidence, and go into each game and see if we can be at our very, very best.”
Malique Ewin has eight double-doubles for Florida State after posting 18 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday’s 67-60 victory against visiting Notre Dame.
Cameron Hildreth has been on a recent roll and that has given Wake Forest a strong combo in conjunction with guard Hunter Sallis. Hildreth has posted at least 20 points in five of the last seven games.
Hildreth led the Demon Deacons in scoring with 22 and 23 points in the two recent West Coast games, shooting 15-for-21 from the field in those outings. He had a career-high five steals against Cal.
While Wake Forest became the first ACC team this season to sweep Stanford and Cal on the road, it wasn’t an entirely smooth trip. Sunday’s scheduled return home was interrupted by travel complications, with a team booster sending a private plane to take eight players and members of the coaching staff to Winston-Salem while others made the trek later.
“It wasn’t ideal for them, but they’re back and it worked out,” Forbes said.
Forbes said they already altered their normal travel and practice procedures because of the potential physical toll of the long trip and then the game against Florida State.
“It’s a hard trip. I’m not complaining because I know Cal and Stanford have to come back our way four or five times,” Forbes said. “We’ve had great togetherness and chemistry within our team.”
–Field Level Media
