Winston-Salem--Codi Miller-McIntyre score 20 points for the fourth consecutive time and Travis McKie scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to help lead Wake Forest over Jacksonville 90-83 in a sloppy Monday night game at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Wake Forest, now 4-0 for the first time under Jeff Bzdelik, was able to overcome a season high 13 turnovers by outrebounding Jacksonville 57-40. Devin Thomas collected 16 of those rebounds in just 25 minutes of play as early foul trouble kept the sophomore on the bench. The Demon Deacons were exploiting Jacksonville's matchup zone in the first half and at one point led by as many as 16, but the Jacksonville Dolphins transitioned to a more traditional 2-3 zone and were only down by seven points at halftime.
In the second half, Wake Forest struggled against the 2-3 zone early on because they failed to rotate the ball and cause the zone to shift, as a result they were unable to generate quality shot attempts. The Deacs managed to take 75 shot attempts, but they only made 29 (39%). Eventually the Deacs were able to hit Devin Thomas in the short corner and he was able to hit some cutters and get easy buckets. Codi Miller-McIntyre also did a good job in transition and got to the bucket and drew fouls.
Devin Thomas appeared to be in pain after landing hard on the floor when he was fouled with 2:28 remaining the contest. Thomas continued to play for the remainder of the game (minus offense for defense substitutions) and we will monitor the situation.
Jacksonville (1-2) was without Keith McDougland, the team's leader in minutes played, due to a suspension. Jarvis Haywood, Jacksonville's leading scorer on the season, scored 19 points on just 11 shots and Sam Hunt contributed 15 points off the bench.
Wake Forest will look to improve on tonight's performance when they take on The Citadel (2-3) on Thursday, November 21st at 7 p.m. in the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. If the Demon Deacons win, they will be 5-0 for the first time since the 2008-2009 season.
