 extend its home winning streak to 15 games. The Volunteers haven't lost at Thompson-Boling Arena since last season, falling 94-84 to Auburn on Jan. 2.The Vols improved to 3-0 against Atlantic Coast Conference schools. Tennessee beat Georgia Tech 66-53 on Nov. 13 and defeated Louisville 92-81 on Nov. 21.Chaundee Brown scored 19 points and Brandon Childress added 14 for Wake Forest (6-4). Jordan Bone had 18 points and Admiral Schofield scored 12 for Tennessee.Williams had 17 points by halftime. The Southeastern Conference scoring leader showed his knack for making baskets while drawing contact as he converted a trio of three-point plays in the first 14 1/2 minutes of the game.The game went back and forth for the first 15 minutes before Tennessee closed the first half with a 15-5 run to grab a 42-30 lead. The Vols then opened the second half with a 16-6 spurt to build a 22-point edge.Tennessee stayed in front by at least 16 the rest of the way and led by as many as 27.BIG PICTUREWake Forest: This game continued a season-long pattern for the Demon Deacons, who have struggled defensively in all their losses. Wake Forest is 6-0 this season when it gives up fewer than 80 points but is 0-4 when it allows more than 80.Tennessee: The Vols went 32 of 60 from the floor, the third straight game in which they've shot over 50 percent. Tennessee shot 51.9 percent (27 of 52) in a 102-92 victory at Memphis and shot a season-high 57.9 percent (33 of 57) in an 83-70 win over Samford. Tennessee was only 3 of 13 from 3-point range but had 42 points in the paint.UP NEXTWake Forest hosts Gardner-Webb on Dec. 29.Tennessee hosts Tennessee Tech on Dec. 29.---Follow Steve Megargee at https://twitter.com/stevemegargee---More college basketball: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and https://twitter.com/-Top25)
Dec 21, 2018The last time Wake Forest upset a team ranked in the top five was five seasons ago, on March 5, 2014, when the Deacons knocked off fourth-ranked Duke 82-72.They have the opportunity to end a 0-9 stretch against top-five teams when they play Saturday at No. 3 Tennessee, which is 9-1 with its only loss coming in overtime to No. 1 Kansas. The Vols have also defeated then-No. 1 Gonzaga.Wake Forest (7-3) is coming off a 67-63 win on Monday over against Davidson in Winston-Salem, N. C. Davidson played without one of its best player, Kellan Grady, who is injured, but the Deacons are still confident heading into Saturday's game at Knoxville, Tenn., because they played one of their best games of the season, especially on defense."I told you we've been working on defensive stuff all year, we've just gotta keep improving," junior point guard Brandon Childress said after limiting Davidson to 37.0 percent shooting from the field, including 30.8 percent from 3-point range.Tennessee, which ranks No. 18 nationally averaging 84.9 points per game, has scored at least 76 points in nine of its 10 games. The Vols are coming off an 83-70 win over Samford on Wednesday in Knoxville behind guard Jordan Bone's career-high 24 points and 11 assists (the first time in seven seasons a Tennessee player had at least 11 assists).The Volunteers attacked the inside, scoring a season-high 52 points in the paint. Wing player Yves Pons had a career-high nine boards and two rim-rattling dunks. The Vols totaled six dunks in the game.Tennessee had 22 assists for its 33 made field goals."We don't mind shooting (the 3-pointer), but that's what we want to use to break the game open, we need to establish ourselves inside, and that's what important," Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. "We knew we wanted to try to get to their bench and put fouls on their interior defense." Wake Forest is striving for efficiency on offense as well. The Deacons are 3-0 when accumulating more assists than turnovers. Those games have been against Cal State Fullerton (13 assists, 10 turnovers), Charlotte (11 and 8) and Davidson (13 and 10)."We turned the ball over in some tough situations, but for the most part, to have 10 for the game, we're happy with that," Wake Forest coach Danny Manning said beating Davidson.Tennessee has more of an inside presence. Against Samford, wing player Admiral Schofield totaled 18 points, seven rebounds and two assists. Forward Grant Williams added 16 points, five boards and two assists.Williams, a junior, was the SEC Player of the Year last season. He leads the Vols with 19.4 points and 8.3 rebounds per game and is second with 4.4 assists per game.Schofield is averaging 22 points per game, including a 30-point showing against Gonzaga. After hitting one 3-pointer in each of the first three games, Schofield has connected on 22 of 45 3-pointers in the last seven games.Last season, Tennessee won 79-60 at Wake Forest. The Vols ended the game on a 13-0 run in the final 4:30, jump-started by two 3-pointers from Jordan Bowden and another from Schofield.
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