March 3, 2005

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Game 30 

#4/4 Wake Forest (25-4/12-3) at NC State (17-11/7-8)

March 6, 2005 / 8:08 pm / Raleigh, NC / RBC Center (19,722) / Fox Sports Net

Television: Fox Sports Net. Tim Brando (play-by-play), Mike Gminski (color) and Charles Davis (sidelines) call the action. Bob Steinfeld produces.
Radio: Wake Forest/ISP Radio Network. Stan Cotten (play-by-play) and Mark Freidinger (color analysis) call the action. Chris Ferris is the producer/engineer.
Radio: XM Satellite Radio (nationally).
Records: Wake Forest is 25-4 overall and 12-3 in the ACC after a 98-91 win over visiting Georgia Tech Wednesday night. NC State is 17-11 and 7-8 after an 82-72 win at Virginia Wednesday night.
Rankings: Wake Forest is ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press poll and No. 4 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll. NC State is not ranked.
Coaches: Wake Forest head coach Skip Prosser (U.S. Merchant Marine Academy `72) is 92-33 (.736) in his fourth season with the Demon Deacons, 257-111 (.698) in his 12th season overall. NC State coach Herb Sendek (Carnegie Mellon `85) is 165-119 in nine seasons with the Wolfpack, 228-145 in 12 seasons overall.
Series: NC State leads, 125-93.
Officials: Announced on game day.

Deacons Close Out Regular Season Sunday Night At NC State
Wake Forest and NC State, two longtime rivals with very much on the line, meet in the regular season finale Sunday night at the RBC Center in Raleigh (8:08 pm/Fox Sports Net).
The fourth-ranked Demon Deacons, 25-4 overall and 12-3 in the ACC, have an outside shot at a share of the ACC regular season title and a better chance at an NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed. In addition, a win Sunday would tie for the most overall wins and most ACC wins in school history.
To accomplish any of that, however, the Demon Deacons would have to beat a surging NC State team Sunday.
The Wolfpack, 17-11 and 7-8, have won four of their last five, including an 82-72 win at Virginia Wednesday night. NC State, trying to secure an NCAA Tournament bid, is also attempting to get one of the top five seeds in next week's ACC Tournament. Finishing in the top five would allow the `Pack to avoid playing in Thursday's first round.
NC State leads the all-time series, 125-93.

Today's Tip-Off
- NC State and Wake Forest will continue to meet twice each season in the expanded ACC schedule.
- Since the ACC began in 1954, Wake Forest is 26-25 in regular season finales. The Deacons and Wolfpack have met in the season finale 35 times with State holding a 20-15 advantage.
- Over the last three seasons combined, the Deacons have won 34 ACC regular season games. Only Duke, with 35 victories, has as many.
- Wake Forest has a chance Sunday to tie the school record for single-season victories (26).

Deacons Rally Past Yellow Jackets, 98-91
Vytas Danelius and Taron Downey kept No. 4 Wake Forest unbeaten at home by pulling the Demon Deacons out of an 11-point deficit and rallying them to a 98-91 victory over Georgia Tech on Wednesday night.
Danelius had 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Downey scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half and sparked two pivotal runs with 3-pointers.
Jamaal Levy, Wake Forest's only other scholarship senior, scored nine of his 10 points in the second half.
The trio turned it up after falling behind 45-37 at halftime and getting a lecture from coach Skip Prosser during the break.
Downey said the Deacons played horrible defense in the first half, then turned it around after Prosser's scolding. Wake Forest had just three turnovers in the second half, and outrebounded the Yellow Jackets 37-29.

More From Wednesday's Win vs. Tech
- The Deacons scored more than 80 points for the 14th time in 15 ACC games.
- Wake scored more than 80 points for the 19th time in the last 21 games and for the 20th time in the last 23 games.
- Six different Deacons scored in double figures for the second time this season (also vs. Virginia on Jan. 2).
- Wake out-rebounded its opponent for the 23rd time in 29 games this season.
- The Deacons had a season-high 46 free throw attempts (previously 42).
Deacs Continue To Reach Win Milestones
- Wake Forest's 25 wins ties for the third-most single-season victories in school history and the Deacons are one victory away from the school record of 26. The 1995 and 1996 teams both finished 26-6.
- With 12 ACC wins, Wake Forest is one win short of tying the school record of 13 league victories held by the 2003 team. The Deacons have double-digit ACC wins for just the second time in the last eight years. 
- The 25 overall wins also matches coach Skip Prosser's personal best season. His 1999 Xavier team (25-11) and 2003 Wake Forest team (25-6) both won 25 games.
- Wake's 22-3 start was its best through 25 games in nearly 80 years -- since the 1927 team finished the season at 22-3.
- The Deacons have won 20 games or more in each of the last four seasons.
- Wake Forest clinched a winning season for the 15th consecutive year.
- The Deacons have won 92 games over the last four seasons combined -- all under coach Skip Prosser -- to average 23.0 wins per season.
- WFU's 92 wins over the last four years are the third-most victories over a four-year span in school history.
- The Deacons finished with a perfect 16-0 record at home -- matching the best record in Joel Coliseum history and just the third time Wake has completed an undefeated home season at The Joel. The 16-game home court streak ties for the eighth-longest current streak in Division I.

Wake Forest-NC State Series History
- NC State leads the all-time series, 125-93.
- Wake Forest won the previous meeting, 86-75 in Winston-Salem on Feb. 10. That Deacon victory broke a streak of three consecutive Wolfpack victories in the series.
- Wake Forest has won nine of the last 12 meetings, including eight straight victories from 2000-2003.
- The Deacons are 54-86 all-time against State in Raleigh, but the Deacons have won three out of the last four at the RBC Center.
- The Wake Forest-NC State series (218 meetings) is the third-most frequently played series in ACC history.
- Wake Forest and NC State are meeting in the final game of the regular season for the fifth straight year.
- The two teams first met back in 1910-11.
- Wake coach Skip Prosser is 5-3 all-time against NC State.
- Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek is 7-13 all-time versus Wake Forest.

Deacon-Wolfpack Connections
- Deacon junior Trent Strickland and Wolfpack junior Cameron Bennerman both previously played at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia.
- NC State's Ilian Evtimov attended high school in Winston-Salem at Reynolds before transferring to Bishop McGuiness.
- Deacon freshman Cameron Stanley hails from Raleigh, where he attended Millbrook High School.
- Wake (Josh Howard in 2003) and NC State (Julius Hodge in 2004) have produced the last two ACC Players of the Year.
- Bill Newton, who previously worked in the WFU media relations office, now works in a similar capacity at NC State.

Deacons At No. 4 In The Polls
Wake Forest jumped two spots, from No. 6 to No. 4 in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today polls this week.
The Deacons have been in the AP top 25 for 49 consecutive weeks. Only five schools have a longer current streak. The school record for consecutive weeks ranked is 54, set from the start of the 1994-95 season through March 10, 1997.
The Deacons have been ranked in the top 10 for 16 consecutive weeks. The school record is 19 weeks, from March of 1996 to March of 1997.
Wake Forest was ranked No. 1 earlier this season for the first time in school history.
The Deacons have been ranked no lower than seventh all season.
Wake is ranked No. 4 in the CollegeRPI.com ratings, No. 4 in the Sagarin Ratings and No. 3 by CBS Sportsline.

On Track To Break Scoring Margin Mark
Wake Forest, which has won 17 games by 11 points or more, owns the highest scoring margin (+12.5) in school history. The Deacons own the 14th-highest scoring margin nationally.

Deacons Hot From Behind Arc
Over the last three games, Wake Forest is 29-of-59 (49.2 percent) from three-point range. The Deacons are shooting 40.8 percent for the season, which ranks seventh nationally and second in the ACC.

Wake Undefeated When...
... (24-0) when holding opponents to less than 90 points.
... (24-0) when holding opponents below 50 percent shooting.
... (23-0) when leading with 5:00 remaining.

Chris Paul A Finalist For Wooden, Naismith, Rupp And Cousy Awards
- Chris Paul is a finalist for three national player of the year awards: the Wooden Award, the Naismith Trophy and the Rupp Trophy.
- He is also a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award, which is presented annually to the nation's top point guard.
- Paul was named to the 2005 Academic All-America Team. The Lewisville (NC) native, a third team selection, is the first Deacon to earn Academic All-America honors since Rusty LaRue in 1996.
- He was named the ACC's Most Valuable Player by CollegeInsider.com.
- Paul has been named ACC Player of the Week twice this season.
- He was the ESPN.com National Player of the Week and ESPN's Big Man On Campus Jan. 17.
- Dick Vitale named Paul his mid-season National Player of the Year.
- Paul was named the co-Male Athlete of the Year by USA Basketball, an award he shares with North Carolina's Sean May.
- He was the leading vote-getter for the Associated Press Preseason All-America team.
- Paul edged NC State's Julius Hodge for pre-season ACC Player of the Year honors by a 38-to-35 count.

Paul Is Named Academic All-American
Wake Forest sophomore guard Chris Paul was named to the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Team March 2nd. Paul, the only sophomore among the 15 players chosen for the team, was a third team selection.
Paul, who owns a cumulative 3.21 grade-point average (he has not declared a major), is just the second Demon Deacon men's basketball player to earn Academic All-America honors. Paul joins Rusty LaRue, who earned third team honors in 1996.
A Lewisville (NC) native, Paul is the only player from the ACC to make the men's basketball All-America Team.
Below is a look at the 2005 Academic All-America Team for men's basketball:

First Team
Eric Castro  SMU  Sr.  3.80 Sociology/Accounting
Will Emerson  Mercer  Jr.  4.00  Biology
Johannes Herber  W. Virginia  Jr.  4.00  Political Science
Chris Hill  Michigan St.  Sr.  3.75  Finance
Derek Winans  SE Mo. State  Sr.  3.97  Business

Second Team
Turner Battle  Buffalo  Sr.  3.56  Communications
Erik Benzel  Denver  Sr.  3.69  Finance
Craig Forth  Syracuse  Sr.  3.85  Education/Geography
Dan Grunfeld  Stanford  Jr.  3.66  American Studies
Neil Plank  Illinois State  Jr.  4.00  Finance

Third Team
David Erbes  N. Dakota St.  Sr.  3.88 Agricultural Economics
Christian Maraker  Pacific  Sr.  3.46  Sports Sciences
Dan Oppland  Valparaiso  Jr.  3.49  PE/Sports Management
Chris Paul  Wake Forest  So. 3.21  Undecided
Dennis Trammel  Ball State  Sr.  3.42  Business Management

Skip Prosser One Of 10 Finalists For National Coach Of The Year
Wake Forest head coach Skip Prosser is one of 10 finalists for the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year, presented annually by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
Prosser is joined on the list of finalists by  Ray Giacoletti (Utah), Bobby Lutz (Charlotte), Bruce Pearl (Wisconsin-Milwaukee), Al Skinner (Boston College), Tubby Smith (Kentucky), Bob Thomason (Pacific), Bruce Weber (Illinois), Ralph Willard (Holy Cross) and Roy Williams (North Carolina).
Prosser gained his 250th career victory Feb. 2 against Duke. Prosser is now 257-111 (.698) in 12 seasons as a head coach.
More on Prosser:
- Prosser's teams have won 20 games or more in nine consecutive seasons.
- Three of his teams have won 25 games.
- His winning percentage since joining the ACC (.736) is the fifth-highest in the 52-year history of the league. Only Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Vic Bubas and Bill Guthridge produced higher winning percentages.
- Prosser's record in ACC play is 43-20 (.683).
- Prosser is the only coach in NCAA history to lead three schools to the NCAA Tournament in his first season at each school -- Loyola (MD), Xavier and Wake Forest.

Justin Gray In Elite Deacon Company
Wake Forest junior Justin Gray is one of just eight players in Demon Deacon history to accumulate 1,200 career points, 200 assists and 100 steals. From the list below, only Randolph Childress, Tony Rutland and Gray have 200 career 3-pointers.

Deacons 6-1 In The Close Ones
Wake has played its share of barn-burners this season:
- Wake Forest has played seven games decided by five points or less and the Deacons are 6-1 in those games.
- Wake Forest has won nail-biters at home (89-88 over No. 14 Texas and 92-89 over No. 4 Duke), on the road (67-64 at Temple, 74-70 at Cincinnati and 68-63 at Miami) and at neutral sites (63-60 vs. No. 18 Arizona in New York).
- In Skip Prosser's four years, the Deacs are 11-5 in games decided by three points or less, 22-10 in games decided by five points or less and 40-20 in games decided by 10 points or less.
- The Deacons have played two overtime games.

Nation's Toughest Schedule?
Wake Forest's schedule is proving to be one of the strongest in the nation:
- Wake Forest, according to the Sagarin Ratings, has the nation's 10th-most difficult schedule.
- Five of the 25 teams in the Associated Press poll are Wake Forest opponents -- #1 Illinois, #2 North Carolina, #6 Duke, #12 Arizona and #22 Cincinnati.
- Five other Deacon opponents are receiving votes for one or both major polls.
- Wake Forest is the only ACC school to play four games against non-conference ranked opponents.
- The Deacons have already played nine teams that were ranked at tip-off -- Illinois, Arizona, Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech and Duke (twice).

Wake Forest 6-3 vs. Ranked Teams
- Wake Forest is 6-3 this season against nationally-ranked teams with wins over then No. 18 Arizona, No. 14 Texas, No. 25 Virginia, No. 3 North Carolina, No. 20 Cincinnati and No. 4 Duke, and losses on the road at No. 5 Illinois, No. 22 Georgia Tech and No. 7 Duke.
- Wake's wins against ranked teams have come at home (Texas, UNC, Duke), on the road (UVa,  Cincinnati) and at a neutral site (Arizona).
- Wake Forest also defeated George Washington and Maryland, both of which have been in and out of the polls all season.
- The Deacs have their most wins against ranked teams since going 6-4 in 1996-97 -- the last season Wake posted a winning record against ranked clubs.

Lighting Up The Scoreboard
- Wake Forest ranks third nationally in scoring (86.4 points per game) -- the Deacons' highest scoring average since 1976 and the second-highest scoring average in school history.
- The last time any ACC team averaged more than 84 points per game was by Duke in 2002.
- In ACC games, the Deacons rank first in the league in scoring at 89.5 points per game.
- The Deacons have scored 80 points or more in 19 out of the last 21 games and in 20 of the last 23 games.
- Wake Forest has scored at least 81 points in 14 of 15 ACC games.
- Wake scored more than 90 points in three straight games (from Jan. 27-Feb. 2) for the first time since 1993.
- Wake has scored at least 100 points twice this season and eight times in the Skip Prosser era.

Deacons Finish With 16-0 Home Record
- Wake Forest completed the 2004-05 home season with a perfect 16-0 record, tying the 2002-03 team for the best record in Lawrence Joel Coliseum history.
- The 16-0 mark is just the third undefeated home season since Joel Coliseum opened in 1989-90.
- Wake Forest has always enjoyed success within the friendly confines of Lawrence Joel Coliseum. The Demon Deacons are 202-42 (.828) all-time at The Joel.
- In Skip Prosser's four seasons with the Deacons, Wake is 57-6 (.905).  The Deacs' last home loss came on March 6, 2004 -- an 81-70 loss to NC State.
- Wake's 16-game home court streak is the eighth-longest current streak in Division I.
- The Deacons have not lost a home non-conference game since Feb. 9, 2002 -- a 103-94 loss to sixth-ranked Cincinnati in Prosser's first season with the Deacons. 
- Under Prosser, Wake is 30-1 at home against non-ACC competition.
- Wake Forest has won 23 consecutive non-conference home games. The school record is 24.

Wake Posts 3rd-Highest Attendance
In 16 home games this season, Wake Forest attracted 209,321 fans to Lawrence Joel Coliseum. The average home attendance of 13,083 marked the third-highest average in school history, second only to Tim Duncan's senior year of 1997 (13,710) and last season (13,197). The 2004-05 total home attendance of 209,321 was a school record.

Three Deacs Have Reached 1,000 Points This Season; Two More Have A Shot
Three different Wake Forest players -- Justin Gray, Eric Williams and Taron Downey -- have already reached 1,000 career points this season.
Three players reaching 1,000 in the same season is rare. And it's possible that two more Deacons -- Vytas Danelius and Chris Paul -- could reach 1,000 before the season is over.
Downey scored his 1,000th career point Feb. 10 against NC State, becoming the third Demon Deacon this season and the 44th player in Wake history to eclipse 1,000 career points.
Williams scored his 1,000th career point Feb. 2. Junior Justin Gray scored his 1,000th point Dec. 30 against North Carolina A&T in just his 66th career game.
Danelius enters the regular season finale with 966 career points. Paul, who has 897 points, could reach 1,000 if the Deacons can advance far in the postseason.
Only six schools have produced more 1,000-point scorers than Wake Forest.

Keys To Wake Forest's Success
When Wake Forest is playing winning basketball, the Deacons are also on top of their game defensively:
- Opponents have shot 50 percent or better against Wake Forest five times this season, including all four losses.
- Five times this season Deacon opponents have scored 91 points or more. Four of those resulted in loses. In fact, Wake opponents average 96.5 points in the four Deacons losses.
- The Deacs have been out-rebounded four times this season. Two of those games resulted in losses.
- Wake averages 4.2 more steals and 3.2 more blocked shots in victories than in Deacon losses.

Small Enrollment, Big Crowds
Wake Forest has an undergraduate enrollment of just 4,037 (6,444 including graduate students), so one might think there would be plenty of empty seats in the 14,665-seat Lawrence Joel Coliseum for home games.
However, near-capacity crowds are the norm at home games. Last year an average of 13,197 fans attended Deacon home games. This year Wake Forest averaged 13,083 fans per home game. That means Wake Forest averaged a crowd that is 324 percent of its student enrollment.
Out of the 4,037 undergraduate students, nearly 2,500 are members of the Screamin' Demons, Wake's student fan club.

"We hadn't faced a crowd like this all season. Some people don't think a crowd can affect anybody's game but when people are rowdy and jumping around it's hard to focus."
-- North Carolina's Rashad McCants

Deacons Set NCAA Free Throw Record
Wake Forest broke an NCAA record Jan. 18 at Florida State by making its 50th consecutive free throw. The Deacons made an ACC record 32-of-32 free throws against North Carolina Jan. 15, then made their first 18 attempts at Florida State.
The previous record of 49 consecutive free throws made was held by Indiana State in 1991.
With their 32-of-32 performance Jan. 15, the Deacons set a school, ACC and Lawrence Joel Coliseum record. Wake came within two free throws of tying the NCAA single-game record.

Making `Em When It Counts
Wake Forest, which shoots 69.2 percent from the free throw line, has shot 74.0 percent (134-181) from the line in the final five minutes of games this season. Senior Vytas Danelius shoots 87.5 percent (7-of-8) and senior Taron Downey shoots 84 percent (21-of-25) from the line in the final five minutes.

Paul Receives USA Basketball Honor
USA Basketball teammates Sean May of North Carolina and Wake Forest's Chris Paul, who helped lead the 2004 USA World Championship For Young Men Qualifying Team to a gold medal, were selected USA Basketball co-Male Athletes of the Year by the USA Basketball Executive Committee.  The announcement was made Dec. 28.
"I'm still trying to figure out how this happened," said a stunned Paul. "This is such an honor. Sean is so deserving of this, he had a great summer. He was huge for our team. But I know that neither Sean nor I could have done this without our teammates."
As the co-USA Basketball Male Athletes of the Year, May and Paul have been nominated to the U.S. Olympic Committee for consideration of its 2004 Male Athlete of the Year Award.

Stanley Redshirting 2004-05
Cameron Stanley, the only freshman on the Demon Deacon roster, is recovering from a torn ACL suffered last December and will redshirt this season. Stanley has practiced with the team all season, but is still trying to get completely comfortable with the knee.

Bringing Home The Gold
Junior Justin Gray and sophomore Chris Paul were two of 12 college all-stars who led the United States to a gold medal this summer at the World U-20 Championship Qualifying Tournament in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The two Deacons started every game and helped the USA to a perfect 5-0 record. If not for a case of extreme dehydration, which sent Wake's Eric Williams to the hospital during the trials, the USA team would have likely included three Deacons.

New Banners On Display
Wake Forest has new banners in Lawrence Joel Coliseum, recognizing all former Demon Deacons who have their jerseys retired. In addition, there are banners for NCAA Tournament participation, ACC championships and ACC regular season titles.

Miscellaneous Notes
- Wake Forest began ACC play 4-0 for the first time since 1996-97 -- Tim Duncan's senior season. 
- Wake's 89-70 win at Virginia Jan. 2 marked the Deacons' largest margin of victory in Charlottesville since 1962.
- The Deacons' 103-68 win at Clemson Jan. 8 was their largest margin of victory ever in an ACC road game.
- Wake's 81-66 win over Maryland Jan. 11 was its largest margin of victory against the Terrapins in 11 years.
- January 2nd was a good day for the Prosser family. An hour after Wake Forest won its ACC opener at Virginia, Deacon coach Skip Prosser learned of more good news -- Bucknell had registered one of the biggest wins in school history, winning on the road at nationally-ranked Pittsburgh. Prosser's son, Mark, is a second-year assistant coach at Bucknell.
- Wake Forest has faced three coaches this season who have won more than 700 career games -- Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, Arizona's Lute Olson and Temple's John Chaney.
- Wake Forest, after capturing the Preseason NIT title in November, is 7-1 all-time in that tournament.
- The Deacons are 28-1 in their last 29 games played in the month of November, including a streak of 10 straight wins.
- Wake Forest has won 11 straight season openers and the Deacons are 71-28 all-time in season openers.
- The Deacons have won 16 consecutive home openers. The last time the Deacons lost their first home game of the season came on Nov. 28, 1988 -- the last season WFU played in Memorial Coliseum. That loss came against Richmond, 74-61.
- Jeremy Ingram, a sophomore guard, transferred to East Carolina at the end of the fall semester. Ingram, a 6-3 Kinston (NC) native, played in eight games last season. He averaged 1.6 points and 0.8 rebounds per game.

New Floor, New Uniforms
Lawrence Joel Coliseum, the home of Demon Deacon basketball, has a new playing floor this season. The new floor replaces the original surface, which had been in place since the facility opened in 1989.
Also new this year are the Wake Forest uniforms. The Deacons are sporting new Nike Elite uniforms with versions in white, gold and black.

Three Sign National Letters Of Intent
Three talented high school seniors - two from North Carolina and one from New Mexico - signed letters of intent to play basketball at Wake Forest beginning next season, head coach Skip Prosser announced.
Harvey Hale (Albuquerque, NM/Rio Grande HS), Kevin Swinton (Greensboro, NC/Dudley HS) and David Weaver (Black Mountain, NC/Owen HS) will make up the Deacon freshman class.
The three signees, all highly-rated nationally, will give Wake Forest help in at least three positions.
"We really think this is a solid class that will help us compete at the highest level," Prosser said. "Every school in the ACC has outstanding recruiting classes almost every season and again, this class will help us compete within the league."
All three young men are potentially terrific basketball players, they are outstanding students, good people and come from quality high school programs."
Hale, 6-3 and 190 pounds, is considered the top prep prospect in New Mexico and is rated in the top 150 nationally by Rivals.com. He averaged 19.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game as a junior. Hale, who also plays for the Arizona/New Mexico Pump n' Run AAU team, chose the Deacons over Arkansas, Arizona State, DePaul, SMU and Stanford. He is coached at Rio Grande High School by Ron Garcia.
"Harvey (Hale) is a combo guard who we feel will help fill the void created by the impending loss of Taron Downey," Prosser said. "Harvey is not the pure shooter that Taron is, but he is longer and is potentially an even better defender. He has a knack for scoring and he leads one of the best high school teams in New Mexico.
Swinton, 6-7 and 230 pounds, is one of the top forwards in the nation. He averaged 22.0 points and 11.3 rebounds per game as a junior at Dudley. Swinton is ranked as the 20th-best power forward nationally by Rivals and the 47th-best prospect overall by Hoopmasters.
 A member of the 2004 USA South Team at the Olympic sports festival, Swinton also plays for the North Carolina Gaters AAU team. Swinton plays for coach David Price at Dudley.