March 14, 2002

WAKE FOREST BASKETBALL NOTES March 15-16, 2002 / vs. Oregon / NCAA Midwest Regional / Sacramento, CA

Deacons Take On Ducks In Saturday's Second Round

Wake Forest, coming off its first NCAA Tournament victory since 1997, takes on No. 2 seed, 11th-ranked and Pac 10 Conference regular season champion Oregon Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Midwest Regional at ARCO Arena. The Demon Deacons, 21-12, are coming off an 83-74 win over No. 10 seed Pepperdine on Thursday. Oregon, 24-8, is coming off a 81-62 victory over No. 15 seed Montana. The winner of Saturday's game advances to Madison (WI) to play either Mississippi State, Texas, Boston College or McNeese State.

More About Thursday's Win Over Pepperdine

With junior forward Josh Howard playing at less than full strength because of a high ankle sprain, Wake's five seniors led the Deacons to an 83-74 win over Pepperdine. Senior Craig Dawson made five three-point field goals en route to 19 points. Senior Darius Songaila added 18 points and Broderick Hicks 15 points. Hicks (seven assists) and Dawson (four), Wake's starting backcourt, combined for 11 assists and no turnovers. The Deacons shot 50.8 percent from the floor, improving to 20-1 when they shoot a higher percentage than the opponent. Wake's 83 points were its most in an NCAA Tournament game since a 84-78 win over Iowa on March 21, 1993.

Wake's NCAA Tournament History

Wake Forest is appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the 17th time... the Deacons are 23-16 all-time in NCAA Tournament play... Wake is 12-5 all-time in first-round games... the Deacs' win over Pepperdine Thursday was their first NCAA Tournament win since beating St. Mary's in the opening round of the 1997 tournament... in Oregon, Wake will be facing a No. 2 seed for the first time since losing to Houston in the finals of the 1984 Midwest Regional... Wake is 0-2 all-time against No. 2 seeds... the Deacons have defeated a team seeded No. 2 or higher just once - a win over No. 1 seed DePaul in 1984.

Wake-Oregon Series History

Wake Forest and Oregon were two of the eight teams in the very first NCAA Tournament in 1939... Oregon leads the all-time series 2-0... the Ducks won the most recent meeting, 67-66, in the opening round of the Rainbow Classic on Dec. 28, 1999.... Wake's five seniors and junior Josh Howard played in that game... Oregon won the first meeting, 76-58, on Dec. 22, 1967, at the Vanderbilt Invitational in Nashville... Wake is 7-7 all-time against teams from the Pac 10... the Deacons last played a Pac 10 team on March 24, 2000, when they defeated California, 76-59, in the postseason NIT at the Greensboro Coliseum... Wake is 1-1 all-time against Pac 10 teams in the NCAA Tournament, including a loss to Stanford in 1997, which was Tim Duncan's last game in a WFU uniform... Wake's Skip Prosser is 1-0 all-time against Oregon... his Xavier team beat the Ducks, 106-75, in the third-place game of the 1999 NIT.

Deacon-Duck Connections

Wake Forest senior Craig Dawson and Oregon senior Frederick Jones played together prior to college at Nike camp... Wake senior associate athletic director Barbara Walker and associate athletic director Dwight Lewis both previously worked at Oregon... Oregon assistant coach Scott Duncan previously coached in the ACC as an assistant at Clemson in 2000.

Wake Vs. Ranked Teams

Wake Forest will play its 13th nationally-ranked opponent of the season... that's the most ranked opponents Wake has faced in one season since 1994-95... the Deacons are 3-9 this season against ranked teams... Wake is 0-8 this season against teams that were ranked in the top 10 at tip-off (3 losses to Duke, 2 to Maryland, 1 vs. Cincinnati, 1 vs. Kansas and 1 vs. Virginia)... the last time Wake beat a team ranked 11th or higher was an 84-53 win over third-ranked Kansas on Dec. 27, 2000... the last time WFU played a team ranked as high as 11th in the NCAA Tournament was a loss to No. 2 Kentucky in 1996... the last time Wake beat a ranked team in NCAA Tournament play was a win over No. 13 Iowa in 1993... the last time Wake beat a team ranked as high as 11th in the NCAA Tournament was a victory over No. 4 DePaul in 1984.

Deacons Get 21st Victory

Wake Forest earned its 21st victory Thursday, tying for the 11th-most single-season wins in school history... with one more win, Wake would tie for the fifth-most single-season wins in school history... one more win would also give the Deacons 80 victories over the last four years, or an average of 20 wins per season... Wake has averaged 20 or more wins over a four-year period just six times in school history... Wake will play its 34th game of the season Saturday, marking the second-most games played in school history.

Dawson Plays In First Tournament Game, Seniors Get First Win

Senior Craig Dawson saw the first NCAA Tournament action of his career Thursday... he missed last year's tournament because of a shoulder injury... Wake's five-man senior class got the monkey off its collective back Thursday by winning their first ever NCAA Tournament game.

Darius Songaila Continues To Post Huge Numbers Senior Darius Songaila turned in a workman-like 18 points Thursday. The second team All-ACC selection continues to put up huge numbers... ... 19 consecutive games scoring in double figures ... 32 games this season scoring in double figures ... 105 career games scoring in double figures ... 1,840 career points (9th in WFU history) ... 800 career rebounds (8th in WFU history) ... 119 games started (2nd in WFU history) ... 9 straight free throws without a miss ... 13 double-doubles this season ... 96 career blocked shots (8th in WFU history)

Deacons Are Black And Blue

Wake Forest junior All-ACC selection Josh Howard continues to nurse a high ankle sprain originally suffered Feb. 7... he played 18 injury-filled minutes on Thursday... his status for Saturday remains day to day... Wake is also without junior reserve guard Steve Lepore, who underwent left knee surgery on Tuesday.

Hicks Comes Up Big For Deacons

Senior Broderick Hicks started the first 19 games of the season at point guard, then surrendered the starting job for 10 games to freshman Taron Downey... Hicks re-gained the starting job March 2 and has played remarkably well ever since... in Thursday's win over Pepperdine, Hicks scored 15 points, dished out seven assists and had no turnovers... over his last two games he has 11 assists and one turnover... Thursday, Hicks hit a clutch three-point field goal with 2:01 remaining... Wake coach Skip Prosser called the shot "cold-blooded."... Hicks has scored in double figures in each of the last five games... he has seven three-point field goals over the last three games... Hicks holds the Wake Forest school record for career games played (130)... Hicks now has 285 career assists, which ranks ninth in school history... his 110 career three-pointers are also the ninth-most in school history.

Dawson Passes Shane Battier

Craig Dawson went 5-of-9 from three-point range Thursday in his first NCAA Tournament appearance... Dawson has 95 three-point field goals this season, which is one short of tying Randolph Childress' single-season record of 96... Dawson now has 250 career three-point field goals... on Thursay he passed Tony Rutland (248 career treys) for third place on Wake's all-time career list... he passed Rutland and Shane Battier for 12th place in ACC history... he also passed Billy Packer Thursday for 20th place on Wake's all-time career scoring chart... Dawson has made at least one three-point field goal in every game but two this season... he has made three or more three-pointers in a game 14 times this season, 34 times in his career... over his last five games, Dawson has 25 assists and just five turnovers.

Miscellaneous Notes

... Wake started all five scholarship seniors for the second time Thursday (also March 2 vs. NC State). ... Wake is 20-1 when shooting a higher percentage than its opponent. ... the Deacons are 15-1 when they have more free throw attempts than the opponent. ... WFU has made at least one three-point field goal in 288 consecutive games. ... the No. 7 seed is 11-29 all-time in second-round contests. ... walk-on R.D. Montgomery did not dress Thursday because of flu-like symptoms. ... both North Carolina teams making the long journey to Sacramento - WFU and UNCW - won on Thursday.