Wake Forest 12-0 at home, 16-0 over past two seasons

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons have run their home record to (12-0) for this season and they now have extended the streak to (16-0) over the past two years after last night’s thrilling 70-68 victory over the Miami Hurricanes. theacc.com breaks it all down, like none other

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) – Ishamel Smith’s jumper with 3 seconds left lifted Wake Forest past Miami 70-68 on Tuesday night.

Freshman Jeff Teague scored a season-high 27 points for the Demon Deacons (13-6, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), but it was his backcourt mate who kept Wake Forest’s 16-game home winning streak alive.

Dwayne Collins could have given Miami the lead in the final minute, but he missed a layup, James Johnson collected the rebound and Wake Forest called timeout with 30.1 seconds left.

Smith dribbled out most of the clock before driving right, pulling up near the elbow and knocking down a jumper over Miami star Jack McClinton — nearly the same final-seconds shot he sank last month to beat Virginia Tech. The Hurricanes then got the ball to McClinton, who was stripped by Harvey Hale as the buzzer sounded.

McClinton had 16 points to lead Miami (15-5, 2-4), and his layup with 1:26 left — his only points of the second half — tied the game at 68-all.

It wasn’t enough to keep the Hurricanes from their fourth loss in five games, and yet another close one at the Demon Deacons’ hands. Miami’s last three losses in the series have come by a combined seven points.

Chas McFarland added 10 points for Wake Forest, and Johnson, the team’s leading scorer at 15.1 points per game, was held to nine — all in the second half.

Brian Asbury scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half and Collins finished with 12 for Miami, which shot nearly 55 percent. But the Hurricanes couldn’t get McClinton, their star sharpshooter, enough second-half shots against a Wake Forest playing without top defender L.D. Williams, out three weeks with a broken right hand.

from GREENSBOROSports.com:Duke and North Carolina are locks for the NCAA tournament, what about Wake Forest and N.C. State? The Deacons travel to face the Wolfpack this weekend in Raleigh.

To take this a step further, yahoo.com has the March Madness Predictions from rivials.com with North Carolina a #1 Regional seed and #3 overall, Duke is a two seed and #5 overall, Clemson is a seven seed and #26 overall, and Miami comes in at a number eleven seed and #41 overall. The Davidson Wildcats were seeded thirteenth and were #50 overall.
*****No Wake Forest, no N.C. State, no Boston College, no Maryland, no Virginia Tech, no Georgia Tech, no Virginia, no Florida State, only four teams from the ACC in the field of 65.*****

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