WINSTON-SALEM — Chasing its fourth-straight winning season while looking for its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2017, the Wake Forest men’s basketball team is aiming for a higher ceiling in the upcoming 2024-25 season.
Fifth-year coach Steve Forbes has put together records of 6-16, 25-10, 19-14, and 21-14 in his four seasons coaching the Demon Deacons, largely showing an improvement over the program’s previous decade of action.
Time will tell if this Wake team can make a jump in Year 5 of Forbes’ tenure in Winston-Salem.
Last season
The Demon Deacons finished with a 21-14 (11-9 Atlantic Coast Conference) record last year in a slim improvement over their 19-14 (10-10 ACC) showing for the 2022-23 season.
Led by guards Hunter Sallis and Kevin Miller, Wake looked like a potential NCAA tournament team as the final stretch of the season began with huge wins over Pittsburgh and Duke.
However, the Deacs went on to lose four of their final six matchups, becoming one of the first bubble teams to be eliminated from tournament contention when their cold finish was coupled with a weak out-of-conference record.
Departures
Wake enters its new campaign without eight players who decided to utilize the transfer portal. Most notably, the team will feel the absence of Miller (SMU) and forward Andrew Carr (Kentucky), who combined to average around 30 points per game last season.
Abramo Canka (Stetson), Aaron Clark (Pepperdine), Zach Keller (Utah), and Matthew Marsh (Oregon State) have also exited the program.
Newcomers
Salisbury native Juke Harris is Wake’s only incoming freshman; the 6-foot-7 Rowan County standout was rated as a top-20 shooting guard nationally.
From the portal, the Deacons have brought in sophomore forward Omaha Biliew (Iowa State), sophomore guard Ty-Laur Johnson (Louisville), sophomore guard Davin Cosby (Alabama), senior forward Tre’Von Spillers (Appalachian State), and sophomore center Churchill Abass (DePaul).
In Biliew, Wake has a former five-star recruit who decided he didn’t want to wait for minutes behind a crowded Cyclones depth chart.
Other players/coaches of note
Sallis — Wake’s top performer in minutes (35.4), points (18), and three-point percentage (40.5) last season — is back for his senior campaign.
He is joined by fellow senior guard Cameron Hildreth, who is poised for a big year after increasing his point total and long-range shooting in each of his three seasons at Wake.
Best case
The Demon Deacons finally take the step forward as Forbes’ transfer puzzle pieces click into place, putting the team right into contention for the conference title and March Madness appearance.
Sallis and Hildreth establish themselves as one of the best backcourts in the ACC, while a frontcourt of Biliew and 7-foot-1 center Efton Reid give opposing offenses a tough time.
Wake proves to have a deep bench with a revolving cast, including Spillers, who improves upon the stat line of 12.8 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 60% shooting he had last year with the Mountaineers.
Biggest concern
The transfer losses of Miller and Carr hit Wake harder than anticipated, leaving an absence of scoring on the team’s offensive side of the ball. Feeling the need to produce, Sallis is forced to shoot the ball more, and his effectiveness reverts closer to the level it was at during his two middling seasons at Gonzaga.
As with any school that relies so heavily on the portal, it’s always a gamble to start over at so many depth spots in the team’s roster — Wake’s successful remodel is no guarantee.
A fifth-consecutive NCAA tournament miss from Forbes would be testing for a program that grows continuously restless.
Key games
There are four non-conference games that stick out as being big tests heading into ACC play: Michigan (Nov. 10), Xavier (Nov. 16), Texas A&M (Dec. 3), and James Madison (Dec. 17).
Once the Deacs begin conference play, they are faced with many of the usual ACC heavyweights they are accustomed to, including Duke (Jan. 25/March 3) and North Carolina (Jan. 21); matchups with Clemson (Dec. 21) and Virginia (Feb. 26) will also be of importance.
Wake’s Feb. 1 home game against Pitt will give the team a chance for revenge following last season’s 81-69 loss in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament.
Bottom line
If Wake can be a top-five team in the ACC standings, while also winning the majority of its non-conference games, it has a solid shot at becoming the first Demon Deacon team in eight years to make the NCAA tournament.
Forbes has a track record of coaching teams that are greater than the sum of their parts, finding players that fit into his system and adapting them to his schemes. There are some intriguing prospects and newcomers to this Wake team that have the potential to give Forbes the most wins he’s ever had since joining the program in 2020.
