Wake Forest entered the 2024–25 season in third place in the ACC Preseason Poll, behind only No. 9 Duke and No. 20 North Carolina.
The Eagles, who were ranked last coming into the season, stayed neck and neck with the Demon Deacons for the entire game on Saturday before dropping the game by six points.
From an outsider’s perspective, that might seem like cause for a moral victory, if nothing else. But that’s not quite how it came across.
Here are some observations from the Eagles’ 72–66 loss to Wake Forest in their ACC opener.
Missing (a) Post
It wasn’t entirely clear before the start of the season how BC would replace Quinten Post. Would redshirt freshman Jayden Hastings suddenly morph into the NBA draft-caliber talent that Post was? Would transfer Chad Venning fill the gaping hole left in the paint? Would the Eagles settle for a lot of small ball? So far, none of those have looked like viable options.
The Eagles’ ability to run plays through Post last season and lean on him for the occasional 3-point shooting night was a lot more valuable than anyone might have realized at the time. The 7-footer shot 43 percent from three last season.
In BC’s loss to Wake Forest, passing the ball inside to Venning was a recipe for turnovers. And that’s not all Venning’s fault. He was getting double or even triple-teamed, then forced to throw bad passes out to the perimeter, looking for someone—anyone—to save him.
Post averaged three assists a game last season, and Venning has tallied zero assists in 60 percent of the Eagles’ games this year. Although, the season is still young.
But it’s hard to imagine a world where Venning suddenly gets comfortable receiving the ball in the post, withstanding pressure long enough for guys on the perimeter to get open, then kicking it out cleanly.
And without the presence of a post who can present a threat in the paint—who can collapse the defense and find the open man—the Eagles are severely hindered with what they can do offensively.
Whistle Woes
BC shot 20 fewer free throws than the Demon Deacons did on Saturday afternoon. Its paint defense wasn’t good by any means. From 12:16 remaining, down to 45 seconds left in the game, Wake Forest was able to maintain its lead despite making only one shot from the field. They did it by driving into the paint and getting fouled, basically at will, then repeatedly heading to the stripe for two free buckets.
Head coach Earl Grant thought the free throw discrepancy was the reason the Eagles lost after cutting their deficit to two several times at the end of the game. He said it simply.
“The whistle blew and they went to the free-throw line, and the whistle didn’t blow, and we didn’t go to the free-throw line,” he said when asked about the Eagles’ inability to close the gap.
Blaming the loss on the Demon Deacons’ second-half free throws is a little narrow-minded. The Eagles looked scared taking the ball all the way to the basket, instead settling for jumpers that weren’t falling. There’s no way of knowing what calls BC might’ve gotten if the Eagles had taken the ball inside.
Elijah Strong rose up with 22 seconds left and his team down four. His shot didn’t come close to falling, and Wake Forest’s Cameron Hildreth grabbed the board.
It wasn’t necessarily the wrong decision for Strong to shoot. Forcing downhill and drawing contact might’ve worked a little better, so he could shoot free throws without running more time off the clock.
But following the pattern of the rest of the game, the Eagles looked afraid to take the ball inside and draw the contact that might’ve gotten them the same calls that the Demon Deacons got effortlessly.
From Confident to Clueless in the Clutch
During the Eagles’ tournament wins in the Cayman Islands, they looked hyper-confident in clutch time. Their confidence in those minutes is what got them to wins. But that clutch mentality seems to have dissipated completely in the past couple of weeks.
BC was able to get the score within two in its loss to Dartmouth, trailing 82–80 after Strong sank two free throws in a high-pressure chance at the line. But after cutting it to two, BC gave up a layup on the other end. Not just a tightly contested, turnaround jumper that magically fell. A layup.
With 56 seconds left until the final buzzer, the Eagles were able to bring the score within four points seven times, but were unable to get over the hump, and ended up dropping the game to Dartmouth 88–83.
BC’s inability to get over the hump late in games is becoming a pattern. Doing so will be crucial, though, if BC wants to win conference games. It’s not clear where their confidence in the clutch went, but the Eagles need to find it if they want to win in the ACC.
