WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Nicholls State University men's basketball team dug itself a deep hole in the first half and could not claw its way out for a third straight game, falling 75-48 to Wake Forest University.
With a strong second-half performance against UCLA on Thursday, the Colonels (0-3) expected to build on their recent success, but a gritty Demon Deacons (3-2) had other plans, snapping a two-game slide with the victory on Monday night.
Nicholls was within two points at the 14-minute mark, down 10-8 after a
Liam Thomas layup, but Wake Forest went on a 9-0 run to push its lead to double-digits. With under nine minutes remaining in the half,
Amin Torres nailed a jumper and
Ja'Dante' Frye sank a layup to cut the Demon Deacons lead to nine. Wake Forest responded, using a 13-point run to increase its lead to 22. The Demon Deacons hit a three-point shot, a jumper, and notched five points at the charity strike to take a 47-20 lead at the half.
The Colonels shot just 33.3 percent (9-27) from the field in the first period and were 0-5 from beyond the arc, continuing a pattern of slow starts before warming up in the second frame. In contrast, Wake Forest hit 51.7 percent (15-29) of its shots from the field and 4-10 from the three-point line.
Nicholls came out sluggish in the second half, allowing the Demon Deacon lead to balloon to 37-points with nine minutes left in the contest. Over the final nine minutes, the Colonels outscored Wake Forest 20-10, but the game was long out of reach.
In the second half Nicholls played the Demon Deacons to a 28-28 tie, shooting 50 percent from the field and 28.6 from three-point land, while holding Wake Forest to just 30 percent in the period.
At the final buzzer, the overall shooting statistics were comparable for the two teams as Nicholls shot 40 percent from the field and Wake Forest shot 42.9. The Colonels earned 26 points in the paint while the Demon Deacons produced 28.
There were a number of glaring discrepancies in other statistical categories with Wake Forest outscoring Nicholls 22-12 in points off turnovers, 12-2 in second chance points, 12-2 in fast break points and 33-16 in bench points. The Demon Deacons also had a 28-10 advantage in made free throws and outrebounded the Colonels 42-21.
Liam Thomas led Nicholls with 13 points, four rebounds and two blocks, all team-highs. Thomas scored the first eight points of the game for the Colonels.
T.J. Carpenter paced the squad with three assists and was second on the team in scoring with eight points.
Luka Kamber also contributed eight points with two rebounds, an assist and a blocked shot off the bench.
Cornelius Hudson and Mitchell Wilbekin each had 12 points to lead the balanced offensive outpouring from Wake Forest. Devin Thomas and Greg McClinton had six boards apiece to pace the squad, while Cody Miller-McIntyre and Madison Jones both tossed three assists. Dinos Mitoglou had three blocks to lead the team.
"I think in the second half we learned a lot," Head Coach
J.P. Piper said. "Teams like this expose weaknesses and our weakness in the first three games of the season is that we abandon our system too soon. We did that in the first half tonight and paid a price for it. Hopefully we're learning. We were better in the second half in terms of sticking to our system. We did a better job of doing what we do. We've got to progress and get better and I liked what I saw in the second half."
Nicholls will head back to Thibodaux for just 48 hours before flying to Ann Arbor for a matchup with the No. 19 University of Michigan at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Monday's contest will be broadcast live on KQKI 95.3 FM and can also be viewed on BTN Plus.
Visit geauxcolonels.com for live stats and the most up-to-date information on Nicholls men's basketball.
