Game 18: at Wake Forest

From now until March we play only conference opponents against some of the best teams in the country. Tomorrow we start against Wake Forest, marking one of two trips to the Tar Heel State this month. We have won five straight against the Demon Deacons, but our last trip to Winston-Salem resulted in an OT win. Rumor has it that the game is being promoted as Kat Lyons Day meaning that Wake is encouraging Maryland fans in the area to come root against their team. (Can't wait for MD's Marketing Dept to promote Wanisha Smith Day on Jan. 14)

Wake is 12-2 on the season with their two losses coming to JMU and Radford, but they did knock off Texas A&M at home. The Deacons problem is that they can't score. They are averaging 60.4 points per game and have only broke that mark FOUR times all year. While they can't score, they don't let opponents score either allowing only 47.1 points per game and the most they have allowed was 64 to JMU. Opponents shoot only .311 from the floor and .305 from behind the arc against them. They aren't that great at shooting the ball either making only 40 percent of their shots.

I was able to watch some of their game versus Charlotte on ACC Select and from what I can tell, they play a match up zone on defense. Now the zone looked ragged as the players raced down to get into their spots, so who knows if they have improved on that. The zone keeps them out of foul trouble and they are outrebounding opponents, but some of their opponents probably have no height. On offense they set screens so that Tchangoue can get open and shoot. When that fails they dump into Groves.

Tchangoue leads the team in points and rebounds and is not afraid to shoot the three. Marissa will likely guard her. Groves is second on the team in both categories, but has come off the bench recently. Christen Brown is a 6-2 forward who can also shoot the 3. She averages 5.5 rebounds per game. I envision Harper covering her. Valentine is their shot blocker so Langhorne will probably be on her. I am guessing that Collier is the point guard given her higher number of assist totals, but it could also be Morris. Morris is less of a three-point shooter than Collier. Whoever plays the point will be the third different one this year as one got a concussion and one left the program.

Offensively, we need to grab the ball and go and not let WF settle into their defense. Attack Valentine when given the chance to take the shotblocker out of the middle. Defensively, pressure their guards, rebound the ball and fight through screens. Do all this and it should result in win 17.