Undermanned Wake Forest Picks Up Sneaky-Good Road Win at Bucknell
With the injury to Codi Miller-McIntyre, freshman Bryant Crawford (above) has been thrown right into the fire at the pointguard spot. Crawford could not have responded better on Sunday, recording a team-leading 21 points and 7 assists–18 and 5 of which came in the second half–of a Wake Forest comeback win over Bucknell.
Wake Forest is not exactly beginning the 2015-2016 campaign at full strength.
Not only does senior pointguard Codi Miller-McIntyre (14.5 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 4.3 APG in 2014-2015) remain sidelined with a broken foot, but there’s also the suspended sophomore tandem of Cornelius Hudson and Rondale Watson. Those subtractions leave the Demon Deacons with just eight scholarship players available.
Of those eight, only forward Devin Thomas and guard Trent VanHorn—a former walk-on, nonetheless—are upperclassmen.
Wake struggled to conceal its general inexperience and shorthanded rotation in the season opener Friday at home against UMBC, barely eking out a five-point win thanks to a combined 40 points and 33 rebounds from Thomas and sophomore Dinos Mitoglou.
With all due respect to UMBC, much more of a collective effort—particularly better production from the backcourt—was required on the road against Bucknell, who was picked to finish second in the Patriot League this year.
And that’s exactly what transpired on Sunday. Wake overcame a 13-point deficit to beat Bucknell, 90-82, instantly getting the Demon Deacons halfway closer to their road win total (2) from all of last season.
Thomas, a walking double-double, had 18 points and 12 rebounds. Freshmen bigs Doral Moore and John Collins gave good minutes off the bench.
But it’s the guards that provided the difference.
Bryant Crawford, the #80 recruit in this year’s class per Rivals, has been thrown right into the fire at pointguard due to Miller-McIntyre’s absence. After shooting just 2-9 FG with a pair of assists against UMBC, Crawford led Wake with 21 points and 7 assists versus Bucknell—18 and 5 of which came after the break. Crawford’s vision is truly special, a statement he validates via his many no-look dimes. He also hit a pair of threes and went 7-10 from the line.
Sophomore running mate Mitchell Wilbekin chipped in a career-high 17 points, with three of those coming on a dagger triple when the Sojka Pavilion crowd was momentarily rejuvenated.
Then there’s VanHorn, who was finally awarded a scholarship only when Madison Jones was booted from the program this offseason, serving as a pest to a couple of Bucknell shooters who were looking all too comfortable in the first half. VanHorn often drew the assignment of All- Patriot League guard Chris Hass, who finished with a hard-earned 26 points and connected on just 1-6 FG in the second half.
In the initial 20 minutes, Bucknell shot 50% from the floor and made 8 of 15 three-pointers. After halftime, the Bison shot just 25% from the floor and made 3 of 14 three-pointers. VanHorn is as big a reason as any Demon Deacon for those splits being so drastic.
There’s a really good chance Wake Forest does not win this type of game last season. The future is very bright in Winston-Salem with the likes of Crawford, Moore, and Collins, but the present isn’t so bad, either. And that’s due in large part to the Crawford-Wilbekin-VanHorn backcourt trio mitigating the concerns of a somewhat depleted roster at the moment.
Mr. Ball Is Life 