The Upside - Wake Forest

[SWC75]

- Would we have won this one with JJ Starling? If he’s 100%, probably. You could say that about several games we’ve lost.

- You have to credit the team for overcoming a 3-19 start to take a 6 point half-time lead. That was a 44-22 run.

- Kyle Cuffe was the guy who who got that run going. He was hustling all over the floor He scored 14 points, grabbed 6 rebounds 2 assists and a steal. I think his teammates took their cues from him and started playing the best defense we’ve seen all year. We just couldn’t maintain it.

- Eddie Lampkin had 4 early turnovers but played a big role in the comeback and wound up with 8 points and 10 rebounds.

- Jaquan Carlos got tarred and feathered in the gameday thread but scored 16 points with 4 rebounds and 4 assists.

- Lucas Taylor proved a shooter can emerge from a slump. He was 1 for 13 from 3 after hitting 35% last year but is 8 for 15 in the last three games and scored 31 points, 16 in this game. He’s a better all-round player than Chris Bell anyway and if Chris wants to stay in his slump, let’s play Lucas!

- Jayre Davis, in 19 minutes, had 7 points and 7 rebounds. Maybe our portal guys aren’t so bad after all.

- We again won the boards 43-33, but gave back seven possessions through turnovers.

- We led in fast break points, 16-7.

- This team can win some games in this conference.

6-7 and 18+ to go

LET’S GO ORANGE!


Net Points

This year I’m going to make things a bit easier on myself and just list the net points in each game after the Upside. Once a month I’ll do a deeper dive into the numbers rather than doing a “Net Points, etc.” post after every game. ‘Net’ points are the positives (points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks) minus the negatives, (missed field goals and free throws, turnovers and fouls committed).

Lucas Taylor game: 14NP in 36 minutes season: 42NP in 220 minutes = 7.6NP/40m
Eddie Lampkin game: 12NP in 30 minutes season: 163NP in 359 minutes = 18.2NP/40m
Jaquan Carlos game: 10NP in 33 minutes season: 84NP in 425 minutes = 7.9NP/40m
Jyare Davis game: 6NP in 19 minutes season: 129NP in 260 minutes = 19.8NP/40m
Donnie Freeman game: 4NP in 23 minutes season: 172NP in 327 minutes = 21.0NP/40m
Kyle Cuffe game: 3NP in 36minutes season: 13NP in 103 minutes = 5.0NP/40m
(His NP/40) actually dropped from 8.0 to 5.0 because of all the shots he missed in the second half.)
Elijah Moore game: 0NP in 6 minutes season: 70NP in 250 minutes = 11.2NP/40m
Petar Majstorovic game: -1NP in 8 minutes season: 27NP in 102 minutes = 10.6NP/40m
Chris Bell game: -3NP in 9 minutes season: 76NP in 321 minutes = 9.5NP/40m

Naheem McCloud game: 0NP in 0 minutes season: 3NP in 13 minutes = 9.2NP/40m
JJ Starling game: 0NP in 0 minutes season: 82NP in 220 minutes = 14.9NP/40m
Chance Westry game: 0NP in 0 minutes season: -1NP in 10 minutes = -4.0NP/40m

 

[atlanticuse]

There was no upside.

 

[PoppyHart]

I have to believe the “would we have won with JJ” question is going to be a meme that lasts for years.

Posters will be telling there yet-to-born grandchildren how impactful he was.

 

[JustPherU]

Can we quit acting like losing JJ is like losing Zach Edey.

 

[atlanticuse]

“They killed Kenny”

 

[HyattsCuse]

Carlos is becoming king of what we call “garbage points” in my fantasy league. Sure, he was 5-9, but 3 of those were uncontested layups with a 1:30 or less in the game when Wake was focused on not giving up 3’s or committing dumb fouls. They were happy to swap layups for free throws to end the game. So essentially 2-6 when the game outcome was in doubt. Carlos was 6/9 from the FT line, 66%. Not great. Personally, I thought the ref bailed him out a couple times in the lane.

For as good as Cuffe was in the first half, he was equally bad in the second. He did nothing in 20 minutes played in the 2nd half. 1 point and tossed up a bunch of bricks.

I know it must be really hard these days to make these upside posts, but can’t include those guys as positives.

 

[AlaskaSU]

The Upside is that there will be no anxiety on playoff Selection Day. We finally got off the bubble.