The Demon Deacons (8-2) are the first of three Atlantic Coast Conference teams that the Spartans (2-8) will host at the Greensboro Coliseum in the next seven days.
N.C. State comes in on New Year’s Eve, followed by Maryland on Sunday.
The games will be the fourth, fifth and sixth times that the Spartans take on ACC opponents this season. They opened with losses at Duke (96-62), Virginia Tech (59-46) and Clemson (89-67). They also lost handily to East Carolina, which was soundly throttled by the Deacons.
The Demon Deacons and Spartans could be a little rusty. Wake is playing for the first time since defeating N.C. State 67-59 on Dec. 20, while UNCG hasn’t played since losing 89-63 to Richmond on Tuesday.
“I think we want to win so badly that we’ve been a little bit tight,” Demon Deacon coach Dino Gaudio said after the State game. “I’ve been trying to do things before the games to loosen them up.”
Gaudio is looking for more consistent play from leading scorer Al-Farouq Aminu after he commited seven turnovers to go with a double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds against the Wolfpack.
That followed a 13-point, 17-rebound, three-turnover outing against UNC Wilmington for Aminu. who is averaging 16.1 points and 10.7 rebounds per game.
“You look at the stats and I didn’t think he played well at UNCW with a similar line (as in the State game),” Gaudio said. “He just has to slow down a little bit. He’s trying to do too much off the dribble. He’s trying to play a little too fast.”
Wake will be seeking to stop Spartan guard Brandon Evans and forward Ben Stywell. Evans leads UNCG with an average of 12.4 points per game with Stywell averaging 11.7.
gsmith@hpe.com | 888-3519
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