The Deacs got up early and never looked back.
Doral Moore got his first career start, and he immediately made an impact. The 7' monster out of Georgia, began the game with three early dunks and two early blocks. The Deacs did not look back from there, and found themselves up 41-14 at halftime. Wake Forest went on to win 74-48 to improve to 11-16, while Boston College fell to 7-20. Doral Moore finished with a career-high 19 points, and also grabbed 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks.
Wake Forest completely embarrassed Boston College in the first half. The Deacs outrebounded Boston College by 11 and had 3 fewer turnovers. They also shot 52% from the field compared to Boston College's 17%. It was even worse, as Wake was up 37-4, but Wake got careless over the remained of the half, and found themselves "only" up by 27 at halftime.
The Deacs started off somewhat sluggish in the second half, but played just fine down the stretch and emerged victorious. I could break this game down possession by possession, but that would be pointless. Here are some of main takeaways from this contest.
Doral Moore was sensational. He had an immediate impact, and I believe changed the mentality of the Boston College offense. They were intimidated by Moore's presence around the rim, and that forced them to take more jump shots. No fan or coach could have expected more out of the big guy than what he gave. He is going to be a serious factor moving forward, and will help anchor the defense. This guy just has an unbelievable future. I knew he would be good, but I didn't think he could have this much of an impact (offensively) this early on in his career. He played 20 minutes, so this could hopefully end the discussion about his conditioning.
Codi Miller-McIntyre played well yet again, and performed the way he has played over the previous three seasons. Bryant Crawford had a very steady 12 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and just 2 turnovers. John Collins finished with 11 points and 5 rebounds. He also had an excellent post move. Mitchell Wilbekin went 3-5 from beyond the arc and also finished with 11 points. His shooting ability really helped space the floor.
I wrote an article several days ago that this game was all risk and little reward. The team proved me wrong. There was some legitimate reward for this one. Boston College is objectively bad, but this was by far Wake Forest's biggest margin of victory this season. The freshmen showed promise, and now have some confidence again.
Boston College will host Virginia Tech on Tuesday, in what is statistically speak their best chance to win a conference game. Wake Forest will host Notre Dame on Wednesday.
