WINSTON-SALEM — Maybe you saw Redford in “The Natural.” Monday night at the Joel Coliseum, fans watched Radford in a natural disaster.
An earthquake otherwise known as sixth-ranked Wake Forest (9-0) absolutely gutted Radford’s visiting Highlanders 92-52.
The game was hardly unusual. What happened happens 95 percent of the time when a mid-major Division I school visits an ACC arena other than maybe Florida State’s Leon County Civic Center.
It’s what happens whenever Davidson visits Duke or Buffalo travels to Carolina. It’s like a battle of the bands between the Beatles and the Monkees. It’s a chess match between Bobby Fischer and your bright next-door neighbor. It’s just not fair. Radford’s big gun is a guy named Jason Williams, but that’s the only thing it has in common with an ACC squad. Radford’s No. 2 guard actually answers to “Peanut.” You get the idea.
The visitors did get off to an OK start — they were down just 12-8 after eight minutes — but eventually and inevitably, Wake, bigger, faster, stronger and more accurate than its Big South foes, took over.
Wake brings folks like dead-eye Craig Dawson and super-athletic Antwan Scott off the bench — players much better than Radford’s best player — and eventually Radford had to wilt. It started taking quick shots, stopped getting back on defense — and the rout was on.
“Wake is so much more athletic and quicker around the perimeter than we are,” sighed Radford coach Ron Bradley, a veteran who took on Duke in an NCAA Tournament first-round game a few years ago. Bradley needed his troops to shoot the lights out to stay close. They did the opposite. The Highlanders (4-5), playing for the first time in 10 days, shot a woeful 3-for-25 (12 percent) from 3-point range.
“Three for 25? That’s not even cold,” moaned Bradley, whose team has won 20 and 18 games the past two years. “That’s below cold.”
Meanwhile, Dawson, who shot 6-for-7 from the field, looked like he could score any time he wanted to and his red-hot teammate Josh Howard, who’s shooting 63 percent, looked like he could steal the ball and dunk it any time he felt like it.
Sophomore Howard (career-high 22 points), Darius Songaila (18) and Dawson (16) were so good that no one noticed that Wake’s starting backcourt of Robert O’Kelley and Broderick Hicks was managing to shoot a combined 0-for-11. Even Wake coach Dave Odom, who is on a two-year, 14-game winning streak, the nation’s second longest (Michigan State’s won 17 straight), was blissfully ignorant of his backcourt’s buffoonery.
“Maybe that speaks well for our team’s maturity that it doesn’t need Robert to score and doesn’t worry when Robert doesn’t score,” he said. “They seemed comfortable and I was comfortable. As far as the streak, print that stuff if you want. But that’s two different Wake teams you’re talking about.”
Wake looked a little too comfortable in the early going. Radford surprised the Deacons with a press and forced lazy turnovers.
“Mentally, we were not into this one early,” admitted Odom. “We were not where we needed to be. We didn’t really believe they would press us.”
In fact, the Highlander trailed just 36-28 with a minute left in the first half, although everyone on the Deacon bench still looked bored stiff. And at that juncture, Howard took over. He stole the ball and made two free throws. Then he blocked a shot and took it all the way for a layup. That made it a 12-point lead at the half.
Wake then started the second half on a brutal 29-9 run to put the game away. The lead hit 30 with nine minutes left and mushroomed to 40 with four minutes to go.
The most interesting aspect of the game for the Deacs, other than big man Rafael Vidaurreta’s return to the mix from knee surgery, was the play of Howard.
Howard was ejected from Saturday’s 20-point win over Georgia (he got into a shouting match with an opponent), but was on his best behavior for this one. Wake fans were a little antsy when he got into a brief stare-down with Williams, but this time the Deac star turned the other cheek and managed to walk away from trouble.
“Josh responded the way I thought he would,” said Odom. “I thought he would put his difficulties behind him because I know he wants to play well and wants to do what’s right.”
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NOTES:Wake’s next task will be much tougher — a trip to Philly Thursday to face towering Temple, which matches up well with the Deacs, at least on the inside. ... Howard is second in the ACC in shooting, remarkable for a small forward. He trails UNC’s Brendan Haywood ... The Deacs have been outrebounded only once (Michigan) and no opponent has shot better than 39 percent against them. ... No Deacs have been players of the week in the ACC to this point. So far, it’s been all Tar Heels and Blue Devils. ... Josh Shoemaker, the ACC’s leading rebounder, had five caroms. ... Songaila leads the ACC in free throw percentage at 87. ... Vidarurreta scored six points in 12 minutes.
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