WINSTON-SALEM— Wake Forest coach Dave Odom said exactly what everyone expected him to say after his Demon Deacons scraped by Clemson 71-63 on Sunday afternoon at the Joel Coliseum.
Basically, Odom insisted that, by golly, when you’ve got a good team, you can win a game — even an ACC game — when you’re not playing at your best.
Wake did indeed manage to win in a half-speed effort, but certainly much more went wrong than went right for the Deacons (14-3, 3-3) against the clawless Tigers (10-8, 1-4).
“We have 14 wins,” said Odom. “I believe they all count the same. This is one we’ll be proud of at the end of the year — even if we aren’t proud of it right now.”
In its latest effort, Wake, ranked ninth in the latest APpoll, looked as little like that dynamic band of Deacons who demolished mighty Kansas on Dec.7 as Faith Hill looks like Grant Hill.
Darius Songaila shot 4-for-12 from the field and 1-for-4 from the foul line. Starting point guard Ervin Murray played like Bill “Saturday Night Live” Murray, making three turnovers in seven minutes and failing to scratch. Robert O’Kelley and Craig Dawson weren’t shooters, so much as polluters. They combined to lay brick at an ugly 4-for-17 pace.
Defensively, the Deacs didn’t exactly impress, either. Clemson has one guy everyone can focus on — guard Will Solomon, who leads the ACCin scoring. With the help of a turned left ankle, the Deacs “held” him to 30.
So how the heck did they win, anyway?
Well, it helped that they were playing Clemson. And Clemson was Clemson with 21 turnovers and 39 percent shooting. It also helped that soph Josh Howard, who has become Wake’s star, had 16 points and 10 rebounds. And it helped that oft-maligned guard Broderick Hicks had the game of his life with 18 points and that little-used A.W. Hamilton, a freckle-faced freshman who backs up Murray and Hicks, nailed two 3-pointers when the game was still in doubt.
Actually, had one call gone differently, Wake may not have survived at all.
With 4:19 left in the game and Clemson down 64-58, Solomon went up for a shot and sank it. The whistle blew. Four-point play? No, offensive foul on Solomon. Huge.
Clemson eventually got within five at 66-61 with 2:32 remaining, but Odom called a timeout and suggested that the ball go to Songaila inside. The big guy responded with an NBA-quality reverse layup to stop the Tigers’ last charge. From there, Wake finished the job at the foul line.
“I would like to think we had something to do with Clemson’s not shooting well and making a lot of turnovers,” said Odom. “Hey, Clemson’s a good team. They beat N.C. State, you know.”
That they did. But that was in Littlejohn Coliseum where the Tigers are always much tougher. They were roadkill at both Duke and North Carolina.
Duke, of course, is Wednesday’s opponent for the Deacs (in Cameron Indoor Stadium) and if the second-ranked Blue Devils were watching Sunday, they were licking their chops and trying to decide if they’re going to win by 20 or 30.
“Everyone will need to be playing their best in Durham,” said O’Kelley. “But I sure don’t expect us to have a hard time getting up for that one.”
But the Deacs were not up for Clemson.
Wake trailed by nine early, then moved ahead by nine, then staggered to halftime with a 36-33 lead.
Wake played reasonably well for the first 10 minutes of the second half and had the game all but wrapped up, but then managed a paltry two points in 13 possessions.
Clemson then got back in the hunt when Solomon struck for eight sudden points on three possessions.
“It was like we were waiting around for them to just collapse,” said Odom. “But they’re an ACC team. That means you have to collapse them.”
Solomon made five 3-pointers, but got precious little help from his teammates. The rest of the Tigers shot 10-for-31 (32 percent) from the field. Big man Chris Hobbs did have 13 boards and helped handle Songaila, but offered only two points.
“We just didn’t have the leadership we needed down the stretch,” said Hyatt. “The effort was there, but not the execution.”
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