On Wednesday, Stanford men’s basketball fell to Wake Forest on the road by a final score of 80-67. Wake Forest guard Hunter Sallis led the way for the Demon Deacons with 30 points and four rebounds while forward Tre’Von Spillers had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Stanford center Maxime Raynaud had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds while guard Oziyah Sellers was the top scorer for the Cardinal with 16 points. Wake Forest improves to 13-4 overall and 5-1 in the ACC while Stanford falls to 11-6 overall and 3-3 in the ACC.
BOX SCORE: Stanford at Wake Forest-Wednesday, January 15th
Stanford got off to a strong start in this game, leading 13-4 with 17:05 to go in the half. Jaylen Blakes was up to eight points for the Cardinal with a pair of threes and a pair of foul shots. He was really feeling it from the opening tip.
Wake Forest would quickly respond as they went on a 9-2 run to make it a 15-13 game with 15:08 to go in the half, the most recent bucket coming from Ty-Laur Johnson with a layup. Stanford would gain a bit more separation to lead 19-13 with 9:37 to go in the half after a step-back 3-pointer by Ryan Agarwal but Wake Forest would once again respond to close the gap in the coming minutes.
With 4:35 to go in the half, Stanford was up 26-25. Blakes was up to 11 points for Stanford while Oziyah Sellers was up to seven points. Both were in a nice groove for the Cardinal. Hunter Sallis was up to eight points for the Demon Deacons after nailing a corner three.
At halftime, Stanford led 35-33. Despite two early fouls for Maxime Raynaud, which limited him to two points and 11 minutes, Stanford was in front. Sellers and Blakes each had 13 points for the Cardinal while Sallis’ 12 points led the Demon Deacons.
With 15:07 to go, it was tied 41-41. Raynaud had a couple of threes for the Cardinal and was up to eight points and eight rebounds. Stanford needed to find ways to keep him going.
It would remain tied 50-50 with 11:05 to go. Raynaud had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Then, with 9:57 to go, Stanford was up 54-52 as Agarwal was in double figures with 10 points.
Over the next few minutes, Wake Forest would start to pull away as they led 68-63 with 4:01 to go. Sallis was up to 24 points for the Demon Deacons as he was really heating up. From there, Wake Forest would win 80-67 as Sallis walked out with 30 points. He was simply sensational down the stretch. Stanford defended him pretty well, but it was just a case of good defense, better offense.
For Stanford, there’s a lot of positives they can take from this game. They actually led at halftime despite Raynaud’s foul trouble, multiple players scored in double figures (Sellers, Raynaud, Agarwal, & Blakes), and then it wasn’t until the very end that Wake Forest pulled away.That said, they do need to figure out how to close games on the road. That's something that has been a struggle for them all season long with the exception of their road win at Santa Clara.
As for Wake Forest, one has to give them credit. They are undefeated at home and have done a great job of winning the games they are supposed to win. They came in favored to win and took care of business. The next step for them is to punch above their weight and win a game that they’re not favored to win. Their road game at Stanford in early February will be a good test for them since I’m expecting Stanford to be slight favorites in that one.
Up next for Stanford is a road game at North Carolina on Saturday, January 18th. Tipoff is set for 11:15 AM PT on The CW.
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