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January 3, 2026
FINAL SCORE: Wake Forest 81 Virginia Tech 78
Winston Salem, NC. – The Wake Forest Demon Deacons (9-5, 0-1) returned to action on Saturday at Lawrence Joel Memorial looking to rebound from a poor shooting performance in their ACC opener against NC State. The Deacons welcomed the visiting Virginia Tech Hokies (12-2, 1-0) who entered the contest off a huge triple overtime thriller against their rival Virginia.
1st half: A back and forth beauty
The Demon Deacons got off to a quick 11-2 lead with Juke Harris leading the way forcing an early Hokie timeout. Juke Harris and Tre’Von Sellers each had points in the early going to lead Wake Forest offense. The energy was much higher with the Deacons returning home for their conference opener.
The Hokies would storm back after the first media timeout to tie the game at 14-14 with a 12-3 run of their own. Wake would carry a 17-14 lead heading into the 2nd media timeout despite starting the game 1-8 from beyond the arc. Wake’s poor shooting from the outside carried over from the NC State game early on. Their interior game proved to be an early difference maker though as they carried an early 14-6 on points in the paint as the lead would hit 7 21-14 for the Deacs at the under 8 media timeout.
The Hokies would cut the lead to just 4 forcing Wake to call a timeout with 4:41 left in the half. The Deacs would respond out of the timeout pushing the lead back to 7 30-23 at the under 4 timeout with both teams going on runs and responding to each other in a back and forth first half. The Deacons would carry a 36-32 lead into the half in what was an entertaining back and forth contest.
2nd Half: A Thrilling End
The second half began much the way the first half. The teams continued to trade baskets over the course of the first four minutes and the lead would remain four in favor of the Deacs at the under 16 timeout in the half at 45-41.
Virginia Tech would counter back as they were able to grab the lead 60-58 as the team’s headed to the 8-minute timeout mark in the second half. The Hokies used a 10-0 run to take their first lead of the second half with the teams entering the final stretch. Jallen Beckford was the hot hand with 18 points heading into the final 8 minutes for a Hokies squad who were down 3 players.
The 2 teams would head into the final media timeout of the game with the score tied at 69. Momentum would shift back and forth throughout the entire game. Tre’von Spillers would put in a huge bucket plus the bonus free throw with 1:10 left in the game giving the Deacs a 76-74 lead with under a minute to go. VT would tie it on the next possession. Nate Calmese would then hit a dagger 3-point shot with just 6.5 seconds to go to give the Deacs a thrilling win in their home ACC opener.
Next up for Wake Forest is a Wednesday night home game in Winston-Salem!
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