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Deacs Can’t Rally Past Cavaliers
The Deacs second half rally fell just short in a 75-70 loss to the Virginia Cavaliers on Tuesday night. This was a tough loss for the Demon Deacons at a time when they can’t really afford any losses. Tuesday night was also the Deacs final major opportunity to boost their resume in the regular season. Three different players for the Deacs did not score a point.
Mason and Harris
Mekhi Mason and Juke Harris both had big nights for the Deacs. Mason led Wake Forest in scoring with 26 points on 9-12 shooting including 4-7 from three. Mason also went 4-4 from the free throw line with 2 rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Juke Harris had 21 points on 7-18 shooting while going 1-9 from beyond the arc. Harris also went 6-6 from the free throw line with 4 rebounds and a steal.
As A Team
The Deacs struggled quite a bit on the inside against the Cavaliers. Wake Forest was outrebounded 43-33 by Virginia. On paper, that is really the only category where the Deacs were soundly beaten other than the scoreboard itself. The Cavaliers had 2 more points in the paint, 1 less foul, and 2 less turnovers than Wake Forest. While UVA shot the three 1 point worse than the Deacs, they did also make 2 more threes overall. The main issue was just that the Deacs never got the lead and spent the whole game chasing.
Deacs Moving Forward
This was a difficult but somewhat expected loss for the Demon Deacons. The Cavaliers are the #13 team in the country and have only 2 losses so far in all of 2026. The Deacs still have a chance to improve their seeding in the ACC tournament with a win over Cal if Stanford loses their next two games. According to ESPN Stats and Infor, the Cardinal are projected to lose their final two games to both Notre Dame and NC State. The Deacs are safely in the ACC tournament, but could still end up with the bottom seed if they lose out.
Up next, the Deacs come home one last time for senior night against the Cal Golden Bears. Tipoff is at 4pm on Saturday on the ACC Network.
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