Deacons Rally Past Tar Heels, 67-66

Tuesday, January 21

Winston-Salem, N.C.

9 PM

North Carolina

Wake Forest

Ian Jackson

Photo by: Maggie Hobson

January 21, 2025 | Men's Basketball

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By: Matt Bowers

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.— Wake Forest went on a 12-0 run and held North Carolina scoreless for nearly six minutes during a key portion of the second half, topping the Tar Heels, 67-66, on Tuesday night at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The Demon Deacons won their sixth consecutive game and eighth in nine outings, improving to 15-4 overall and 7-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Tar Heels dropped their second in a row and fell to 12-8, 5-3. Carolina has won 14 of the last 19 meetings with Wake Forest but has lost four in a row in Winston-Salem. UNC's eight losses in its first 20 games are its most since the 2019-20 season, when it was 10-10 after 20 contests.

Elliot Cadeau and RJ Davis led the Tar Heels, combining for 35 of the team's 66 points.

Cadeau posted one of his finest games in two years at Carolina with 14 points on 5 of 10 shooting (2 of 4 three-pointers), a career-high 13 assists and five rebounds in 38 minutes. Davis scored a game-high 21 points on 8 of 16 shooting, hitting a trio of three-pointers.

Ian Jackson was 3 for 11 from the floor and 1 for 7 from three-point range. He is 4 for 19 overall and 1 for 12 from behind the arc in the last two games.

Cameron Hildreth scored 20 for Wake, while Hunter Sallis added 14 points and nine rebounds. The Deacons out-rebounded Carolina, 41-33, and won despite shooting 29.6 percent from the floor in the first half and 40 percent in the game.

UNC has lost by a single point in consecutive games for the first time since 1968 (since losing to South Carolina by one on 2/28/68 and Duke on 3/2/68).

As a team, Carolina shot 8 for 32 (25.0 percent) from three-point range and 18 for 33 (54.5 percent) from two-point territory.

How It Happened
First Half
• Carolina went on a 13-2 run to take a 16-7 lead and force a Wake timeout in the opening minutes.
• Cadeau scored 10 of Carolina's first 16 points, reaching double figures for the third consecutive game and 13^th time this season.
• Shortly thereafter, the Tar Heels missed five straight shots and went scoreless for over four minutes to allow Wake back into the game.
• UNC led by as many as nine points in the first half. The Deacons eventually pulled back within a point but never retook the lead after the opening moments of the game.
• UNC and WFU combined for 27 fouls, 18 turnovers and 19 field goals in the first half.
• Both teams shot poorly overall in the opening 20 minutes. UNC was 11 for 31 (35.5 percent) and WFU was 8 for 27 (29.6). Carolina shot 3 for 14 (21.4 percent) from three-point territory while Wake was 0 for 6 from long range.
• It was the third time in the last five games UNC has held its opponents below 30 percent shooting in the first half.

Second Half
• After Carolina led for the vast majority of the first half, Wake finally retook the lead at 35-33 in the first four minutes after halftime.
• The Demon Deacons used a 12-0 run over 3:44 to take its biggest lead at 49-39, forcing a Tar Heel timeout.
• UNC went scoreless for nearly six minutes as Wake took a 49-39 lead with under 10 minutes remaining.
• The Tar Heels roared back with a 10-2 run to cut the Wake lead to 51-49 three minutes later.

Up Next
The Tar Heels will host Boston College on Saturday at 2:15 p.m.