Florida State Seminoles vs. Wake Forest Demon Deacons Pick & Prediction JANUARY 11th 2023

Wake Forest will look for its fourth win in the past five games when it hosts Florida State in Atlantic Coast Conference play on Wednesday in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The Demon Deacons (11-5, 3-2) and Seminoles (5-11, 3-2) are both coming off bounce-back wins on Saturday. Wake Forest knocked off host Louisville 80-72, while the Seminoles defeated visiting Georgia Tech 75-64.

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Wake Forest, which never trailed against the Cardinals and led by as many as 22 points in the second half, were led by Damari Monsanto's 21 points and four rebounds.

Cameron Hildreth added 19 points and eight rebounds, while Tyree Appleby had 13 points, a team-high eight assists and four rebounds. Daivien Williamson finished with 13 points and two rebounds.

"I thought we played great for the first half," Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes said. "To their credit, they put on the gas and did a great job of putting pressure on the room. To take the next step as an NCAA Tournament team, you have to put the pedal on when you have them down. I didn't think we did that."

Appleby averages a team-high 17.9 points, 5.8 assists and 1.5 steals for the Demon Deacons, while Hildreth averages 11.8 points and a team-high 6.4 rebounds per game. Monsanto averages 11.6 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.

Florida State overcame a slow start to take a three-point halftime lead against Georgia Tech before pulling away in the second half to earn coach Leonard Hamilton his 600th victory and 400th ACC win of his career.

Matthew Cleveland, who averages a team-high 14.4 points to go with 7.3 rebounds per game, had a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Darin Green Jr., who averages 14.1 points per game, added 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Caleb Mills, who averages 12.9 points and 3.6 assists per game, finished with 13 points and seven assists.

"I think our guys are understanding a little bit more of understanding what it takes to win at this level," Hamilton said. "We're not in that much better condition than we were early in the year, but they understand now. We challenged them that they have to make sacrifices with the type of team that we have now."

--Field Level Media

PREDICTION

Florida State Seminoles

71

79

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Cameron Hildreth scored a career- and game-high 23 points, and Damari Monsanto and Andrew Carr added 22 apiece to lead Wake Forest to a 90-75 victory over visiting Florida State in ACC play on Wednesday in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Monsanto shot 6 of 7 from 3-point range while Hildreth shot 9 of 14 from the field and had six rebounds and four assists. Carr hit 8 of 10 from the floor, including both of his shots from beyond the arc, to finish with a career-high in scoring. Tyree Appleby added 16 points and a game-high eight assists.

The Demon Deacons (12-5, 4-2 ACC), who have won four their past five games, shot 55.6 percent from the field, including a red-hot 14 of 26 from 3-point range.

Florida State (5-12, 3-3), which has dropped two of its past three games, was led by Matthew Cleveland, who had a double-double with 19 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Caleb Mills had 19 points while Darin Green Jr. chipped in 12 points.

The Seminoles shot 53.7 percent from the field, including 8 of 21 from beyond the arc.

Leading 58-48 with 14:58 remaining, Wake Forest turned the game into a rout after Monsanto hit two 3-pointers during a 7-0 run to stretch its advantage to 65-48 with 12:55 to go.

After Green's jumper tied the game as 23 with 6:42 remaining, Wake Forest took control of the game for good by closing the half on a 21-12 run to take a 44-35 lead at intermission.

Monsanto scored 13 points and Hildreth added nine in the first 20 minutes for Wake Forest, which shot 16 of 28 from the field before the break, including an impressive 9 of 16 (56.3 percent) from beyond the arc.

Florida State was led by Cleveland's 10 first-half points, while Green added seven.

The Seminoles shot 46.9 percent from the field prior to halftime, including 2 of 10 from distance.

--Field Level Media