BLACKSBURG – Senior Day awaits No. 16/15 Virginia Tech men's basketball, as it plays host to Wake Forest on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET on ACC Network at Carilion Clinic Court at Cassell Coliseum.
Tech will honor two players (Wabissa Bede, Cordell Pemsl) and three managers (Michael Shiner, Ryan Payne and Chris Forst).
SERIES HISTORY
The Hokies (14-5, 8-4 ACC) and Demon Deacons (6-12, 3-12) played each other earlier this season, a four-point win for Tech in Winston-Salem. Tyrece Radford led the way with a game-high 20 points and made six free throws down the stretch to preserve the 64-60 victory on Jan. 17.
Tech leads the all-time series 37-31 and has won the last five in a row, dating back to 2017. The Hokies are 23-11 at home against Wake.
YOUNG'S TRACK RECORD
Tech coach Mike Young is 7-3 all-time versus Wake Forest's Steve Forbes, with the two facing each other nine times when they were at Wofford and ETSU in the SoCon.
ON THE CALL
The matchup will be broadcast on ACC Network, with Jay Alter (play-by-play) and Malcolm Huckbay (analyst) on the call, while Jon Laaser (play-by-play) and Mike Burnop (analyst) will broadcast on Virginia Tech Sports Network.
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Tied at halftime 24-all, Georgia Tech pulled away in the second half thanks to a 12-0 run and the Hokies never could recover, falling by 16 points at home Tuesday. The Hokies were held to a season-low 53 points and their bench had a season low as well (7 points).
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Displaying his versatility once again, Keve Aluma put together a 12-point, 14-rebound, 5-assist outing against Georgia Tech for his sixth double-double. Of his 14 rebounds, half of them (7) were offensive to tie his career high.
Tying his season high of five free-throw attempts and converting four of those, Nahiem Alleyne finished with 12 points. However, Alleyne had a career-worst four turnovers. So, expect the sophomore to bounce back controlling the ball.
SCOUTING WAKE FOREST
• The Deacs are coming off a 21-point home loss to Clemson (14-5, 8-5) on Wednesday, allowing the Tigers to outrebound them 40-22 and Alex Hemenway, coming off the bench, score a game-high 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting in the 60-39 final.
• Forbes enters his first season in Winston-Salem, following his five-year stint as the head coach at ETSU. While in Johnson City, Forbes led the Bucs to 130 wins during that stretch and two SoCon championships.
• Wake is paced by Daivien Williamson, who is the team's leading scorer at 12.7 points per game and assist leader at 2.6 assists a contest, and Isaiah Mucius, who is the lone Deacon to start every game this season (18) and is second on the team in scoring at 10.3 points (min. 8 games).
• The lone categories the Deacs rank in the top 100 nationally are free-throw percentage (74.7), which is good for 55th in the land and fifth in the ACC, and 3-pointers made per game (8.7), ranking 55th nationally and third in the league.