After Lone ACC Win, Wake Forest Falls Back into Losing Ways

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Wake Forest quietly filed into its locker room Tuesday night. The door that shut behind the Demon Deacons didn't open for nearly 25 minutes. While an occasional raised voice was heard, the conversation between coach Jeff Bzdelik and his team was a mixture of constructive criticism and honesty.

Wake Forest certainly has its challenges this season, but it doesn't change the obvious: the Atlantic Coast Conference is a big boys' league.

"He let us know our mistakes out there," Wake Forest guard C.J. Harris said. "He told us if we would have cut out those (mistakes), we would have had a great chance to win this game."

Instead, the Deacons were far from perfect in their 85-61 defeat to Florida State before a home crowd of 9,729 here at the Tucker Center. Wake Forest's maturation process continued and, unfortunately for the Demon Deacons, it also meant another somber dose of reality.

Wake Forest (8-14 overall, 1-6 ACC) started off well but eventually succumbed to familiar miscues. The Deacons, looking to build on Saturday's victory at Virginia that provided needed positive reinforcement for a young team, instead tumbled into the Atlantic Coast Conference basement with Miami.

"Absolutely, we felt like we took a couple steps back from our last game (against Virginia)," Harris explained in even tones. "It's definitely frustrating anytime you lose, but we felt like we beat ourselves out there because of a lot of careless mistakes on our part."

As Bzdelik feared, the determined yet overmatched Deacons were unable to find any offensive continuity against the nation's top defensive team and one of its most physical. Wake Forest suffered a season-high 24 turnovers and saw FSU lead by as many as 32 points two different times late in the second half.

The Seminoles (16-6, 6-2) scored 27 points off Deacons' miscues to quickly regain their footing following Saturday's 62-44 setback at Clemson that snapped a four-game win streak.

After rallying to beat Virginia 76-71 behind a splendid finish -- the Deacons converted all 14 of their second-half free throws and scored on 10 of their final 11 possessions to post their lone ACC victory -- Wake Forest was left holding its nose against the Seminoles.

The Deacons were also out-rebounded 47-33, 17-5 on the offensive end that translated to a 21-3 difference in second-chance points. They converted just 9 of 25 treys and 6 of 14 free throws. It wasn't a good day at the office.

"In the first half we just had some bad turnovers," Bzdelik said. "I'm not sure it was as much what they did as what we didn't do in the first half."

After Gary Clark's trey made it 14-14 at the 9:41 mark in the opening half, the bottom fell out on Wake Forest over the next three minutes, 51 seconds.

The Deacons were held scoreless, they committed three turnovers, missed two free throws and three 3-point field goals (their only field-goal attempts) as FSU built a double-digit advantage at 26-14.

That sluggish span actually set the tone in a matchup high on effort but low on style points. The Deacons have lost 10 of their last 14 games, including four of their last five by 20 points or more.

Clark, who leads the country in 3-point shooting at 63 percent, led Wake Forest with 16 points on the strength of 4-of-6 treys. Tony Chennault, who missed 17 games with a foot injury, added 10 points on a season-high 20 minutes.

"We came out on a good note," said Harris, whose team-high 15 points against Virginia included a 10-of-10 effort from the free throw line, punctuated by eight consecutive in the second half.

"We started off the game where we ended last game, but I think we just really beat ourselves with the turnovers. They did a great job being aggressive, physical and we didn't do a good job handling the ball and rebounding."

While Wake Forest managed to slice the deficit to nine points (26-17) late in the opening half, it couldn't keep pace with an FSU team that boasted advantages in experience, depth and athleticism.

"They are a much better basketball team than they were at the beginning of the year," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said of Wake Forest. "You see that they have the ability that if you don't watch it, they will beat you. I didn't feel very comfortable at halftime."

His mood quickly got better, however. Reserve guard Deividas Dulkys paced five players in double digits for FSU with 16 points. Dulkys, who has struggled with his shot since mid-December and fell out of the starting lineup, made 4-of-8 treys.

"Deividas is an extremely confident person and the only thing I saw out there different tonight is that his shots were falling," Hamilton said. "We haven't necessarily made a big deal about his shots not falling. We knew it was just a matter of time. Hopefully he can start getting those on the road because we have been missing (his) 3-point shots."

"I think everyone on this team can play. We just have to learn how to win."
-- C.J. Harris The Seminoles were certainly clicking against the young Deacons, who start four underclassmen. FSU, which travels to North Carolina this weekend, quickly expanded its 31-19 halftime advantage to 46-26 five minutes into the second half. FSU led 77-45 with 5:34 remaining in the game, leaving the Deacons searching for answers again.

The Deacons are at Maryland Saturday before they return home for consecutive games against Miami and North Carolina State.

"I think everyone on this team can play," Harris said. "We just have to learn how to win."