Wake Forest Demon Deacons vs. Charleston Southern Buccaneers Pick & Prediction NOVEMBER 24th 2023

Too many awkward stretches have been costly for Wake Forest, marking the perfect time to get on track after disappointing results.

The Demon Deacons return home for a Friday afternoon game against Charleston Southern in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Wake Forest (2-3) lost two of three games in the Charleston Classic, including Sunday’s 86-80 overtime setback to LSU.

Turnovers and opponents’ offensive rebounds have come at an alarming for the Demon Deacons.

“We can’t win like that and we can’t continue to live that way,” Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes said.

Wake Forest has surrendered 64 offensive boards to create second-chance points for opponents, while gathering only 44 of its misses off the glass.

Wake Forest is trying to find smooth patches. After playing three games in four days, Friday’s game begins a better run of the schedule for the Demon Deacons.

“Obviously we don’t have a lot of depth and we got tired,” Forbes said. “Those guys played heavy minutes, but they have to take care of the ball.”

Charleston Southern (2-3) has lost back-to-back games. The Buccaneers have a different leading scorer and a different top rebounder in each of the last three games.

RJ Johnson, with 17.2 points per game, and Taje’ Kelly, with 7.4 rebounds per outing, are statistical leaders for coach Barclay Radebaugh’s team. Johnson also leads with 3.4 assists per game.

“Our incoming class has meshed well with our returners,” Radebaugh said.

The Buccaneers stayed tight for a large chunk of the first half against another Atlantic Coast Conference team last Friday. North Carolina State led 18-17 before using a 19-0 run to sink Charleston Southern.

Wake Forest has already lost more November games this season than the last two years combined when they dropped one game during the month in each of those seasons.

Hunter Sallis is leading Wake Forest with 19.6 points per game, followed by Kevin Miller (18) and Cameron Hildreth (17.2).

Friday marks just the second home game for Wake Forest, which is beginning a seven-game homestand and won’t leave home again until January.

Wake Forest has defeated Charleston Southern in all three meetings in the series, including a 95-59 victory two seasons ago.

–Field Level Media