Wake Forest Demon Deacons vs North Carolina Tar Heels Picks and Predictions March 13th 2025

Wake Forest, UNC Enter ACC Matchup Clinging to NCAA Bubble

CHARLOTTE — North Carolina and Wake Forest meet in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament quarterfinals with similar mindsets in terms of their overall postseason outlook.

Tar Heels and Demon Deacons in Must-Win Mode

Many projections suggest both teams need a victory Thursday afternoon to keep alive their NCAA Tournament hopes.

“Our eyes and our preparation is on what is real. And what is real is our preparation in regards to our play (Thursday) against a very good Wake Forest team.” – North Carolina coach Hubert Davis

Fifth-seeded North Carolina (21-12) cruised past 12th-seeded Notre Dame 76-56 in a second-round game on Wednesday. Fourth-seeded Wake Forest (21-10) received a double-bye into the quarterfinals. Despite their long history in the ACC, this is the first tournament meeting between these two teams in 25 years.

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The Tar Heels are embracing the challenge of back-to-back games.

“That’s the great thing about the tournament, to have these quick turnarounds and be able to play the next game.” – UNC guard RJ Davis

Wake Forest Aims to Build on Strong Finish

Wake Forest secured its highest regular-season finish since 2008-09 and received a double-bye for the first time under the tournament’s current format. Now, coach Steve Forbes wants his team to stay true to itself.

“You just have to play to who you are. If you try to do something else, you’re just tricking yourself and it’s going to be over. So we have to go down there, defend, rebound the ball and take care of it.” – Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes

The Demon Deacons will be paying close attention to UNC’s Jae’Lyn Withers, who sank a career-high seven three-pointers against Notre Dame. Withers had never made more than four in a game before that performance.

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Senior guard Hunter Sallis (18.0 PPG), a first-team All-ACC selection for the second straight year, has been the Demon Deacons’ go-to scorer all season, leading the team in scoring 16 times.

“We need to get the ball in the right people’s hands, which we usually do pretty well, and we need to make open shots and not force things. … We also need some energy off the bench with Parker (Friedrichsen), Omaha (Biliew) and Juke (Harris). It’s too late to reinvent the wheel.” – Forbes

Cameron Hildreth, in his fourth season, will tie the Wake Forest record for most games played when he appears in his 131st contest Thursday.

Previous Meeting and What’s at Stake

Wake Forest edged North Carolina 67-66 in their lone regular-season matchup on Jan. 21. Hildreth had 20 points in that game, while RJ Davis led the Tar Heels with 21.

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“I think one of the things is they’re really good individual defenders. They can guard the ball. … They’ve got athleticism and length, so they make it tough to be able to get consistent good shots, high-percentage shots on the offensive end.” – Hubert Davis

The winner of this matchup will face either No. 1 seed Duke or Georgia Tech in the semifinals.