Today's notebook checks in with the Deacons, including a Teague-esque dunk from Madison Jones
Aaron Rountree III's length and athleticism have proven difficult for opponents to deal with.
Dec. 3, 2012
By Alex Botoman, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@SIDeacons)
Playing Rounball
Only seven games into his Wake Forest career, Aaron Rountree III has already earned a reputation as one of the best stat-stuffers that the Demon Deacons have had in recent years.
Against Nebraska and Richmond last week, Rountree went a combined 6-of-8 from the field, scoring 16 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, blocking six shots, making three steals and dishing out three assists - all in only 32 total minutes of action.
And all of those stats still don't fully capture the impact that his length and high-energy play have on games. The following anecdote comes courtesy of the Voice of the Deacons, Stan Cotten, who had a front row seat to Rountree's defensive impact late in the game against Richmond.
The Spiders, who were leading by three points with 25 seconds left and looking to close out the game, were inbounding on the sideline right in front of Cotten. Coming out of the timeout, head coach Jeff Bzdelik pulled Rountree off of the bench to guard the inbounder, and guard him he did, waving his long arms around while jumping up and down and hollering, "Don't you lob it! Don't you lob it! Don't you lob it!"
The Richmond player wisely took his advice and didn't lob it, and when he couldn't find away to get the ball around Rountree to one of his teammates, the Spiders had to burn a timeout.
Youth Movement
Wake Forest went young in the second half of its game against Richmond and the Demon Deacons' group of freshmen were equal to the task, combining to score 27 of Wake Forest's 31 second-half points to push the Spiders to the brink before ultimately coming up just short.
After Richmond took its biggest lead of the game at 44-35 with 11:17 left, Wake Forest answered with an 8-0 run to draw within a point with a lineup of four freshmen (Madison Jones, Rountree, Arnaud William Adala Moto and Tyler Cavanaugh) plus senior C.J. Harris. The rookies accounted for all eight of the points in the run, with Rountree converting an old-fashioned three-point play after grabbing an offensive rebound and then connecting from behind the arc and Cavanaugh making two shots from the charity stripe.
A few minutes later at the 9:26 mark, Codi Miller-McIntyre replaced Harris, giving Wake Forest five freshmen on the floor for the first time all season. It was with that lineup of Jones, Miller-McIntyre, Rountree, Adala Moto and Cavanaugh that the Deacons took their first lead of the second half on a Miller-McIntyre mid-range jumper at the 6:41 mark. Bzdelik kept the five-freshman lineup on the court for a 4:23 stretch before Travis McKie checked in for Adala Moto.
Jonesing for the Rim
The Wake Forest fans who were lucky enough to be in the Robins Center in Richmond Saturday when Madison Jones threw down a monster dunk over the Spiders' Deion Taylor must have had a flashback to the days when Jeff Teague used to slam the ball home over much taller competition.
Jones, who measures in at 6-1, took a pass from Aaron Rountree III just inside the free throw line, and despite giving up six inches to Richmond's Deion Taylor was able to elevate over the top of him for the slam.
You can check out video of Jones' dunk below. The camera angle doesn't come close to doing it justice, but for a little added perspective, check out how high the ball bounces off of the floor after it goes through the rim.
High Point Up Next
Next up for Wake Forest is Triad-rival High Point. The Demon Deacons will face the Panthers on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Joel Coliseum in a game that will be shown on ESPN3 and can be heard on the Wake Forest IMG Sports Network.
Wake Forest is 13-1 all-time against High Point including wins in each of the past three season. The Panthers' only win over the Demon Deacons came all the way back in 1934-35 season.
Last year, Wake Forest went into a raucous Millis Center on the campus of High Point with celebrated coach and former Panther Tubby Smith in attendance and came away with an 87-83 win. C.J. Harris scored 20 points on an efficient 7-of-8 shooting, and Travis McKie added 18 points of his own. The Deacons shot 58 percent from the field in the game, including 70 percent in the second half.
