Game 1 of ACC play. This is where youll start to see more adjustments and game-planning rather than fine tuning what VT does in general. Carter Whitt is a former VT target and Khadim Sy is a former VT player (and Ole Miss and JuCo). Steve Forbes is a former SoCon foe of MY. Lots of intrigue to the matchup.

First, some stats

Wake Forest is 90th in KenPom...they rank 93rd in offensive efficiency and 79th in defensive efficiency. Wake is 39th in possessions per game at 76.1 poss per game. Theyre not quite as fast as Memphis, but they still want to make it a transition game.

Key #1: dry up transition buckets

Wake is 8 deep, with 3 players playing 30+ min per game. So theyre not going to try to beat VT with depth. They simply dont have it. Carter Whitt and Khadim Sy both come off the bench.

Speaking of Carter Whitt, hes having a horrible year. Shooting 18% from 3 and has an equal number of turnovers to assists. Big bullet dodged there.

Daivien Williamson (2nd year transfer from ETSU), Jake Laravia (transfer from Indiana State) and Alondes Williams (transfer from Oklahoma) are the guys for Wake...they take a combined 30.7 shots per game, more than the rest of the team combined. All three are serviceable to very good shooters.

They dont scare me much in the post, and theyll play outside in with spacing. Last year they defended VT by doubling Aluma every time with the ball in the post. It worked, even though VT won. Wake was really bad last year. I hope they employ the same strategy this year, as that would work out very well for VT. Teams are much better off leaving Aluma on an island and making him show he can score this season, which is why he has had some good scoring numbers despite having a bad year to date.

Is this the game Aluma gets back on track? Does Wake double him anyway? If so, it would be a great game for Storm Murphy to get on track, as Daivien Williamson and Carter Whitt couldnt guard a turtle in a phone booth