No. 13 North Carolina faces Wake Forest, seeks 5th straight win

Published Jan. 23, 2025 3:42 a.m. ET

Associated Press

Wake Forest Demon Deacons (7-11, 0-7 ACC) at North Carolina Tar Heels (17-3, 5-2 ACC)

Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: No. 13 North Carolina is looking to continue its four-game win streak with a victory against Wake Forest.

The Tar Heels have gone 9-2 at home. North Carolina is eighth in college basketball allowing 53.5 points per game while holding opponents to 33.9% shooting.

The Demon Deacons have gone 0-7 against ACC opponents. Wake Forest is 0-1 in games decided by less than 4 points.

North Carolina averages 73.1 points, 12.0 more per game than the 61.1 Wake Forest allows. Wake Forest has shot at a 42.1% rate from the field this season, 8.2 percentage points greater than the 33.9% shooting opponents of North Carolina have averaged.

The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Alyssa Ustby is scoring 11.5 points per game and averaging 9.5 rebounds for the Tar Heels. Lexi Donarski is averaging 2.5 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

Elise Williams is averaging 11.7 points, 3.5 assists and 2.3 steals for the Demon Deacons. Malaya Cowles is averaging 9.2 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Tar Heels: 8-2, averaging 73.0 points, 34.9 rebounds, 15.5 assists, 8.8 steals and 4.8 blocks per game while shooting 42.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 58.2 points per game.

Demon Deacons: 2-8, averaging 58.7 points, 25.6 rebounds, 12.5 assists, 9.0 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 40.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.6 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.