ACC Basketball Power Rankings: Duke Blue Devils gelling at the right time

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 10: Teammates Jordan Goldwire #14, Wendell Moore Jr. #0 and Tre Jones #3 of the Duke Blue Devils react after a play against the Florida State Seminoles during their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 10, 2020 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

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WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA – FEBRUARY 11: Chaundee Brown #23 of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

14. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (11-14) (4-11 ACC)

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons stay close to the bottom of our power rankings, with a slight move in aa positive direction due to some solid wins. They picked up a rare conference win over the Tar Heels, beating North Carolina by 17. In that win, senior guard Brad Childress turned in a big-time performance, racking up a 14-point, 10-assist double-double while the Demon Deacons shot 39.1% from 3-point range as a team.

Conversely, the Wake Forest offense struggled to generate clean 3-point looks against the more stout Louisville and Syracuse defenses in consecutive losses prior to the UNC win. Wake Forest took a 17-point loss to Miami on Saturday, the game was a rock fight in which the rebounding and free throw discrepancy was too much for the Demon Deacons to overcome.

Wake Forest has a good chance to trend upwards with three straight home games before two road matchups to close the season. The Demon Deacons will need more out of second-leading scorer Oliver Sarr (12.0 points per game), who is averaging 10.0 points per game over his last five games. With Sarr not playing well on the interior, there is a lot more attention paid to Childress and Chaundee Brown on the perimeter, making life harder on Wake Forest as a unit.

They are the best team in the ACC when it comes to getting to the free throw line but they are tapering off as of late, perhaps a sign of the natural wear-and-tear of the season starting to get to them.