Final
Johnson, Wake Forest cruise past Indiana
Dec 4, 2008 - 4:09 AM WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Ticker) -- James Johnson scored 21 points and L.D. Williams had 16 as No. 17 Wake Forest blew by Indiana, 83-58, in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Wednesday.Jeff Teague scored 14 points and freshman Al-Farouq Aminu added 12, eight rebounds and five blocks for the Demon Deacons (7-0), who are off to their best start since 2003-04 when they won the first 11 games of the campaign.
Wake Forest entered the game with the fifth-best field goal percentage in the nation and that efficiency was too much for Indiana's struggling offense.
"We have a team this year," Johnson said. "We have a strong bench. When I pass to any of my teammates on the floor, I have all trust in them to do what they need to do. We have full faith in our team and we are going to keep going with that."
The Hoosiers hung in with the Demon Deacons early on but a 9-0 run helped Wake Forest take a 29-20 lead with 8:42 left in the first half.
Johnson scored the last 11 points for Wake Forest, which continued to pull away before the break, stretching its lead out to 47-31 at intermission.
"I told our kids, I thought we played hard, but I thought we could have played a little better then we played," Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio said. "I don't want to take anything away from Indiana. I thought they were a hard, tough basketball team.
"James Johnson set the tone at the beginning of the game. He was really unselfish and threw the ball to his buddies. The guys have been playing really well together."
Indiana continued to struggle in the second half and Wake Forest pushed its advantage to 61-39 on Teague's layup with 11:36 remaining.
The Hoosiers never recovered and the Demon Deacons cruised to the victory.
It was the first true road game of the season for Indiana, which has nine freshman on its roster.
"The biggest lesson tonight is that they played their first road game," Hoosiers coach Tom Crean said. "At halftime, we said we can't have much worse of a finish to a half. We were right in there. We were executing the game plan. We're not a team that can deviate from what the plan is, whether it's offensively or defensively."
Johnson missed his first shot before making eight consecutive - three from the arc - and finished 8-of-10 from the floor. Wake Forest shot 62 percent (32-of-52).
Freshman Matt Roth scored 12 points to lead the Hoosiers (4-3), who shot 38 percent (20-of-53) from the floor. Indiana also committed 26 turnovers.
- alacy52 My brother played against him in high school. He's a heck of a player, but I still don't know how he managed to meet ACC academic standards. His younger brother graduated high school before he did.
Indiana 58, Wake Forest(17) 83 FinalDec 4 5:11 PM - wakeup Johnson was awesome against Indiana and even made ESPN's Sports Center #1 Top Ten Plays for his one-handed jam.
Indiana 58, Wake Forest(17) 83 FinalDec 4 3:38 PM - ACC/BIG TEN CHALLENGE
NCAA BB ACC/BIG TEN CHALLENGE
FINAL 1ST 2ND TOTAL
--- --- -----
INDIANA 31 27 58
WAKE FOREST (17) 47 36 83 FINAL
Dec 3 9:17 PM - ACC/BIG TEN CHALLENGE
NCAA BB INDIANA 31
(17) WAKE FOREST 47 HALFTIME
Dec 3 8:09 PM
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