Wake Forest and Green Hope are an even 3-3 against one another since December of 2014, but not for long. The Wake Forest Cougars will head out on the road to face off against the Green Hope Falcons at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Hopefully Wake Forest focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 23 last Tuesday.
Wake Forest couldn't capitalize on their home-court advantage in their season opener. They fell 65-58 to East Wake. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Despite the defeat, Wake Forest saw an underclassman step up: Palmer Chase dropped a double-double on 18 points and 11 rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Caleb Lashley, who scored 10 points along with 6 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Green Hope's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Tuesday after their third straight loss. They lost to Broughton at home by a decisive 62-43 margin.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Rafik Khismatov, who scored 6 points along with 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Khismatov is absolutely dominating the rebound category: he's posted at least eight every time he's taken the court this season. Nikhil Ranga was another key contributor, scoring 8 points.
Wake Forest's defeat dropped their record down to 0-1. As for Green Hope, their loss dropped their record down to 0-3.
Everything came up roses for Wake Forest against Green Hope when the teams last played back in November of 2022 as the squad secured a 90-59 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Wake Forest since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
