Wake Forest ready for Pitt after deep dive into 'portal potty'

Let’s see if you can name the ACC basketball coach who said the following:

“(We have to) learn from our mistakes and move on, have a short memory. Next play mentality, next game mentality.”

If you assumed that was Pitt’s Jeff Capel speaking after one of the Panthers’ 13 losses this season, you would be wrong.

That was Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes after his team’s fifth loss of the season (94-72 at Syracuse on Saturday). The Demon Deacons next play visiting Pitt (8-13, 3-7 ACC) on Wednesday night at Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C. Tipoff on ESPN2 is 7 p.m.

Not long ago, Wake Forest was residing near the bottom of the ACC standings, managing to win an average of only four conference games per season from 2018-21.

Just last season, Wake Forest was 6-16, 3-15 in the ACC. A year later, in Forbes’ second season, the Demon Deacons (17-5, 7-4) have nearly tripled their overall victory total with more than a month’s worth of games to go.

“Am I happy? Of course, I am,” Forbes said. “Look where we came from. Lord, have mercy.”

After replacing former coach Danny Manning in 2020, Forbes accomplished the turnaround by digging deep into the NCAA transfer portal. Or, as Forbes jokingly called it, “the portal potty.”

There, he’s found a wealth of riches, including:

• The team’s top three scorers, Alondes Williams (Oklahoma), Jake Laravia (Indiana State) and Daivien Williamson (East Tennessee State, where he played for Forbes).

• Dallas Walton (Colorado), the 7-foot, 230-pound center who is averaging 5.1 rebounds.

• Former starter Damari Monsato (East Tennessee State), who was supposed to miss the entire season after Achilles surgery in June. He returned recently and has played in four games, including 20 minutes against Syracuse when he scored 12 points.

The player who makes it work is Williams, who leads the ACC in scoring (436 points, 19.8 per game) and assists (112, 5.1), a rare combination.

“You think that’s coaching?” Forbes said. “The dude just makes plays.”

Forbes said he’s never coached a player who has been so productive in both categories.

“It’s an anomaly, I guess is the word,” he said. “It’s a credit to him. He’s a very, very unselfish player who’s a great scorer, and that’s not typical of great scorers. They have to be selfish, and that’s OK. They should be if they’re great scorers.”

“He’s a really a good passer, really likes to pass and loves to give his teammates the ball and because of that his teammates really like him. He knows he can pass, and he will get it back because they really like him and they trust him.”

Said Capel: “He has a great feel, and that is something you cannot teach.”

Wake Forest is not unlike most top teams in the ACC. The Deacons are not ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 and often aren’t listed among the “others receiving votes.” No. 9 Duke is the only ranked ACC team.

The most recent KenPom and NCAA Net rankings place Wake Forest 41st and 45th. But you’ll see the Deacons in March: ESPN’s current NCAA Tournament Bracketology makes them a No. 8 seed.

Wake Forest hasn’t reached the tournament since 2017, a drought one year shorter than Pitt’s five-year absence.

Forbes said he doesn’t talk about his team’s success with the players.

“I don’t think that’s healthy,” he said.

The key for Wake Forest has been its ability to recover from defeat.

After a 75-61 loss to LSU, the Deacons won five in a row. After losing on the road in consecutive games against Louisville and Miami, they won six of seven.

“That’s the mark of a really good team to not live in the past,” Forbes said. “We got beat. Are you going to turn it into two or three losses? Great teams don’t do that. They adjust. They figure it out.”

Wake Forest is familiar with Pitt, winning by one point in Winston-Salem and losing by 13 at Petersen Events Center last season. Forbes tried unsuccessfully to recruit Pitt guard Jamarius Burton, a Charlotte, N.C., native.

Forbes said the Deacons’ biggest problem will be trying to neutralize center John Hugley, who leads Pitt in scoring (15.2 points) and rebounding (8.4).

Opponents have impeded Hugley’s progress in his sophomore season by throwing double teams at him. He hit 13 of 24 shots against Louisville and Virginia but is only 10 of 33 in his past three games.

“We have to defend without fouling, which at times has been a problem for us,” Forbes said. “He brings a lot of challenges that we’re going to have to address.”