Wake backcourt flawless

WINSTON-SALEM — Justin Gray knew.

He knew if he made the shot, the sellout crowd at Lawrence Joel Coliseum would erupt. He knew he would be delivering a significant blow to North Carolina.

And when he released his 3-pointer from the top of the key early in the second half, he knew it was going in even though he had just airballed his previous attempt.

He just didn’t know how he got so wide open.

“Man, I was surprised I was that open. It took me a couple seconds to get my hands on the ball, so I just wanted to knock it down,” said the Wake Forest shooting guard, who scored 13 points Saturday. “Whenever you hit a 3, in this type of atmosphere, you know the fans are going to go crazy, … and when that happens it’s going to step up your defensive intensity.

“You can tell a momentum shot, that’s one of those dagger shots that (Coach Skip Prosser) always talks about.”

Gray’s 3-pointer came in the middle of a 15-3 Wake Forest run that the Deacons used to bury UNC.

Gray, along with Chris Paul and Taron Downey, sunk those kind of shots all game as the Wake Forest guards dominated North Carolina’s in a matchup pitting two of the best backcourts in the nation against each other.

Wake’s trio of guards outscored UNC’s Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants and Jackie Manuel 57-37 as McCants and Manuel both were hampered by foul trouble.

Paul, the ACC Preseason Player of the Year, lived up to the hype Saturday, scoring 26 points and dishing out eight assists to one turnover. He also grabbed six rebounds and picked up five steals.

“He’s got an instinct of getting to the basket, he’s got the ability to get to the basket, hang, draw the foul and finish the play,” said UNC head coach Roy Williams. “He’s got a slight build, he’s not Arnold Schwarzenegger, but he plays like he is that size.”

Paul also was able to keep Raymond Felton in check, holding the Tar Heel point guard to 16 points on 5-of-18 shooting.

But after the game, Paul deflected the attention to Downey, who scored a season-high 18 points off the bench.

“I’m just happy to be a catalyst on the team and try to get my guys open shots,” Paul said. “Taron Downey was definitely the MVP of the game.”

Paul added, “I told Downey, ‘Whenever I go in the lane, be ready to shoot. I don’t care if two people are in your face, just let it go.'”

That strategy worked, particularly in the first half.

With the Demon Deacons trailing 13-8, Downey nailed three straight 3-pointers in a 90-second span.

UNC never led after that point and only tied the score once.

“You can definitely feel it when it’s going in. I was like, ‘Oh God, this is going to be a good night for us,’” Downey said. “After I hit it, I was just happy, and I wanted to get another one off. That’s what you want to do when you’re on.”

Wake’s dominant guard play was certainly aided by UNC’s foul trouble.

Manuel, the team’s defensive stopper, fouled out with more than seven minutes left, and McCants played basically the entire second half with four fouls. Combined, the two starters only played 39 minutes.

But the Deacons had no answer for McCants when he was on the floor. The junior scored 19 points in just 20 minutes.

“I’m really happy that he did get in foul trouble because he’s such a great player, he can hurt you in many ways,” Downey said. “For him to not be on the court, he can’t hurt us.”

But as for who has the backcourt, at least for one day, Gray knew that too.

“We feel like our backcourt is one of the best in the country. We feel like we could play with anyone,” said Gray, who wore a brace on his right wrist following the game because he tore tendons in his wrist against Virginia. “When people talk about other guards, we take it kind of personally.

“We want to be known as the best. Tonight, I think we had a better game than the Carolina guards.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.