When comparing the Virginia-Wake Forest match-up, a considerable advantage appears on paper – a clear mismatch on the front line for the Demon Deacons where a steady stream of tall and athletic players reside. In two contests this season, the apparent edge materialized on the court as well; on Saturday, the visiting Deacs again dominated the rebounding category to squeeze past UVa 64-61 in overtime.

Just how pronounced was Wake’s upper hand on the glass? The Demon Deacons won the rebounding battle 46-34. That included 16 offensive rebounds for Wake Forest to 19 defensive rebounds for UVa. In other words, the Deacs were grabbing nearly as many boards on that end as the Hoos.

Of the key frontcourt players, Wake’s Al-Farouq Aminu (10), Chas McFarland (6) and Tony Woods (4) combined for 20 rebounds while Virginia’s front line of Mike Scott (10), Jerome Meyinsse (3), Will Sherrill (3) and Assane Sene (1) totaled 17 boards. While the bottom line doesn’t look that bad, the Deacons had 8 O-Boards mixed among those 20 rebounds while UVa had just 8 defensive rebounds among those 17 boards.

“That is important for us -Tony’s kids are terrific box out team. They don’t give out too many second shots,” Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio said. “Tony Woods came in and gave us really good buckets off of second shots. We have our shortcomings, we are not a great free throw shooting team as was evident today – we are not a great shooting team, which was evident against Miami on 3 of 12 from threes. We just find a way to make up for that – it needs to be on the backboard, it needs to be with our defense and I thought those two things were strong points for us today.”

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