ATLANTA — Georgia Tech calls Alexander Memorial Coliseum as the Thriller Dome. Wake Forest refers to it by another name, though.
As far as the Demon Deacons are concerned, the 54-year-old arena is the House of Horrors.
Wake Forest lost again on the Yellow Jackets' homecourt and this time it wasn't close. In fact, it was the worst loss ever for the Demon Deacons against the Yellow Jackets anywhere.
Wake Forest hit six of its first seven shots in taking a 13-6 lead and then was completely shut down offensively as No. 22 Georgia Tech rolled to a 79-58 victory Thursday night.
"I'm not really sure if we can play much better than that," Yellow Jackets coach Paul Hewitt said.
The loss was Wake Forest sixth straight loss in Atlanta and left the Demon Deacons 9-23 all-time on the Georgia Tech campus.
The good news for Wake Forest is that the Yellow Jackets come to Winston-Salem on Feb. 13 and they are 9-22 on the road against the Demon Deacons.
"We knew this was a tough place to play," said center Chas McFarland, one of four Wake Forest seniors to go 0-4 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
The Demon Deacons knew about the streak. Gaudio remind them of it.
"Coach told us before the game that we'd never won here," senior point guard Ishmael Smith said. "We didn't do a good job of trying to change that."
The loss dropped Wake Forest, which came in off victories over North Carolina and Virginia, to 4-3 in the ACC and 14-5 overall, while Georgia Tech improved to 4-3 in the ACC and 15-4 overall.
"They took us out of a lot of things we like to do," Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio said.
Part of that was the inside presence of Georgia Tech freshman Derrick Favors, who had four of his five blocks in the first half.
"We never had an easy possession," McFarland said.
Wake Forest, meanwhile, didn't make it tough enough for Georgia Tech.
"I think we are a pretty good defensive team," Gaudio said. "I don't think anybody in a long time shot 54 percent against us."
The actual percentage was 53.7, including 6-for-10 from behind the 3-point arc.
In comparison, Wake Forest shot 32.8 percent and was 3 of 18 on 3-pointers. The Demon Deacons struggled at the foul line, too, as they hit just 13 of 25 free throws.
Georgia Tech placed five players in double figures and out-rebounded Wake Forest 43-34. D'Andre Bell had 16 points to lead the way, while Gani Lawal had 14 points and nine rebounds. Freshman Brian Oliver was 3-for-4 on 3-pointers while getting 13 points, and Shumpert and Favors each scored 11.
Al-Farouq Aminu had 15 points and eight rebounds, and Smith scored 12 for the Demon Deacons. But they shot a combined 11 of 28.
Wake Forest cut Georgia Tech's lead to four points with the first two baskets of the second half. Any hope of a victory ended right there, though. The Yellow Jackets went on a 19-4 run and kept pulling away.
"They played very, very well," Gaudio said.
Wake Forest is 0-3 at Georgia Tech under Gaudio, losing in overtime the first time and on a last-second shot by Shumpert a year ago when the Demon Deacons were ranked No. 6 and the Yellow Jackets were as last-place team.
Those games were heartbreakers. This game was a beat down.
Asked if the losing streak at Georgia Tech had become a physiological issue with his team, Gaudio tried to laugh it off. What else could he do?
"They are new kids," he said. "I'm not sure some of the guys know where we are sometimes."
WAKE FOREST (14-5) — Aminu 6-16 1-4 15, McFarland 3-9 0-2 6, Smith 5-12 1-2 12, Harris 0-5 4-5 4, Williams 3-7 3-4 9, Clark 1-5 1-3 3, Stewart 0-4 2-2 2, Weaver 0-1 0-0 0, Woods 3-5 1-3 7. Totals 21-64 13-25 58.
GEORGIA TECH (15-5) — Favors 5-7 1-4 11, Lawal 5-9 4-4 14, Udofia 2-5 0-0 4, Shumpert 4-11 1-2 11, Bell 5-8 5-6 16, M.Miller 0-0 2-2 2, Foreman 0-0 0-0 0, Oliver 4-5 2-2 13, Peacock 3-8 0-0 6, Rice Jr. 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 29-54 15-20 79.
Halftime—Georgia Tech 35-29.
3-point goals—Wake Forest 3-18 (Aminu 2-4, Smith 1-1, McFarland 0-1, Stewart 0-2, Williams 0-3, Clark 0-3, Harris 0-4), Georgia Tech 6-10 (Oliver 3-4, Shumpert 2-4, Bell 1-1, Udofia 0-1).
Fouled out—None.
Rebounds—Wake Forest 34 (Aminu 8), Georgia Tech 43 (Favors, Lawal 9).
Assists—Wake Forest 10 (Smith 4), Georgia Tech 12 (Bell, Udofia 3).
Total fouls—Wake Forest 20, Georgia Tech 22.
Technical—Lawal.
A—9,083.
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