The Good and Bad From Wake Forest Men's Basketball Two Exhibition Games

The regular season is still over a couple of weeks away, but so far we have already had two chances to see the Demon Deacons take the court against another opponent.

Those two games have both gone against the Deacs, suffering a 94-77 loss at the Joel to Georgetown and, more recently, a 78-69 loss in Rock Hill to South Carolina. The Deacs will have one more closed-door scrimmage against Elon before the lights turn on for real on November 2.

The results obviously don't look all that promising, but wins and losses are not the priority in preseason basketball. Let's go through some positives and negatives we have seen so far as the season nears.

Placide Brothers Can Play

If there was a bright spot worth pointing out from these two exhibition games, it would be the play of freshman brothers Gavin and Gallagher Placide.

Both showed they are capable of playing at a high major level. Gavin had 14 points against the Hoyas, and Gallagher scored 13. Against South Carolina, Gavin had 21 points, going 6-for-6 from the floor. Gallagher chipped in with seven points.

Deac fans can look forward to tracking the progress of these two talented freshmen throughout the season. They have already shown big flashes against high-major opponents and should only improve the more comfortable they get on the college stage.

Can They Shoot the Three?

Through two games, one major worry that has become apparent is the lack of three-point shooting from this Demon Deacons squad. They failed to shoot the ball well from three in both early exhibition contests.

Against Georgetown, Wake was 7-of-29 from the three-point range and just 2-of-14 against South Carolina. It is going to be hard for any team to win with these shooting stats, and it is easy to question where that long-range shooting will come from. Justin Ray is sure to provide some threes, but who else will be able to shoot consistently well from distance? This will be something to watch early on in the season.

More Offensive Weapons Needed

We talked about the Placide brothers' ability to score the ball, as well as many other beneficial things for the Deacs. However, it is still apparent through these two contests that Wake will need some additional offensive firepower.

Kevair Kennedy had 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting against Georgetown, but had a weaker showing against South Carolina. He will likely need to be a consistent offensive weapon for this group to be successful.

One really surprising development is that lone returner to see minutes for the Deacs last season, Isaac Carr, and big-man transfer, Xander Pintelon, have been relatively quiet through two games offensively. Pintelon has only scored two points through the two games and still has yet to make a field goal. Isaac Carr only had two points against Georgetown and was quiet for most of the game against South Carolina before finishing strong and scoring seven points. Maybe this is a positive sign of more to come from him in the future.