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Feb 14, 2026; Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA; Wake Forest Demon Deacons forward Juke Harris (2) brings the ball up court during the first half against the Stanford Cardinal at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images
The Deacs are on a winning streak! After falling behind by as much as 9 in the 2nd half, Wake Forest battled back to take down the Cardinal and pickup their first home win since January 3rd. The win gives Wake their 2nd straight and moves them to 4-8 in the ACC, well within striking distance of the group of 6 teams with 5 or 6 conference wins right above them.
Down the stretch️ pic.twitter.com/tmvfmKtUnZ
— Wake Forest Men's Basketball (@WakeMBB) February 14, 2026
The game was pretty even through most of the first half, until the Deacs went ice cold from the floor for the final 2:39 of the period. That allowed Stanford to finish the half on an 11-0 run and take a 9-point lead into the break. The biggest difference between the teams at the half was 3-point shooting—the Cardinal finished the half shooting 8-18 (44%) from deep, while Wake was 3-11 (27%).
The second half was a little bit of a roller coaster for the Deacs. Every time Wake made a solid push to cut the lead down to 5, Stanford answered right back to push their advantage back up to 8 or 9. Stanford freshman Ebuka Okorie was as good as advertised, scoring 16 of his 26 points in the 2nd half on 6-13 shooting to keep Wake from making up any ground.
Just when it started to look like the Deacs might not get over the hump, Wake locked in defensively. Over the final 6 minutes of the game, the Deacs held Stanford to 2-10 shooting from the floor and just 5 total points. That allowed Wake to close out the game on a 17-5 run over the final 6:42 to come from behind by 7 and win the game by 5 points. The defensive effort cannot be understated—the Cardinal finished the 2nd half shooting just 9-25 from the floor and 2-11 from 3. The Cardinal players outside of Okorie were held to just 8 combined points on 3-12 shooting. Stanford barely managed to outscore Juke Harris in the 2nd half, scoring just 24 total points to Juke’s 18 over the final 20 minutes of the game.
This may not have been the biggest game Wake has won or the most important, but man did it feel good to finally get another win at home. For the first time in what has felt like forever, the atmosphere in the Joel to finish the game was incredible—everyone was on their feet and cheering, trying their best to help the Deacs come out on top. Despite how bad the season started, Wake is only 2 ACC games from catching a big blob of 6 teams with 5 or 6 conference wins—there is still a chance Wake could gain some ground in the standings and finish somewhere around 10th at the end of the season.
Hopefully this win gives the Deacs a little momentum with #20 Clemson coming to town next Wednesday.
Go Deacs!
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