Eagles Catch Break

In a season where it feels like Jim Christian and his team have caught zero breaks they finally might have caught one. Wake Forest coach Danny Manning announced on Friday that senior forward Devin Thomas has been suspended for two games and sophomore forward Cornelius Hudson has been dismissed from the team.

Losing Thomas is a huge blow for Wake as he leads the team in scoring at 15.8 ppg and also in rebounding at 10.2 boards per game. Believe it or not losing Thomas’ rebounding is probably much bigger than losing his point production. Wake was already a terrible defensive rebounding team with Thomas and without him they will surely be much worse. Don’t be fooled by scanning over the roster and seeing 6’10” center Konstantinos Mitoglou and figuring that he will step in for Thomas. The sophomore center has a game like former Eagle Will Magarity in that he loves to hangout on the perimeter and not get involved with the banging down low.

Aside from scoring and rebounding Thomas was great at doing some of the little things right. Thomas drew an average of 7.3 fouls per 40 minutes, which per KenPom.com is the 16^th highest average in the country. Considering how thin BC is up front, Thomas could have potentially done a ton of damage getting the BC frontline in foul trouble.

Losing Hudson shouldn’t be a huge deal for Wake, but it’s worth mentioning that over the last few games he has taken minutes away from starter Codi Miller-McIntyre and was actually playing more than the senior.

For a team that hasn’t won since December 30^th this certainly looks like the best opportunity for a win since that time.