Wake Forest's Crawford draws tough assignments on defense
Having earned the starting point guard position from essentially the moment he stepped on campus, Wake Forest sophomore Bryant Crawford has received a bevy of attention for nearly everything he?s done in his 46-game career up until this point.
And while Crawford?s offensive numbers, which have improved across the board with the exception of a slight dip in 3-point field-goal percentage from last year to this year, draw most of the interest, it is his defensive play that may be the most important to the Deacons? overall team success.
When Wake Forest (10-6, 1-3 ACC) welcomes No. 11 North Carolina (14-3, 2-1 ACC) inside Joel Coliseum tonight at 8 p.m., Crawford will likely draw the task of guarding Tar Heels junior point guard Joel Berry II ? a three-time ACC Player of the Week this season.
Crawford?s matchup with Berry is coming off the heels of his battle with Virginia senior London Perrantes, who scored a season-high 24 points Sunday in the Cavaliers? 79-66 victory over the Deacons.
Other top ACC guards Crawford may face this season include N.C. State freshman Dennis Smith Jr., a projected top-10 pick in this year?s NBA Draft, as well as Pittsburgh?s Jamel Artis, a 6-foot-7 senior who slid over to the lead guard position for the Panthers and averages 21.5 points per game.
The competition among ACC point guards is part of what initially drew Crawford to the conference, as he now hopes to be considered among the upper echelon at a position well-versed in talent across the league.
?I feel like every point guard in this conference is elite, so night in and night out I?m looking forward to a good matchup,? Crawford said, in between playing a pair of preseason All-ACC first-team selections in Perrantes and Berry in a four-day span.
?It?s tough, but I knew that coming into this conference ? that it was going to be tough. And they have to do the same thing for me. They have to go down on the offensive end and execute and still have to guard me as well.?
As for Crawford?s improvement as a defensive player since his freshman year to now, coach Danny Manning of Wake Forest said it?s there, but he is still wanting more from both Crawford and the rest his players as the season progresses.
In Crawford?s case, according to Manning, the most important thing is continuing to understand that, as the point guard, the rest of the team constantly looks at him for on-the-court guidance on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor.
?We need him to continue to evolve, not only as a player, but also as a leader,? Manning said. ?Sometimes as a younger player when you command the attention of all of your teammates, sometimes he is stepping out of the comfort zone for himself.
?But he is doing a good job of answering the challenges that we are giving him in that aspect. He?s doing well, but we want more and we expect more.?
Crawford being able to set the tone for the rest of his teammates, defensively, will be vital against North Carolina, which ranks first in the ACC and sixth in the nation in scoring with 89.1 points per game
The Tar Heels, led by the senior post tandem of Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks, lead the country in rebounding margin (+14) and rank second in offensive rebounding (16.4 per game). Through 17 games, UNC has rebounded 42.7 percent of its own missed shots.
?We have a tough matchup, no question about it,? Manning said. ?Those guys are very long, but they are very active. They get up and down the court well and we definitely have to match their intensity and keep them off the offensive glass.?
Having earned the starting point guard position from essentially the moment he stepped on campus, Wake Forest sophomore Bryant Crawford has received a bevy of attention for nearly everything he?s done in his 46-game career up until this point.
And while Crawford?s offensive numbers, which have improved across the board with the exception of a slight dip in 3-point field-goal percentage from last year to this year, draw most of the interest, it is his defensive play that may be the most important to the Deacons? overall team success.
When Wake Forest (10-6, 1-3 ACC) welcomes No. 11 North Carolina (14-3, 2-1 ACC) inside Joel Coliseum tonight at 8 p.m., Crawford will likely draw the task of guarding Tar Heels junior point guard Joel Berry II ? a three-time ACC Player of the Week this season.
Crawford?s matchup with Berry is coming off the heels of his battle with Virginia senior London Perrantes, who scored a season-high 24 points Sunday in the Cavaliers? 79-66 victory over the Deacons.
Other top ACC guards Crawford may face this season include N.C. State freshman Dennis Smith Jr., a projected top-10 pick in this year?s NBA Draft, as well as Pittsburgh?s Jamel Artis, a 6-foot-7 senior who slid over to the lead guard position for the Panthers and averages 21.5 points per game.
The competition among ACC point guards is part of what initially drew Crawford to the conference, as he now hopes to be considered among the upper echelon at a position well-versed in talent across the league.
?I feel like every point guard in this conference is elite, so night in and night out I?m looking forward to a good matchup,? Crawford said, in between playing a pair of preseason All-ACC first-team selections in Perrantes and Berry in a four-day span.
?It?s tough, but I knew that coming into this conference ? that it was going to be tough. And they have to do the same thing for me. They have to go down on the offensive end and execute and still have to guard me as well.?
As for Crawford?s improvement as a defensive player since his freshman year to now, coach Danny Manning of Wake Forest said it?s there, but he is still wanting more from both Crawford and the rest his players as the season progresses.
In Crawford?s case, according to Manning, the most important thing is continuing to understand that, as the point guard, the rest of the team constantly looks at him for on-the-court guidance on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor.
?We need him to continue to evolve, not only as a player, but also as a leader,? Manning said. ?Sometimes as a younger player when you command the attention of all of your teammates, sometimes he is stepping out of the comfort zone for himself.
?But he is doing a good job of answering the challenges that we are giving him in that aspect. He?s doing well, but we want more and we expect more.?
Crawford being able to set the tone for the rest of his teammates, defensively, will be vital against North Carolina, which ranks first in the ACC and sixth in the nation in scoring with 89.1 points per game
The Tar Heels, led by the senior post tandem of Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks, lead the country in rebounding margin (+14) and rank second in offensive rebounding (16.4 per game). Through 17 games, UNC has rebounded 42.7 percent of its own missed shots.
?We have a tough matchup, no question about it,? Manning said. ?Those guys are very long, but they are very active. They get up and down the court well and we definitely have to match their intensity and keep them off the offensive glass.?
