Wake Forest University
1-1,0-0ACC
#24 Vanderbilt
2-0,0-0SEC
Demon Deacons Drop 74-51 Road Game at #24/21 Vanderbilt
11/5/2026 8:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Kevair Kennedy leads Wake Forest with 20 points
NASHVILLE – The Wake Forest men’s basketball team dropped its first road test of the 2026-27 campaign Thursday evening as the Demon Deacons fell 74-51 at No. 24/21 Vanderbilt inside historic Memorial Gymnasium.
The Demon Deacons (1-1) were led by sophomore transfer Kevair Kennedy, who finished the night with 20 points and five rebounds for his 17th career 20-point outing and his first as a Demon Deacon. Kennedy has tallied a team-high 34 points over the first two games of the season to go along with 14 rebounds.
Freshman standout Gavin Placide finished the night two rebounds shy of his first career double-double after impressing on both ends once again. The Denver native recorded 10 points, a team-high three blocks and a steal.
Wake Forest was within six with 10:29 to play, but the Commodores pulled away down the stretch to keep their nation-leading home non-conference game winning streak in tact.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Gavin Placide came out hot right out of the gate with two baskets and a monster block within the first two minutes as the Deacs took an early 4-3 lead.
Wake scored its first six points of the game in the paint before Vanderbilt tallied the game’s next seven points to pull ahead 12-6 just under six minutes into the game.
Isaac Carr drilled two triples in a 1:20 span to pull the Deacs back within two and four points over the next few minutes, but the Dores started to heat up and used an 8-0 streak to take a 12-point lead at 25-13 with 9:43 left in the first half.
Kevair Kennedy caught fire, rattling off seven-straight Wake Forest points to trim the Vandy lead to 27-20 at 7:49.
The Deac defense stood stout, holding Vanderbilt scoreless for a 3:16 stretch as Jamari McDowell capitalized with a triple of his own and Wake Forest was suddenly back within four at 27-23 at the 5:35 mark.
Vanderbilt was held without a field goal for a nearly six-minute stretch as a pair of Justin Ray free throws had Wake Forest within three at 30-27, but the Dores responded with nine-straight points to close the half and take a 39-27 lead into the locker room.
A Gavin Placide bucket opened the second half and Kennedy followed with four-straight points as the Deacs quickly trimmed the Vandy edge to 39-33 three minutes into the second term.
The Dores were ahead by 11 two minutes later, but Wake Forest responded once again with a 7-2 spurt that was capped off by a Kennedy triple to make it 46-40 with 12:07 to play.
Wake stayed within six at 48-42, but Vandy’s Ant Brown Jr. canned back-to-back 3-pointers to force a Demon Deacon timeout at 9:36 as the Dores went up 54-42.
Xander Pintelon converted a corner triple out of the break, but Vanderbilt picked up steam as the Dores wouldn’t let the Deacs closer than nine the rest of the way. No. 24 Vanderbilt went on to win its 21st-straight non-conference home game, the nation’s longest active streak.
KEY NOTES
Wake Forest and Vanderbilt matched up for the second-straight season and the 12th time in program history.
The Demon Deacon defense limited Vanderbilt to a 38.9 percent clip from the field.
Wake Forest combined for six blocks Thursday night, with Gavin Placide (3), Jamari McDowell (2) and Xander Pintelon (1) recording at least one.
Kevair Kennedy finished with 20 points, marking his 17th career 20-plus point game and first in a Wake Forest uniform.
The sophomore finished 7-of-15 from the floor and hauled in five rebounds.
Through two games, Kennedy leads the Demon Deacons with 34 points on .455 shooting.
True freshman Gavin Placide was two rebounds away from his first career double-double as he finished the night with 10 points to go along with three blocks and a steal.
The Denver, Colo. native has started his collegiate career 13-of-21 from the floor with 30 points, 15 rebounds, five blocks and four steals in just 68 minutes of action.
FROM HEAD COACH STEVE FORBES
Congratulations to Vanderbilt, hard-fought game for them. They stayed tough the entire game. I thought we did a pretty good job on Tyler (Tanner) for the most part until the end. Really disappointed in how we ended the half. Second half we cut it to six and were fighting hard, then I thought our offense stalled out and we weren’t getting ball movement.
UP NEXT
The Demon Deacons return home to kick off a four-game homestand Tuesday night when Wake Forest hosts Charleston Southern at 7 p.m. inside LJVM Coliseum. Tickets are available here and the game will be Wake Forest’s Salute to Service night.
Charleston Southern
Nov 10 (Tue)
