Teague's big night leads Wake Forest past BYU, 79-62

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Jeff Teague dribbled near the right wing, spotted Wake Forest teammate L.D. Williams cutting toward the basket and lofted him an alley-oop.

As passes go, it was horrible — it wound up swishing through the net for three points.

"From then on out," teammate James Johnson said, "he was Super Teague."

It was that kind of can't-miss night for both Teague and the Demon Deacons. The freshman guard scored a season-high 26 points and Wake Forest shot nearly 52 percent to cruise past Brigham Young 79-62 Tuesday night.

"I wasn't really looking to score every time I got the ball, but just being aggressive would get other people open," Teague said. "We were just rolling."

Johnson added 19 points for the Demon Deacons (11-3), who wrapped up their nonconference schedule in surprisingly easy fashion, never trailing and leading by 19 early in the second half of their sixth straight victory and Atlantic Coast Conference-best 14th consecutive home win.

Chas McFarland added 11 points before fouling out in the final minute and Ishmael Smith scored 10 for Wake Forest, which shot nearly 52 percent and locked down on the Cougars' scorers all night long. BYU, which entered shooting 48 percent, was held to 35.9 percent, committed 22 turnovers and allowed a season-high point total.

"We kind of got behind the 8-ball early, and couldn't get them stopped in transition," Cougars coach Dave Rose said. "We missed a lot of shots early."

Teague bettered his previous high of 16 points set last month against Bucknell, nearly surpassing it during the first half with a near-perfect shooting display — including his accidental alley-oop 3-pointer.

"That was luck — I think Coach P dropped that one in," Teague said, referring to late coach Skip Prosser. "I was supposed to lob it up there so (Williams) could get a dunk and get the crowd into the game. I happened to hit a 3."

In the opening 20 minutes, Teague hit both of his attempts from 3-point range, sank both free throws and was 5-of-6 from the field in helping Wake Forest build a 17-point halftime lead. He finished 8-of-10 from the field and was perfect on eight free throws.

"Today he had to carry us, and he did that," Johnson said.