2002–03 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball team

The 2002–03 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball team represented Wake Forest University as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference during the 2002–03 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Led by head coach Skip Prosser, the team played their home games at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Demon Deacons won the ACC regular season title by two games over Maryland, but would lose in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament. Wake Forest received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 2 seed in the East region. After a 3-point win over East Tennessee State in the opening round,^[1] the Deacons were upset by No. 10 seed Auburn in the second round^[2] to end the season with a record of 25–6 (13–3 ACC).

2002–03 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball
ACC Regular season champions
NCAA tournament, second round
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 12
AP	No. 8
Record	25–6 (13–3 ACC)
Head coach	Skip Prosser (2nd season)
Assistant coach	Dino Gaudio (2nd season)
Home arena	LJVM Coliseum
Seasons ← 2001–02 2003–04 →

2002–03 ACC men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 8 Wake Forest	13	–	3		.813			25	–	6		.806
No. 17 Maryland	11	–	5		.688			21	–	10		.677
No. 7 Duke†	11	–	5		.688			26	–	7		.788
NC State	9	–	7		.563			18	–	13		.581
Georgia Tech	7	–	9		.438			16	–	15		.516
Virginia	6	–	10		.375			16	–	16		.500
North Carolina	6	–	10		.375			19	–	16		.543
Clemson	5	–	11		.313			15	–	13		.536
Florida State	4	–	12		.250			14	–	15		.483
† 2003 ACC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

Roster

2002–03 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 1 Justin Gray 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Fr Oak Hill Academy Raleigh, North Carolina F 5 Josh Howard (C) 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Sr Hargrave Military Academy Winston-Salem, North Carolina C 31 Eric Williams 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 270 lb (122 kg) Fr Wake Forest-Rolesville HS Wake Forest, North Carolina	Head coach Skip Prosser Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on   Injured   Current redshirt Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Nov 27, 2002*		Yale	W 73–61	1–0	Lawrence Joel Coliseum  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Dec 1, 2002*		Temple	W 83–76	2–0	Lawrence Joel Coliseum  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Dec 4, 2002*		at No. 23 Wisconsin ACC–Big Ten Challenge	W 90–80	3–0	Kohl Center  Madison, Wisconsin
Dec 15, 2002*		SMU	W 73–49	4–0	Lawrence Joel Coliseum  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Dec 18, 2002*		South Carolina State	W 100–57	5–0	Lawrence Joel Coliseum  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Dec 21, 2002*		St. John's	W 84–72	6–0	Lawrence Joel Coliseum  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Dec 28, 2002*	No. 25	North Carolina A&T	W 104–64	7–0	Lawrence Joel Coliseum  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Dec 30, 2002*	No. 23	Bethune-Cookman	W 96–54	8–0	Lawrence Joel Coliseum  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Jan 4, 2003*	No. 23	at Richmond	W 68–62	9–0	Robins Center  Richmond, Virginia
Jan 7, 2003*	No. 17	Elon	W 98–56	10–0	Lawrence Joel Coliseum  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Jan 12, 2003	No. 17	at No. 1 Duke	L 55–74	10–1 (0–1)	Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, North Carolina
Jan 15, 2003	No. 19	No. 17 Maryland	W 81–72	11–1 (1–1)	Lawrence Joel Coliseum  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Jan 19, 2003	No. 19	Georgia Tech	W 73–66	12–1 (2–1)	Lawrence Joel Coliseum  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Jan 23, 2003	No. 17	at Virginia	L 75–85	12–2 (2–2)	University Hall  Charlottesville, Virginia
Jan 26, 2003	No. 17	Florida State	W 71–60	13–2 (3–2)	Lawrence Joel Coliseum  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Jan 28, 2003	No. 17	at Clemson	W 81–60	14–2 (4–2)	Littlejohn Coliseum  Clemson, South Carolina
Feb 2, 2003	No. 17	at North Carolina	W 79–75	15–2 (5–2)	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Feb 6, 2003	No. 14	NC State	W 73–58	16–2 (6–2)	Lawrence Joel Coliseum  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Feb 9, 2003*	No. 14	at No. 15 Marquette	L 61–68	16–3	Bradley Center  Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Feb 13, 2003	No. 14	No. 8 Duke	W 94–80 ^2OT	17–3 (7–2)	Lawrence Joel Coliseum  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Feb 17, 2003	No. 10	at No. 13 Maryland	L 67–90	17–4 (7–3)	Comcast Center  College Park, Maryland
Feb 20, 2003	No. 10	at Georgia Tech	W 75–67	18–4 (8–3)	Alexander Memorial Coliseum  Atlanta, Georgia
Feb 23, 2003	No. 10	Virginia	W 75–71	19–4 (9–3)	Lawrence Joel Coliseum  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Feb 26, 2003	No. 12	at Florida State	W 60–56	20–4 (10–3)	Donald L. Tucker Center  Tallahassee, Florida
Mar 1, 2003	No. 12	Clemson	W 80–68	21–4 (11–3)	Lawrence Joel Coliseum  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Mar 5, 2003	No. 9	North Carolina	W 75–60	22–4 (12–3)	Lawrence Joel Coliseum  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Mar 8, 2003	No. 9	at NC State	W 78–72	23–4 (13–3)	RBC Center  Raleigh, North Carolina
ACC Tournament
Mar 14, 2003*	No. 9	Florida State Quarterfinals	W 69–61	24–4	Greensboro Coliseum  Greensboro, North Carolina
Mar 15, 2003*	No. 9	vs. NC State Semifinals	L 83–87	24–5	Greensboro Coliseum  Greensboro, North Carolina
NCAA Tournament
Mar 21, 2003*	(2 E) No. 8	vs. (15 E) East Tennessee State First Round	W 76–73	25–5	St. Pete Times Forum  St. Petersburg, Florida
Mar 23, 2003*	(2 E) No. 8	vs. (10 E) Auburn Second Round	L 62–68	25–6	St. Pete Times Forum  St. Petersburg, Florida
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East. All times are in Eastern Standard Time.

^[3]

Rankings

Main article: 2002–03 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

^[4]

References

1. "Wake Forest staves off E. Tenn. St., 76-73". The Baltimore Sun. March 21, 2003. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
2. "Auburn revels in underdog status, ousts ACC champs". ESPN. March 23, 2003. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
3. "2002-03 Men's Basketball Schedule". Wake Forest University Athletics. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
4. *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 1064–1065. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.