Wake Forest junior guard Hunter Sallis was among the five players selected to the All-ACC first team on Monday, becoming the third consecutive Demon Deacons guard to earn that honor after transferring to Steve Forbes’ team.
Sallis, who spent the first two years of his career out west at Gonzaga, was joined on the All-ACC first team by RJ Davis at North Carolina, PJ Hall at Clemson, Kyle Filipowski at Duke, and Blake Hinson at Pitt.
This has become a trend at Wake Forest under coach Forbes. First it was Jake Laravia, who transferred from Indiana State and earned All-ACC honors in 2021-22 – and was selected 19th overall in the 2022 NBA draft. Then it was Tyree Appleby, a grad transfer from Florida who averaged 18.8 points for the Demon Deacons in 2022-23 on his way to an All-ACC nod as well.
Now the honor goes to Sallis, who paced Wake Forest in scoring at 18.3 points per night, while adding 4.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.0 steals per game on 41.6% shooting from three – a huge increase from the 25.8% he shot from distance in two years with the Zags.
Wake’s second leading scorer this year is Kevin Miller, another transfer guard coming over from Central Michigan and averaging 15.4 points per game.
Forbes’ success with transfer portal guards is no accident, as he has been able to find players who fit his system and help them thrive both offensively and defensively.
However, the influx of talented guards has yet to result in an NCAA Tournament for the Demon Deacons under Forbes, and this year’s team is squarely on the bubble heading into the ACC Tournament which gets underway this week.