ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2026

Steve Forbes

Myles Colvin

Tre'Von Spillers

Spectrum Center

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Postgame Press Conference

Wake Forest 95, Virginia Tech 89 (OT)

STEVE FORBES: I thought that was a hell of a game between two really good teams. My hats off to Virginia Tech. It's a lot of pressure when you're on that bubble. We've been there. I thought Ben Hammond was outstanding in the second half, overtime. Schutt made some good threes. They fought and fought and fought and fought and fought.

But I just thought our team was just so resilient. We've been like that probably for the last month where maybe we don't win every game, but we fight really hard.

We had tremendous balance. We had like seven guys in double figures, I think, or Omaha had seven points on top of that. It was good to have Nate Calmese back. Juke wasn't getting his tonight, but everybody else stepped up. He didn't have to carry us, even though he made a big shot there in overtime, I think.

Myles got us off to a great start in overtime with a three and a two. Always like to get the lead. Then Sebastian made some big-time free throws down the stretch. Myles made some free throws, Tre. It was just a really good team effort.

Q. Myles, what did you see on the first two possessions of overtime?

MYLES COLVIN: I think it was just the lay-up. The clock was winding down, I think we rotated, got the ball to both sides of the court. And we were -- I think that was the emphasis for us. Obviously we were scoring the ball at ease when we moved the ball on both sides of the floor, so that was big for us. Tech got downhill and it was hard for him to help with our rotations, and then the three just running in transition. That's also a big emphasis for us, playing fast and getting those easy points and stealing points like that.

Q. Tre, in the first half, you got two fouls pretty quickly, and in the second half in overtime didn't really have much foul trouble. Was there something at halftime that Steve said to you?

TRE'VON SPILLERS: Yeah, just play smart. You know how many fouls we have, so just go in, play smart, play verticality, that's all. It pretty much helped me in the second half in the overtime just playing vertical.

Q. Myles, just not only in those first couple possessions of overtime but how you took over at the end of regulation and what you saw from your own game and picking your spots?

MYLES COLVIN: Yeah, I think just letting the game come to me. I think obviously my best games I've let the game come to me and not forcing things and not predetermining my movements and my actions. So I think that was really big for me.

Obviously moving the ball. I got a couple rebounds in the first half, I think I had like five, so that was big for me just to get on the boards and get a feel for the ball. I think that's really when I play my best game when I get feel for the ball early. Don't settle, don't predetermine my shots, like I said.

I think my first shot wasn't really a great shot, banked off the backboard, so it was just staying with it and being confident in my game.

Q. For both players, what did you say to Juke? What did you see from Juke in today's game? What does it say about the team for y'all to prevail even when he struggled?

TRE'VON SPILLERS: I told him just stay in it. His shot is going to fall. We told him that the entire time. Just don't get out of the game. His shots weren't falling in the first half, but he still help us in great way. He was a great screener. So his screens helped us get open shot.

MYLES COLVIN: To piggyback off that, obviously just telling him to keep shooting the ball, staying aggressive. Obviously one of the best scorers in the country, so for him to not shoot the ball, I think that would put us at a disadvantage. So he kept his head up and obviously he hit a big shot in overtime, so I think that was really big for us. And he's a game changer, so that really helped us.

Q. Steve, since Nate went down against Pitt, I know you've had some kind of tumultuous issues at point guard between Seb and Isaac. What's Seb's growth since about a month and a half ago?

STEVE FORBES: Just a lot more comfortable, a lot more confident in, I think, running the team, picking and choosing his spots when to score and distributing. And I think also too me giving him more rope and more confidence. It's hard when you're coming off the bench. It's hard when you're a pinch-hitter in baseball. Here we go, you've got to come up and get a hit. When you come off the bench, if you don't play well right away, sometimes you don't have a lot of rope.

I think he's been able to play through his mistakes, and I think that's been really important for him. I think Isaac has done an unbelievable job, too.

We got the chance to play Nate today, and it was great to have him out there. I think he got a little sore, and I think we were switching a lot. We didn't switch much at all in our last game against them. They were switching almost 1 through 4, 1 through 5 constantly, and he was having a hard time going laterally to defend Hammond.

Hammond is a good player. He told me, I'm hurting the team. I'm like, no, you're not, you just made a three in the corner.

Yeah, I think Seb -- the last play, when you've got the and-1, so many times you bank a time-out there late in the shot clock and you don't get a good shot. I could see the floor was broken and our guys know to get downhill and he did, and he made a great play.

So I'm real proud of him for that and making those free throws.

Q. Steve, your games against them were the highest turnover percentage they've had all year and the lowest turnover percentage. How important was the first half, forcing 10 and kind of turning into that game?

STEVE FORBES: Considering they had an NCAA record offensive rebounds in the first half -- they had 21 for the game. It's ridiculous.

I thought it was huge. I thought it kept us in the game. It really truthfully -- had they not offensive rebounded the ball in the first half, we'd have had a pretty good lead. We would have played pretty well, except for that.

It's a big thing.

So yes, having turned them over 13 times, that's only nine, and we had 15 assists, too. So we were getting downhill, but we were getting some assists to baskets.

What did we have a five-point lead in regulation? We had two empty possessions -- man, we were trying to get Juke the ball and couldn't get to it. It's physical off the ball. I think Tre turned one over; is that right, late in regulation? I'm rambling now.

I can't remember the other play. Oh, Mekhi kind of shot a side-step three. We needed a better possession in regulation.

But credit to Virginia Tech for guarding them. Sorry. I rambled.

Q. I wanted to ask about Nate, as well. His first offensive possession he hits a three, and he smiles to his parents or whoever was behind him. It seemed like a pretty emotional moment. Can you take me through that play and also just talk about his resilience and his toughness?

STEVE FORBES: Man, I don't really remember the play exactly. I just remember he banged a three, and he's been shooting it like that since he's been back.

He got hurt against Pitt, right? 10 minutes into the game, he had 10 points. He went down, I didn't know he was hurt. I'm screaming at the assistant coaches, get him back in the game. They said, he's out. Not only was he out, he was out for a hell of a long time.

Then he comes back. He worked so hard, gets back, plays against Boston College, and he gets five points in five minutes and sprains his other ankle. I mean, he's a senior. That sucks.

I thought he was done for the year. But then the swelling went down, and he worked, he worked, he worked, and now he's back playing again. There's nothing better than that. He's a great guy and a great teammate.

The players love him, and he makes us better. I forgot what it was like to have him as a player. I think I went 11 games without him. So it was like, oh, man, he's fast. God, he throws good passes.

So I'm happy for him. Then to have the maturity -- he got beat a couple times in the early second half, Hammond got cooking. And he's like Coach, I can't keep him in front of me, and I'm like, don't worry about it, we got you. Good kid, man. I'm proud of him.

Q. After an overtime win like this, what does the next 24 hours look like for recovery, and what's it going to take to beat Clemson tomorrow?

STEVE FORBES: Well, we'll have to score one more point than them to beat them. I think right now, it's fresh legs, clear mind. We've played Clemson a lot. Only once this year, but we played Mike three times.

We know what they're going to do, and they know what we're going to do. We've got to come out and play hard and execute. How do we do that? We get some rest. Maybe back in the old days I'd have went back and had a walk-through and watched film. No, we're going to bed. We'll get up in the morning, we'll watch some film.

There's a lot of overkill in coaching. Sometimes more is less, less is more. We'll be ready.

We're playing on house money. No pressure. Play. I could see the pressure on the other team because I've been there four times -- three, four times. It stinks. We're just playing. We've been playing like this for about a month now, though, I think. Ever since Louisville. We lost to them by five at home. I felt like we played pretty well except maybe one or two games.

We'll just go back, get something to eat, lay down. Players will probably play some video games. I don't know. And we'll get up and play tomorrow.

Q. Juke was obviously frustrated with the physicality that he was dealing with. How do you keep him to be level headed while also trying to get those calls?

STEVE FORBES: Well, I've got to have his back, which I tried. I was very animated at times. But at the end of the day, he's got to play through it. I think that's one of the greatest things he's done all year. And you and I have had this conversation about he gets everybody's best effort at the top of the scouting report.

Let's just be honest, there's a lot of grabbing and holding. I think the game needs -- I think we've done a really good job cleaning up the on the ball physicality, fouling. I think we've got to look at cleaning up off the ball. That was my biggest thing was I'm trying to get him the ball, trying to get him to catch.

He got frustrated a little bit, but he plays through that kind of thing. He's young. He's competitive. He wants to win.

He'll be fine. He'll be fine. It's not going to be the last time. As long as he's got a Wake Forest jersey on, I'm sure he's going to get a lot of attention.