Wake Forest loses first game since Duke basketball controversy, hurting NCAA hopes

Maybe it's karma? Maybe it's just an overrated team? Regardless, Wake Forest could not follow up its victory over the Duke basketball team on Tuesday night in South Bend against Notre Dame.

There was no shortage of chatter exiting the matchup with the Blue Devils and the Demon Deacons after Kyle Filipowski injured his kneetrying to leave the floor as the Wake Forest students rushed the court.

However, there was never any chatter around the team.

In fact, the incident had nothing to do with any of the Wake Forest players or coaches.

Instead, the conversation over the last four days surrounded how to prevent other players from being injured in court stormings.

Nonetheless, it was still an emotional victory for Wake Forest and it's very difficult to respond going on the road with a short rest.

Hunter Sallis had the game of his life against the Blue Devils with 29 points on 11-of-13 shooting from the field and 5-of-6 from 3-point range. He only managed seven points on 2-of-11 shooting against the Irish in the 70-65 loss.

It was the first time this season Sallis was held under 10 points.

Notre Dame freshman Markus Burton finished with 31 points.

As of Tuesday night, it was a Quadrant 3 loss for Wake Forest, which was its first Quad 3 or 4 loss of the season. The Demon Deacons are now 2-8 in true road games and 3-10 away from Winston-Salem.

There is a possibility that Notre Dame's NET ranking could immediately elevate the loss to a Quad 2 defeat for Wake Forest, but the Irish's NET will likely drop finishing the season with Clemson, North Carolina, and Virginia Tech, the latter two coming on the road, and give the Deacs the dreaded Quad 3 loss for a bubble team.

Wake Forest closes the season with a road trip to Virginia Tech and home matchups with Georgia Tech and Clemson.

As for Duke, it's still unclear whether Kyle Filipowski (knee) or Caleb Foster (ankle) will play on Wednesday night against Louisville (7:00 p.m. ET, ACC Network).