After a thrilling overtime victory over Texas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, Wake Forest brought high hopes into its second-round matchup with top-seed Kentucky.

Those hopes were crushed by the top seed in the East Regional on Saturday in New Orleans, the Wildcats smashing the Demon Deacons with a 25-9 first-half run en route to a 90-60 victory that ended Wake’s season at 20-11.

The loss indeed was disappointing for a Wake team that hung tough with Kentucky for the first part of the first half. But tied at 19 with 11:39 to go before halftime, Al-Farouq Aminu picked up his third foul. From there, the Wildcats took over, scoring 25 of the half’s final 34 points to put Wake in a 44-28 hole.

It got worse in the second half, as Wake trailed by as many as 31 points. Aminu led Wake with 16 points. C.J. Harris added 11.

It was a far cry from Thursday’s 81-80 overtime win over Texas in the opening round of the tournament. Still, that win gave Wake a little momentum, after the Demon Deacons lost five out of six games entering the NCAAs.

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The Demon Deacons were defeated almost by the time they took the court. The young and talented Wildcats overwhelmed them with their speed, size, and skill. Wake Forest’s defense had no answers, allowing Kentucky to shoot an astonishing 60 percent from the floor. The beating could have been worse had Kentucky not went 7 of 17 from the free throw line, and called off the dogs late.

Frankly, very few people expected Wake Forest to compete with Kentucky. But this loss was embarrassing, and a microcosm of the Deacons’ season. Weak guard play, few contributions from anyone other than their stars, and poor shooting plagued them on the night as it had all season.