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Jeff Teague did not make the preseason All-ACC men's basketball team last fall.

But he might make an All-America team in the spring.

The sophomore point guard has helped No. 1 Wake Forest win its first 16 games of the season. He is generating buzz around the country because of his stellar play this month.

Teague scored 30 points at Brigham Young on Jan. 3. He followed that up with a career-high 34 points against North Carolina, scored 29 points against Boston College and had 24 points at Clemson last weekend.

But Teague, whose team hosts Virginia Tech tonight, said defenses shouldn't merely worry about him. Wake forwards James Johnson and Al-Farouq Aminu also average double figures in points, as does center Chas McFarland. Guard L.D. Williams averages 9 points.

"When James Johnson and Farouq get to rolling, that's when things open up for me. So I make sure they get rolling first," he said. "Teams think that I want to score the ball first so they have to stop me. It's more like you've got to stop James Johnson or Farouq or L.D.

"We've got so many people that can score the basketball and do so many different things that if you focus on me, you're really going to lose out. ... I know we're going to get a 'W' if you've made your main focus stopping me."

Teague ranks second in the ACC with an average of 21.4 points.

"He's relentless," Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. "He comes at you off the bounce, he comes at you off step-backs, he comes at you off of ball screens. He changes speeds, changes direction."

Teague started at off-guard last season, averaging 13.9 points and landing the final spot on the ACC all-rookie team.

When starting point guard Ishmael Smith broke his left foot in September, coach Dino Gaudio handed the team's reins to Teague, who had been a point guard at his Indianapolis high school.

Smith only missed the first two games of the season, but Teague did so well running the team that Smith now comes off the bench.

"When he went down early, I was thrown in the fire," Teague said. "But I was fine. ... The point guard position has always be a natural thing for me."

The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Teague ranks fifth in the ACC in assists (4.1 apg). He loves being part of Wake's impressive transition game.

"It's really fun," he said. "You get some fast-break dunks and alley-oops, and you get the crowd involved in the game. We love it."

The Hokies crushed the Demon Deacons 85-58 in Blacksburg last March, but this is a much better Wake team. The Demon Deacons returned all five starters from last year's 17-13 squad and added Aminu and two other highly touted freshmen. They are averaging 85.1 points.

"Last year, we didn't really finish games," Teague said. "We've got some good players that came in this year that helped a lot, but our core group from last year, we're more mature, and everybody ... worked in the offseason and got a lot better.

"We're more explosive this year."

Teague has been more of a leader this season, said Gaudio. But the coach sees room for improvement in Teague's game.

"Like our team, he has a long way yet to go," Gaudio said. "I'm going to sit down with my little point guard ... and we're going to watch about 25 clips where he has to get much better on the defensive end."