GREENSBORO, N.C. — Justin Champagnie felt snubbed after being left off the ACC’s All-Freshman team.

So he decided to take it out on Wake Forest in the opening round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Tuesday night, scoring a career-high 31 points to lead Pittsburgh to a 81-72 victory over the Demon Deacons.

“I felt disrespected,” Champagnie said. “I used it as motivation.”

Trey McGowens scored 14 points and Xavier Johnson added 10 points and eight assists for Pitt (16-16), the tournament’s 13th seed. Abdoul Karim Coulibaly chipped in with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Twelfth-seeded Wake Forest was led by Olivier Sarr’s 20 points and 13 rebounds. Isaiah Mucius had 19 points and Brandon Childress added 17 for the Demon Deacons (13-18).

Pitt coach Jeff Capel said he felt like his team had hit a wall down the stretch this season because they were the only ACC team that didn’t have a bye. Their bye came after the season.

He gave his players two days off late last week and told them to get away from the game completely, citing physical and emotional fatigue following a brutal ACC schedule.

“I thought Justin was one of the ones that hit the wall the hardest,” Capel said.

Champagnie said getting away helped.

“I feel like getting away from basketball sometimes is good for us as kids, so we could like regain focus on like what’s the task at hand,” Champagnie said. “So I feel like it played a big part in how we came out here and played.”