ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The yellowish bruise on his forehead is all that remains of a nasty fall Dave Odom suffered last week when pain pills led to a black out and an unexpected rest on his bathroom floor.

Odom had reconstructive surgery on his left thumb last week, a procedure he thought would be a two-day affair. Instead, Odom is recovering from the fall, the balloon-like swelling of his entire hand and the overall nagging injury that throbs when he flies and, or keeps his hand down on his side.

Now, imagine the hurt Odom would have felt if Wake Forest had collapsed in its first national test -- sorry a road game at Richmond doesn't register on the radar screen -- at Michigan Tuesday in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

	“	This was a big game that we had to have, the kind of game that helps you with the NCAA selection committee. This game showed a lot of heart. ... If we can beat teams like this, like Kansas, and the other big names then the sky's the limit for this team. ”
		— Robert O'Kelley, Wake Forest senior guard

"I would have felt it here," said Odom, Wake Forest's feisty head coach, as he pointed to his back side.

He would have felt it all over, and even more so in his thumb where he might have inadvertently slammed it into a bench out of frustration. Good thing he didn't have to resort to any more voluntary trauma.

The Demon Deacons beat the Wolverines 71-60 to stay undefeated, but more than that, they passed their first test. Still waiting on the marquee non-conference schedule are games against Kansas (Dec. 7) in Winston-Salem, and road games at Temple (Dec. 21) and at Cincinnati (Jan. 27).

A year ago, the Demon Deacons lost games they should have won like to Georgia on a last-second shot; to Oregon in the same situation in Hawaii; and to Villanova two days later in the same tournament in a blowout that seemed to be the low-point in the non-conference season. Those losses put the pressure on Wake Forest to earn an NCAA Tournament berth through the ACC. But the Demon Deacons couldn't do it, losing four of five games in January -- three to ACC teams and one to Davidson.

"This was a big game that we had to have, the kind of game that helps you with the NCAA selection committee," Wake Forest senior guard Robert O'Kelley said. "This game showed a lot of heart. We need to have a balanced season. In previous years, we had to do everything in the ACC. If we can beat teams like this, like Kansas, and the other big names then the sky's the limit for this team."

O'Kelley has never played in an NCAA Tournament game. The last time the Demon Deacons were in the Dance was 1997, Tim Duncan's senior season. They won the NIT last year, ripping off eight of nine wins to close the season after finishing the ACC 7-9 and in fifth place.

The difference isn't simply a new year, but a comfort zone for the top eight players that if they're losing, they will come back and win. Michigan was ahead 11 in the second half, but the Demon Deacons scored on 10 straight possessions. They made 14 of 25 shots in the second half, 2 of 4 3s and committed only four second-half turnovers.

"That's maturity," Odom said. "We're a team that took good shots in the first half. But they weren't produced by our offense, but more so in error by their defense. We're a team that depends upon our offense to produce the shots.

"There's a comfort zone in knowing that five guys in concert can produce shots. When we're taking erratic shots, we're not good at that. Duke is good at that. We know who we are."

And who the Demon Deacons are right now is a team that doesn't have to depend solely on O'Kelley to win, but can lean on him to carry them through a tough stretch. O'Kelley scored 11 of his game-high 19 points in the second half, with him playing some point in the final critical minutes.

The ball had to be in his hands for him to create against Michigan's pestering defense from Avery Queen. But he didn't have to do everything with Darius Songaila, Josh Shoemaker and Antwan Scott all scoring in double figures. Craig Dawson came in averaging double figures but was off Tuesday.

"Our best teams are when we have four guys in double figures," Odom said. "We need to have balance."

The Deacons expect to win when they're down, according to Dawson. But they still had to do it under adverse conditions for the first time this season. Beating Michigan, even though the Wolverines are young, rebuilding and not expected to be an NCAA Tournament team, was still a relief for a team looking for a marquee win this early in the season.

"You've got to make your mark when there's one to be taken," Odom said. "This is a team you want to play in November. You don't want to play a Michigan team, with great young talent, in February. We're fortunate to play them with our experience now, because it wouldn't count as much against them in February."

But the difference in two-plus months will be the return of senior center Raphael Vidaurreta. He has been out since late September with knee surgery. Vidaurreta said he could be back in practice by mid-December, playing later in the month or in January. Dawson and Shoemaker said the difference with Vidaurreta would be immeasurable, keeping the Demon Deacons closer in rebounding than the 49-33 disparity they had Tuesday.

"It was great to win this game," said Vidaurreta, who watched in a suit from the bench. "It was our first test. We know we can play this way now. This will give us the confidence we need. Had we lost this game, we would have had a whole different mentality.

"Last year, we started off well and finished strong. But we couldn't keep it up in the middle. We don't want to end up like last year and be a bubble team."

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.