Freshman point guard Iman Shumpert was a McDonald’s All-American coming out of high school and is used to having the ball in his hands at crunch time. During Tech’s seven straight losses, that has meant more gut-wrenching missteps than glory. However, with less than two seconds remaining in the game, Shumpert drove into the lane and drained a classic jumper to help Tech defeat No. 6 Wake Forest, 76-74.
The Yellow Jackets had been knocking on the door of getting the lead on Wake for most of the last 10 minutes of the second half, but each time they inched within striking distance a missed free throw or a Jeff Teague (16 points) shot would thwart their efforts. However, Shumpert’s shot to tie the game with 21 seconds left and the game-winner were smooth and well-executed.
“He’s growing up, he’s a freshman,” said head coach Paul Hewitt of Shumpert. “I told him at the end of the games, ‘you are going to have the ball in your hands’, and early on (in the season) he was unsuccessful but you don’t stop going to a guy that you know has talent and has some courage. And today he made the shot and hopefully this is a hump that he has crossed.”
Those final moments were the culmination of a stellar effort by the Jackets, who showed fire and intensity early as Lewis Clinch weaved through the defense repeatedly on the way to 15 first-half points. Wake experienced early success as well, going up 26-18 points in the first half behind 11 points by freshman and Norcross alum Al-Farouq Aminu and nine points by James Johnson. Tech cut the lead to 34-33 behind a 15-8 run. Clinch had six points during the stretch. They also may have gotten in the Demon Deacons’ heads as both Teague and Ishmael Smith were called for technical fouls in the first half.
While the Jackets had a solid first half, there were moments when their execution was lacking. Much of this was cleared up in the second half as Tech went inside often to Gani Lawal and Alade Aminu. Lawal returned to form with 25 points and 10 rebounds. “We felt they didn’t defend the pick-and-roll that well,” said Lawal. “We wanted to expose their ball-screen defense.”
Lawal also went 11-14 from the free throw line and credited intense repetition for the effort. Aminu led the defensive charge with six blocked shots to go with his 10 points and 13 rebounds. The defense was critical down the stretch as Tech held Wake to seven points over the last eight minutes of the game. Wake’s struggles were part of a fundamental shift in late-game execution for the two teams. After hitting an ESPN Classic-worthy game-winner against Duke, Wake ended the game with two turnovers; Harvey Hale (previously a Jacket killer) threw the ball away on the inbounds play, and Johnson’s desperation heave was picked off to end the game. During the same stretch, Tech hit two well-executed plays to seal its first conference win of the season.
The tone in the locker room was interesting after the stunning win. Despite having the crowd rush on to the court afterwards and ending a seven-game losing streak, the players weren’t relieved as much as they were justified. “(The crowd rushing the court) shouldn’t happen. We should be the ones understanding that we are supposed to win. So at the same time it’s a good thing, but it’s something we are supposed to do,” said Alade Aminu of the end-of-game celebration.
Crosskey can be reached at jcrosskey@scoreatl.com.
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