Free throws coming more easily for Tech

By Carroll Rogers

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia Tech shot only 65 percent from the free-throw line last season and couldn't count on making key free throws late in games. That's changing this time around.

The Yellow Jackets shot 78.6 percent from the line in Saturday's win over No. 5 Duke. They made 17 of 18 free throws in the second half, including 7 of 8 in the final 32 seconds. Two games earlier, Gani Lawal had made 17 of 20 against Charlotte, including his last 12 in a row. He, Zachery Peacock and Iman Shumpert were  5-of-6 on Saturday.

Coach Paul Hewitt said it's something the Yellow Jackets have been focusing on since the middle of last season. Freshman Mfon Udofia attributes it to a game the Yellow Jackets play in shoot-around called "swish game."

"You have to make a swish for it to count," said Udofia, who swished both his free throws with 6.3 seconds left Saturday. "It really helps. Every time somebody steps to the line we say 'swish game' and he knocks it down."

The Yellow Jackets made 22 of 28 free throws in the game. They went to the line twice as many times as Duke, which normally makes more free throws than its opponent takes.

Limiting Singler

Jon Scheyer got his 25 points, but Tech did a number on Duke's other big backcourt threat by holding Kyle Singler to 2-for-13 shooting, including 2-for-8 from 3-point range. Singler was held under double-digits (nine points) for only the third time this season.

Hewitt, who coached Singler on an under-18 national team, attributed it in part to Singler just having a bad shooting game. Shumpert credited some quickness Singler faced in matching up against guards Brian Oliver and D'Andre Bell.

Singler, who's 6-foot-8, has moved out on the perimeter this season after playing the post his first two years.

"I think Singler is used to a bigger post player guarding him just because of his size," Shumpert said. "Brian Oliver is pretty strong, D'Andre is pretty strong, and they're quick at the same time, so I think it was a good matchup for them."

"Spider," Price honored

It was appropriate that six players from the 1985 ACC championship team showed up Saturday to be honored at halftime to mark the 25th anniversary season of Tech's first ACC tournament title. That's about as deep as "The Thin Gold Line" went in those three games at the Omni, knocking off Virginia, Duke and North Carolina.

The six players honored were Mark Price, John Salley, Bruce Dalrymple, Duane Ferrell, Jack Mansell, and Willie Reese. Coach Bobby Cremins couldn't attend because his College of Charleston team was playing the Citadel on Saturday night.

Salley drew a big cheer, and raised a few eyebrows, when he joked that he would come back as Tech's head coach.

"The fact that it's called Cremins Court, I don't know why it's not called Spider's Court, but that's a whole nother thing," said Salley, referring to his nickname. "We can bring that back when I'm head coach, behind Mark Price."

Etc.

Hewitt, now 3-16 against Duke, was coaching in his 300th game at Tech. ... Tech held Duke nearly 20 points below its season average of 85.9 points per game.