See-saw continues for Tech in road loss to Virginia

By Carroll Rogers

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The multiple personalities of Georgia Tech aren't just a week-long phenomenon. The team that lost to Georgia last week only to beat No. 5 Duke on Saturday came back to earth Wednesday in an 82-75 loss at Virginia.

Not that the oddsmakers expected any differently.

The No. 20 Yellow Jackets were two-point underdogs to the unranked Cavaliers, which is a pretty good indication of the treachery on the road in the ACC.

The Yellow Jackets (12-4, 1-2 ACC) found plenty at John Paul Jones Arena, getting rattled at the free-throw line, rushing shots late, and giving up offensive rebounds at key turns despite their size advantage inside.

So instead of claiming their first ACC road win in two years against the team picked to finish last in the ACC, the Yellow Jackets will try to end their drought Saturday at No. 12 North Carolina.

Sophomore guard Iman Shumpert thought the Yellow Jackets got baited by the crowd and the excitement.

"Everybody's running up and down, you get into a ‘jack' game, just shoot everything you get," Shumpert said. "We've got to control that. People get a little overexcited, instead of just running our stuff and getting it inside when the crowd goes crazy, so it'll silence the crowd."

Under first-year coach Tony Bennett, the Cavaliers (10-4) moved to 2-0 in the ACC for the first time since 1994-95. They won on the strength of a 13-2 run that began with about nine minutes to play in the game.

Lawal made a jumper to pull Tech within six at 69-63. But he failed to box out on a sequence in which Virginia made two offensive rebounds on one possession. Sylven Landesberg beat Lawal to a missed free throw on a play that led to Sammy Zeglinski's 3-pointer that put the game away.

"It's been tough," Hewitt said of his team's recent up-and-down stretch, which applied to Wednesday's game as well. "I thought we did some good things in the first half then we got out of our rhythm in the second half. The last eight minutes we didn't do enough to put the game away."

Wednesday's loss was the flipside of the Duke game.

Tech was abysmal from the free-throw line (3-for-11 after going 22-for-28 vs. Duke). Lawal scored 12 points instead of 21, and Tech looked like the team with tired legs late as shots quit falling, other than Zachery Peacock's three desperation 3-pointers.

Derrick Favors (12 points) and Shumpert (15 points), the two who came up short against Duke, actually came up with big against Virginia, in the first half anyway. They combined for 21 points in the first half but six in the second.

Virginia scored 20 points more at the free-throw line than Tech, making 23 of 26 free throws. Lawal was only 2-for-6 at the line, missing four in a row in the first half, which would have been five if not for a lane violation.

"Just not going through my progressions," said Lawal, who had improved his free-throw percentage from 55.9 percent last season to 70.6 percent. "I'll get in the gym tomorrow, get in about 100, 200 [free throws], get this thing back on track. I was rushing."

Landesberg meanwhile, made things look easy at the free-throw line, going 9-for-9 on his way to 22 points. He was 6-of-6 in that 13-2 run.

The Cavaliers and their guards played keep away from there to work the clock down.