For Georgia Tech to beat VCU Wednesday night as a 15-point road underdog, the Yellow Jackets needed some bounces to go their way.
The Jackets won 76-73 and no figurative bounce was bigger than guard Corey Heyward's three-quarter court shot at the end of the first half.
Heyward took an inbounds pass from Justin Moore with .6 seconds left and let fly from the sideline, equal with the top of the 3-point arc. The ball dove cleanly through the hoop for a 3-pointer and a 36-28 lead, which proved to be the largest lead of the game.
“We win by three points,” coach Josh Pastner said. “That’s probably the difference.”
Tech ends every shootaround with half-court shots, Pastner said after the game, and he won’t end practice until somebody makes one. Wednesday at the shootaround, Pastner said, “it took us about almost eight minutes for us to leave. We couldn’t leave because we had to make a half-court shot. That’s how we end shootaround. It paid off.”
The player who made it, though, wasn’t Heyward, but Josh Okogie.
Whatever works.
