Iman Shumpert posted the fourth triple-double in Georgia Tech history, and Brian Oliver scored 28 points to lead Tech to a 72-57 victory over Virginia Tech on Tuesday night at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
Shumpert scored 22 points to go with 12 rebounds and 11 assists, the 10th coming on an Oliver 3-pointer with 8 minutes, 13 seconds remaining, to join Tech greats Bruce Dalrymple (1986), Dennis Scott (1987) and Kenny Anderson (1989) in the school's record book.
He said he didn't know he had accomplished the feat until assistant coach Darryl LaBarrie told him during a timeout that a triple-double wasn't as good if the team didn't win.
"I'm all smiles tonight," he said after posting the first triple-double in ACC play in Tech history. It was also the second in the ACC this season. Shumpert was three steals away from posting a quadruple-double. He also had only one turnover in 38 minutes.
While Shumpert's performance was impressive, Oliver's was needed. The sophomore, an important part of Tech's offense, had made only 35.7 percent of his shots this season. Nevertheless, coach Paul Hewitt has stood by his shooter, saying he needed only to keep shooting. Oliver began to find his rhythm in Saturday's loss at Virginia, making five of his nine shots. He rediscovered it completely against the Hokies, making 11 of 18 shots.
"I definitely felt good out there, that's for sure," he said.
Oliver said there have been many mechanical things wrong with his shot, which led to some mental struggles. But he rediscovered the mantra that a good shooter always thinks the next one is going in.
He began to find his range in a way that was necessary against Virginia Tech's aggressive 2-3 zone defense: by flashing into holes in the zone at the top of the key in the first half. He started burying those shots, and then came off side screens in the corner in the second half. Shumpert kept dishing, so Oliver kept shooting.
"We didn't do a good enough job of getting the ball out of the middle of the zone," Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg said.
After trailing by as many as seven in the first half, the Yellow Jackets went on a 13-6 run in the second half to take a 62-55 lead with 3:05 remaining.
But the lead was built on defense. Tech, which entered the game last in the ACC in 3-point field-goal-percentage defense (39.7), forced the Hokies to miss 10 of their 11 3-pointers.
Tech has won its past three games at home, defeating North Carolina, Wake Forest and the Hokies. In all three victories the Jackets' defense has been outstanding. The Tar Heels and Deacons each made less than 28 percent of their shots. The Hokies missed 19 of 25 shots in the second half to reduce their shooting percentage to 39.3 percent in the game.
"We didn't make shots today," Greenberg said. "It's really simple. When we really needed to execute, we didn't execute."
The Jackets (10-9, 3-3) will continue this pivotal homestand with a game against Maryland at 7:45 p.m. Sunday. The Jackets will travel to Miami on Feb. 3, followed by consecutive home games against Clemson (Feb. 5) and Florida State (Feb. 10).
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