Shumpert making an impact on the boards

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Iman Shumpert plays a prima donna position. He's a guard, very often a point guard, and, with the game on the line, Georgia Tech wants the ball in his hands.

It's how the ball has been getting there that’s been crucial for the Yellow Jackets this season.

Shumpert, a 6-foot-5 junior, not only leads Tech in scoring (15.3 points per game) and assists (3.3), but also rebounding, which says something about the kind of court game he plays.

“He understands that he can be our best rebounder,” Tech coach Paul Hewitt said. “There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as our big guys are doing a good job in terms of clearing away traffic from the boards. He’s a great athlete and he’s bigger and stronger this year, and he has certainly put his mind to being a consistent rebounder.”

Shumpert will put his rebounding skills to the test when Tech faces Texas-El Paso Friday at 5:30 p.m. in the championship round of the Legends Classic at Boardwalk Hall on HDNet. The winner will play the winner of the Syracuse-Michigan game on Saturday at 8 p.m. The losers play at 5:30 p.m.

Shumpert has nearly doubled his usual rebound production, from 3.9 and 3.6 each of the past two seasons to 7.3 per game this year. That’s exactly what he set out to do.

Tech lost most of its rebounding corps from last year with the departure of post men Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors. Each averaged more than eight rebounds per game. Zachery Peacock added 4.1.

Tech’s two main inside players this year, Daniel Miller and Kammeon Holsey, are untested, and not expected to play as many minutes together on the court with a new four-out, one-in offense. Shumpert knew it was up to him to get to as many balls off the backboard as possible.

Coming into the season, he realized he left rebounds up there last year.

“I took a lot of breaks there in my rebounding,” Shumpert said. “A lot of times I felt like I could get it, but I might let Gani get it so he could get an extra rebound. This year I’ve just got to train myself to chase after every rebound and, even if it’s my own teammate, you’re going to hear me a lot say ‘I got it, same team, same team.’”

Knowing he can’t leave it up to Lawal and Favors now, Shumpert has focused on blocking out first, then going to the ball.

He’s got a willing partner in Brian Oliver, a guard turned power forward who’s got some rebounding goals of his own. The sophomore is second on the team to Shumpert with 5.5 rebounds per game, and that’s including his one-rebound game against Albany.