Former Georgia Tech guard Iman Shumpert says his toughest matchups in college were Virginia Tech’s Malcolm Delaney and Boston College’s Tyrese Rice.
(via All The Smoke):
Stephen Jackson: “Any memories or tough matchups from being at G. Tech?”
Shumpert: “Malcolm Delaney, f****** headache, and Tyrese Rice. Tyrese Rice pissed me off. I’ll never forget this, this is my biggest memory of somebody like…it’s not many people that do stuff in a game that I feel like in my mind I know when they did it, like I have no response. Like I lowkey am f***** up, and I can’t say it, but you just…like the first time Paul Pierce did barely an in and out, and pump fake, pump fake, pump fake, and then shot it dead in my face. I was like, ‘I did everything right, there’s nothing I could do about that. His body is sideways, I can’t like…it’s either he makes or misses that. But he shot that too easy.’ Tyrese Rice did some s*** where he would get the ball in the corner, and most people get the ball in corner with a live dribble, and no matter if it’s live dribble or not, it’s something about me playing defense on them that intimated them. That man took the ball and put it through his legs, held it back, and just kinda stared at me.”
Matt Barnes: “Like, are you ready?”
Shumpert: “Type s***. I was guarding it, and at first, I was moving around, then I realized he’s not moving, he’s not adjusting to anything I’m doing, he’s just holding it there. My first stab at it, he walked straight to the line. He just dropped the ball, walked to the line, and it bothered me. Even talking about it right now, it’s bothering me. Then Malcolm Delaney was another one. That was James Harden before James Harden.”
Matt Barnes: “He had game. Delaney had game.”
Shumpert: “Malcolm Delaney knew how to get ten free throws a game, and I couldn’t understand it. I would shoot like two, three free throws a game. I was not trying to flop for a foul. I would try and dunk everything. I’m gonna try and finish everything. I don’t wanna look soft because my father is watching the game. Malcolm Delaney would sit at the free throw line. He had games where he shot fifteen free throws, and I was like, ‘Damn, that’s crazy.’ Headache at Georgia Tech.”
