Onyekwe returns to old form

ATLANTA -- Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt walked to the podium last night for his postgame press conference and barely paused to situate himself before delivering a one-liner that must have verged on dark comedy for him:

"It's no secret what Ugonna did with his summer vacation."

No secret, indeed.

Ugonna Onyekwe, who vanished from the limelight last season after a strong freshman year, is a changed basketball player.

The Quakers' junior forward showed that last night, as he torched Hewitt's Georgia Tech team for 30 points on 13-of-18 shooting, leading Penn to a 79-74 victory over the Yellow Jackets.

"He was obviously in the gym, working very hard at his outside shooting," Hewitt said. "And it complements the rest of his excellent game."

The rest of Onyekwe's game has been visible, in stretches, for the last two years. He's shown athleticism on plays like that 360-degree dunk at Princeton two years ago, and he's shown his low-post skill the numerous times he has executed a drop-step-turn-layup move against Ivy competition.

But an outside game? For Onyekwe, it hasn't been so much missing-in-action as dead-on-arrival.

But last night was different. If the way Onyekwe shot the roundball is any indication of the way he can shoot a rifle, he should have the ROTC knocking at his door this morning.

Onyekwe, who was just 4-of-30 from the three-point range last year, hit all four of his threes last night, the most important being the one he drained late in the second half, in the face of Georgia Tech's Robert Brooks. Penn's lead had shrunk from 11 to four, and the Alexander Memorial Coliseum's decibel level had gone from tennis match to rock concert. But Onyekwe changed all that with his three.

"It was as critical a shot as he's had in his career," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said.

Ironically, it was done while Penn had four guards on the floor. Onyekwe was technically the big man, but his performance against Georgia Tech proved that such a label doesn't quite apply anymore. And the old way to defend him doesn't apply any more, either.

"On the scouting report, we talked about him and told the kids, don't give him a step," Hewitt said. "I said if he hits a three, blame it on me."

Consider that four giant heapings of blame, Coach.

But Onyekwe did total the most points by a Penn player in nearly four years, so there's a lot of blame, or credit, to go around.

So let's not forget to give some credit to Onyekwe's teammates for dealing with the Yellow Jackets' incessant press, and for shooting quite well from the outside themselves (Penn hit 13 of its 27 threes).

"He didn't have to fight for everything," Penn guard Andy Toole said. "He's getting looks, he's getting dunks, he's getting second shots, he's getting the ball one-on-one in the post because we're hitting outside shots."

But don't forget to give credit where credit is due. Onyekwe took advantage of his opportunities.

In a big way.

"What is there to say really?" Penn forward Koko Archibong said. "He played great and pulled the whole team right along with him.

"And that's what we need every time out, for him to step up like that."

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