Jan. 9, 2004
By Simit Shah
Numbers don’t lie, but they don’t always tell the whole truth. A quick glance at Anthony McHenry’s statistics this season reveals nothing spectacular, but his teammates and coaches tell a different story.
“He’s our X-factor,” stated senior Marvin Lewis. “He’s the guy that does the dirty work like blocking out, chasing down loose balls and drawing charges. Every team needs someone like that, and I don’t know where we’d be without him stepping up this season.”
“He’s a very intelligent player, certainly one of the smartest on this team,” added Coach Paul Hewitt. “You can move him all over the board. He’s like a chess piece. It’s his intelligence makes it easy from him to move from one position to the next.”
You’d expect to hear those kinds of compliments for a starter on a highly-ranked team, but the road to success has been a rocky one for the 6-foot-7 junior.
McHenry came to Georgia Tech in 2001 as a highly touted prep player from Birmingham, Alabama. As part of a recruiting class that included B.J. Elder, Ishma’il Muhammad and Ed Nelson, McHenry faced high expectations from the start.
His combination of size and quickness was obvious, as Hewitt compared his ability to the NBA’s Penny Hardaway. However, the reality of playing in the ACC was harsh for the freshman.
A stint at backup point guard ended as a failed experiment, and McHenry never looked comfortable or confident on the court in his first year. He averaged less than two points a game while shooting just 30 percent from the field.
“There were some tough times,” McHenry admitted, “but my coaches and teammates were behind me 100 percent from the time I stepped on campus. It was really up to me to do my work.”
During his sophomore season, McHenry saw more action as a frontcourt reserve. As the season progressed, he began to establish himself on the defensive end. Better decision-making also led to the best assist-to-turnover ratio on the team.
“We noticed that he was very successful when he played the power forward spot last year,” noted Hewitt. “He’s so much more versatile that anyone we’ve had here in the past. He can rebound, run or handle the ball, and he’s very disruptive defensively.”
His performance, along with the departures of Chris Bosh and Ed Nelson, led Hewitt to move McHenry into the starting lineup this season. It was a gamble, but the junior has responded by becoming one of the team’s key contributors.
“The difference is that we’ve put a lot of confidence in him,” explained Lewis. “We’ve said, ‘We don’t expect you to score a lot of points. We just need you to play hard on defense.’ I think that has really relaxed him.”
“Tony brings a lot of versatility to the four position,” added point guard Jarrett Jack. “Being 6-7, he gives us size, but he has the ability to take it off the dribble or shoot the three. He has the speed of a wing guard. You normally don’t see that in a guy playing (power forward).”
While his scoring and rebounding numbers are solid, McHenry has been nothing short of spectacular on the defense end. He’s second on the teams in blocks, and a number of his deflections have led to steals for teammates.
Additionally, Hewitt has thrown McHenry at the opponent’s best player on a number of occasions, whether it’s a post player or a quick guard. “I love my job,” McHenry said. “I think Coach loves giving me tough assignments as far as guarding other players. I take it as a ‘pride’ assignment. Points don’t really excite me. I like rebounds and steals. Now, I like scoring points, but my main goal is to just play hard defensively.
“When I do those types of things, it gives us a spark, and my teammates feed off that. That’s what I bring to the table, and as long as I keep doing that, I think we’ll continue to be successful.”
