Wood is State's sharp shooter

Scott Wood put it like this: When a boy is growing up in Indiana, there are but two things he can do.

"Either you go to the farm," the N.C. State junior guard said recently, "or you decide to shoot basketballs."

Wood decided to shoot basketballs. During the Wolfpack's 78-73 victory at Miami on Sunday, Wood set the ACC record for consecutive made free throws - 58 and counting.

When he stepped to the line with a chance to tie former Duke guard J.J. Redick's record of 54 straight, Wood said he wasn't nervous. Nor did he feel any jitters when he released the shot that passed Redick's mark.

Then a strange thing happened. Wood, who hadn't felt any nerves at all during his streak, began to feel them the next time he prepared to shoot.

"Because I was like, it would be a shame for me to break the record and then miss a free throw," Wood said. "So I was actually trying to make that one more than the others."

Wood, who didn't attempt a free throw in the Wolfpack's 74-55 loss at North Carolina on Thursday, has made all 48 of his free-throw attempts this season. He made his final 10 attempts last season.

Shooting free throws can be an odd thing, of course. They're free shots, easy enough, but also ones that bring all the focus in an arena to one player. Wood said he doesn't pay much attention to the crowd.

"The only thing I really hear is when the players are saying something," Wood said. "Miami mentioned it a couple times - 'You can miss one any day now.'"

But he hasn't. Not this season, anyway.

Wood said his personal record of made free throws is 214. He set that in a gym when he was 12 while he prepared to compete in the Elks Hoop Shoot, a national free-throw shooting competition for boys and girls between the ages of 8 and 13.

Wood attributes some of his streak to luck. But, he said, "Concentration is the main thing."

Entering his team's game tonight against Virginia, Wood needs to make 27 more consecutive free throws to tie Darnell Archey, the former Butler guard who in 2003 set the NCAA Division I record by converting 85 straight. Archey is from Indiana, too, and played in the same high school conference, at a rival school, as Wood did years later.

"So there's bad blood there," Wood said, joking.

But Wood and Archey do share roots, and a past. And evidently, neither spent too much time on the farm.

Early endings: Thanks to several readers who pointed out that the 1967 N.C. State at Maryland game wasn't the only ACC game that ended with time on the clock. UNC's 84-69 win over Clemson on Feb. 10, 1973, ended with four seconds left after Tigers coach Tates Locke took his team to the locker room.

Also, South Carolina's 96-70 victory against Maryland on Dec. 16, 1970 ended with 4:52 left on the clock after both teams engaged in a fight. There could be others that have ended early that have fallen through the cracks of history.

Stock rising: Florida State. The Seminoles look like the best team in the conference right now. They'd be the top seed in the ACC Tournament if it started today.

And falling: Georgia Tech. Since that surprise win at N.C. State, four consecutive losses for the Yellow Jackets - and only one of those by single digits.

Game of the week: Virginia at N.C. State, today, 8 p.m. The winner here takes a significant step toward finishing among the top four in the conference. And a top-four finish, of course, means a Thursday bye in the ACC Tournament.