Mike Singletary stood at the opposite end of the court from his teammates and, for two days, did nothing but practice shooting.

Texas Tech's Mike Singletary against the defense of Oklahoma State's Obi Muonelo during their game Saturday at United Spirit Arena in Lubbock. Texas Tech defeated Oklahoma State 81-74. (Merissa Ferguson/Lubbock Avalance-Journal)

Late last week while the rest of the Texas Tech basketball team worked on its offense, Sinlgetary experimented with different angles and arm positions, trying to see how his sprained right shoulder would alter his shot. He knew the soreness would linger through last Saturday’s game against Oklahoma State, but also that he needed to be on the court.

So after two days of doing nothing but shuffling around the court with his arm immobilized against his chest, he dedicated himself to relearning his shot as soon as the bandages came off.

“The first day I got that mummy stuff off I got up a lot of shots,” Sinlgetary said. “I was just playing it by every shot, trying to see what was going to be best for me.”

What worked, he found, was to drive to the hoop rather than taking outside jumpers. So that’s what he did all Saturday afternoon, scoring 22 points to help Tech to an 81-74 win.

As it turns out, the injury did little to affect his statistics. On average he makes 4.9 of 10.5 field goal attempts in a game, and on Saturday he was 5-of-13. He improved his scoring average to 15.7 points per game.

His free-throw numbers saw the greatest change. Driving the lane helped him get to the free throw line 15 times, where he made 12 shots and more than half his points.

That’s up from an average of 5.1 makes in seven attempts.

“That’s why I was attacking the hole, because with a bum shoulder you can’t really stand out there and shoot jump shots,” Singletary said. “I’m probably going to change my game a little bit.”

The problem with jump shots, he said, is that the soreness creates a slight hesitation in his normal range of motion, which affects his release and thus the ball’s trajectory. He doesn’t feel that pain during the motion involved in a layup, or rebound for that matter (he had a team-high six on Saturday).

Texas Tech's Mike Singletary rounds Oklahoma State's Obi Muonelo during their game Saturday at United Spirit Arena in Lubbock. Texas Tech defeated Oklahoma State 81-74. (Merissa Ferguson/Lubbock Avalance-Journal)

When he does take jump shots, he compensates by moving his elbow away from his body.

“Its’ a little hitch, so my motion’s not as smooth,” Singletary said. “If I’m shooting in it’s tight and gets locked up on my follow through, so I just move it out and have to shoot that way.”

If Singletary maintains his rapid rate of recovery, he should feel even less pain on Tuesday, when Tech is back on the road for a game at Oklahoma. With a win the Raiders (14-7, 2-5 Big 12) could pull into a three-team pack sitting in seventh place in the league standings.

“It’s going to be a little while until I can get my original form back, but you’ve got to make adjustments,” Singletary said. “That’s what good players do.”

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