Chapter 38 - 29: Breathless Moment (New Book Seeking Collection, Monthly Tickets, Recommendation Tickets!)

Ever since becoming a close friend who would occasionally engage in deep conversations with Qin Yue... This was the first time Rachel Carrell saw him play a basketball game with such seriousness and intensity. Indeed, on the stage of March Madness where kings are made and the fallen are forgotten... Every game is a final between heaven and hell. But for Rachel, who knew Qin Yue well, his seriousness and intensity on the court tonight actually meant that Wake Forest was quietly falling into a fully passive state in the game. Especially when she noticed through her camera that his usually confident eyes tonight would unnaturally turn into mismatched eyes... Rachel knew very well that at this moment, Qin Yue was showing a level of focus he had never displayed in college games before. On the court, Connecticut was on the offensive. Due to Gordon’s breakthrough forcing Qin Yue to join his teammates in shrinking the defense, outside, under Okafor’s screen, Kang University’s shooter Anderson caught Gordon’s pass and nailed a three-pointer from the open position. As is well-known, because confrontation is encouraged, in most NCAA games, referees tend to ignore calls that could go either way. But even so, Gray, who had just grabbed Gordon all the way, couldn’t block the breakthrough of this Kang University star guard. Back to Wake Forest’s offensive round. Looking at the "Death Triangle" formed by Okafor, Villanueva, and Armstrong on the court, Bulin said during commentary: "Faced with this defense reaching an average height of 6 feet 11 inches, how will Wake Forest break through?" As one of Jim Calhoun’s proudest creations in his coaching career, tonight’s Kang University’s Death Triangle was set up precisely for Qin Yue of Wake Forest. Just as the Devil’s Deacon Team knew they had to overcome Connecticut to advance into the Elite Eight. Calhoun also knew that Wake Forest is Connecticut’s strongest competitor in the Phoenix region. Thus, after entering March Madness, Calhoun chose to change formations from the first round and verified the possibility of Okafor, Villanueva, and Armstrong playing simultaneously through the games. As the future legendary coach of Connecticut, Calhoun knew better than anyone that in the one-shot deal of March Madness, each team’s star player could enter the "Zone" mode in any given game. Therefore, wanting to avoid an upset to the greatest extent... When holding better hands, the more outstanding the coach, the more they must find ways to minimize the opponent’s chances of finding their "Zone" mode switch on the court. Facts proved that Calhoun’s tactics achieved this perfectly. Because after the first five minutes of this crucial battle, that Wake Forest number 10 who could always dominate the sky in games still hadn’t scored within the three-second area. Although in the game, through long-term cooperation and tacit understanding with teammates, Qin Yue to some extent exhibited his ball-handling ability when faced with double teams and traps in low positions... But the huge gap in role players between Connecticut and Wake Forest continued to help Connecticut expand their advantage on the court as game time progressed. On the court, another offensive round for Connecticut. After receiving a breakthrough pass from Tariq Brown, who replaced Anderson, Okafor scored easily off the board under the basket. At this moment, looking at Qin Yue, who just had to expand to the outer line to help teammates delay, Okafor didn’t taunt. Because after the exchanges from the opening to now, having verified Qin Yue’s strength, in Okafor’s view, tonight’s duel was inherently unfair. In the game, the pressure Qin Yue had to bear on both offense and defense far exceeded his own. However... When has this world ever been fair? If this world were truly fair, then luck shouldn’t be in Heaven’s setup. Luckily, tonight Kang University targeted Qin Yue by shrinking the defense small enough. And this, invisibly, gave Paul enough space to fully exploit from the outside line. In his past life, for long-range two-point statistics, Paul always had an extremely stable hit rate. His career long-range two-point hit rate exceeded 45%, even more accurate than many mid-range kings who lived on it. So, in the shorter three-point line of the NCAA... Being able to treat NCAA three-pointers as NBA long-range twos, what kind of report did Paul deliver in his college career? The answer is, in his two-year college career, Paul delivered an excellent report in three-point shooting statistics with rates of 46.5% and 47.4% respectively. Tonight, as Chris Paul, who was already very skilled in dribble shooting, started his shooting display under Qin Yue’s screen as Wake Forest’s situation grew increasingly passive. Three minutes, four offensive rounds for Wake Forest, Paul shot 4 out of 4 from the three-point line. At this moment, on Wake Forest’s bench, assistant coach Victor asked with a puzzled face: "Why do I keep feeling Qin’s attempt at strong attacks against Connecticut’s inner line tonight is deliberate?" Upon hearing this, the old man Prose smiled and said: "Don’t doubt it. The more excellent the hunter, the more they are inclined to disguise themselves as prey." In fact, Qin Yue’s decision to go against Connecticut’s Death Triangle after the opening of this game wasn’t merely out of rivalry.