Chapter 306 1997 ACC Men“s Basketball Tournament 2
As commentators have said with Coach Smith's strategy at work, the Tar Heels team easily won by 89 points against just 66 points from the Wake Forest Demon team.
Tim Duncan still had a great game and got a double-double scoring 26 points and 13 rebounds, but did not score more than Jake so Tar Heels team won with Jake winning the star clash with more points but helping less to the team.
This showed many media people the strength of the Tar Heels team in this clash between favorites and what many thought if Jake played more time in the first game this season the Tar Heels team would probably have won.
After this game, the Tar Heels team reached an astonishing 13-win streak and players were confident of winning the remaining three games of Regular Season and arriving with more confidence for the ACC tournament.
Even though they were confident everyone knew that the next games would be difficult because they would face two opponents who were having a great season and had two very strong teams and would play as a visitor.
Also, with all of these games in the season the team was starting to feel tired and only players like Jake didn't look tired, so in the next games Coach Smith would have to make more rotations in positions and let the reserves play longer.
Only Jake coach Smith intended to keep playing for a long time in every game, the team's fitness coaches have often said that Jake had a lot of stamina and stamina and had no risk of getting injured or getting tired in matches.
This was better for the team, and Coach Smith believed that because he knew that outside of Jake's basketball team training he was still training for the marathons he played, which showed how much stamina Jake had.
After a few more days the day of the next game came, team Tar Heels traveled to face the next opponents that were team Maryland Terrapins, in the last confrontation between them was a difficult game with only 5 points difference.
But that was because Team Maryland Terrapins was very strong and had a great season, and the last game this season was right after Team Tar Heels lost to Team Wake Forest and Jake didn't even play 30 minutes in that game.
So in this game, as Jake would start playing and play longer Team Tar Heels was not worried about the game, if the team had a good game Coach Smith would use more reserves to rest the main players besides Jake.
After a few hours both teams were ready to start the game, as the last game was won by the Tar Heels team by a few points and today they would play at home the Maryland Terrapins team was confident of trying to win.
In the first half, the two teams were very equal, Jake could make some smart moves and so the Tar Heels team still had the advantage, but the Maryland Terrapins team also had a strong team and made the game difficult.
In the first half Jake played for 19 minutes and scored 18 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals, with a great first half he could get the Tar Heels team to take the lead, but the points difference was not much.
Just as Coach Smith thought some players were removed from the starting lineup a few minutes earlier and let the reserves play longer, on the contrary Jake had more playing time if it wasn't for Ed Cota having more difficulty playing in other positions Coach Smith could Let Jake play longer.
In the second half, the game remained balanced, the Maryland Terrapins team playing well and Coach Smith giving more time to the reserves, so even with Jake playing very well the Tar Heels team never got a big advantage in the game.
After the game was over the team Tar Heels still got a good win, in that second half Jake can play for another 19 minutes and made 22 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals, so playing was critical to the team's victory.
"A great game for the Tar Heels team, in fact, it should say it was a great game for Jake, the whole team of the Tar Heels team played today, both early players and the reserves."
"Still with the performance of Jake who managed to organize the plays and score several points with the starting team and the reserve team the team Tar Heels still got the victory."
"True, Jake is the typical player who can be said that the longer he plays the better the performance, today he played for 38 minutes and almost quadruple-double in that game, he scored 40 points, 12 assists, 9 rebounds and 8 steals, it took Jake more time to go down in history for this game."
"With his performance, this season Jake has certainly entered history as one of the best players on the Tar Heels team."
"Coach Smith is lucky to have him in the team, we can clearly see in this game that he intended to make a rotation in the team formation to rest the key players and Jake supported the team well for them to win."
"But doesn't Jake have to go into rotation either? He has been playing for a long time and always doing well if he has a player who has to be protected from fatigue and injury it is for him to have a chance to win the ACC tournament."
"If it was another player I would agree, but don't forget that Jake is also known for being a very successful marathon runner who has won Olympic gold medal and has the current world record, I would not doubt his stamina to play these games."
Team Tar Heels won the game by scoring 102 points against Maryland Terrapins' 85 points, Jake getting a double-double this season, now they had a 14-game winning streak with two games left before the Regular Season finale.
Coach Smith was very successful with Jake's performance and have been able to rest the top players longer, he would do that in the next game as a guarantee and so would have the team rested for the last Regular Season game and the entire ACC tournament.
After a few more days was the day of the next game, it was the penultimate game of Regular Season and they had to travel again to play another game as a visitor, the early players like Carter and Jamison were more rested.
They were looking forward to playing even though they were tired to see the team win, but with Jake on the team, they knew they could rest for a few minutes in the games after all the next games were more important and they wanted to win the ACC tournament.
Even though everyone was excited to have a winning streak of 14, they all expected a tough game against the fourth-placed team at the conference, all the more so because they were a strong team and they were playing as a guest.
The opposing team for this match was Team Clemson Tigers, in the first game between the two teams this season Team Tar Heels easily won by more than 20 points difference, but nothing could guarantee that this game would be equal.
Still, the Tar Heels team had a better season and a better team in that game, and the Clemson Tigers team came from a losing streak over the last few games, so it seemed that they were favorites to win.
After a few hours, both teams were ready for the start of the game, Coach Smith would also rotate the team during the game so Jake would play longer and have more responsibilities during that game.
In the first half, both teams had a well-balanced game with the Tar Heels team with a slight advantage, it was a similar game to the last one, but the Clemson Tigers team seemed to want to take advantage of the rotation of the team Tar Heels players.
So they tried to let more players defend against Jake, but even then the early players and the reserves also had quality and even playing less time could still make a lot of space to make the moves.
In that first half Jake played for 19 minutes just like in the previous game and can make 15 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals, even with more than one player in defense against him, Jake can still make the moves.
In the second half, the Tar Heels team was still maintaining the lead on the scoreboard even though the rotation, even with more than one player defending against Jake the overall result of the game did not change.
In that second half, Jake can play for 18 minutes and made 12 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals, even though scoring fewer points being better scored Jake still managed to make a good game and a triple-double.
They might hinder Jake's individual result in the offense, but in defense and as PG Jake could still play very well even with two players in defense against him, so the Tar Heels team can win.
Team Tar Heels won by scoring 84 points against Team Clemson Tigers 71 points, all who entered the game did their part and so with another good performance from Jake Team Tar Heels won the game and Coach Smith successfully rotated the team without losing any games.
For the next games, the Tar Heels team would be with all their most rested players and would still have a 15 win streak this season, they would go all out for the last Regular Season home game with the support of the fans.
After these games, Coach Smith was convinced that what the fitness coaches said was true and he could use more Jake in the next games longer and so the team would be stronger.