Chapter 377 Continuing the Winning Streak 1
"And in the personal dispute between Jake and Staples, Jake has been winning easily by scoring 14 points with 12 of them in three-point shots, and Jake got 3 blocks and 3 steals against Staples."
"It was clear from the start of the game that unless Jake was playing poorly in this game Staples would not have had a chance to score too many points, and not because Staples is a bad player but because Jake plays very well in defense and even better in the offense."
In the 2nd half, Coach Guthridge did not ask Tar Heels to change anything in defense and they let Jake control as he thought it was right, Tar Heels had a good lead on the scoreboard and even though they had not yet secured victory it was hard for the Virginia Cavaliers team to win this game.
As Coach Guthridge asked Team Tar Heels to start the game with caution in defense and it was the right thing to do because Team Virginia Cavaliers began to press harder on offense, it was what they had to do if they wanted to win.
In another play, Virginia Cavaliers tried the offense and after Nolan missed the move Jake managed to catch the defensive rebound when the ball fell into Jake's hands the game slowed and thus the players of Tar Heels relaxed from the pressure opponent was doing.
Jake advanced slowly and before the middle of the court passed the ball to Jamison, Jamison advanced slowly too and before reaching the three-point line went to N'Diaye who was further left.
N'Diaye held the ball for a while and passed the ball to Carter on the right, Carter passed the ball to Jake who came in the middle behind the opposing defense, Staples had lagged behind and Jake used his agility and drive to the basket to make the dunk and increase the advantage of team Tar Heels by 2 more points.
No one on the defense of Virginia Cavaliers expected Jake to try an inside play and Tar Heels increased their lead further.
The Virginia Cavaliers team this season was not very good and was very dependent on Nolan and Staples in the attack to make the points, with the defense of the Tar Heels team and the other ACC conference teams knowing that they could not win many games.
Even so, the players of Team Tar Heels were being very careful in this game so as not to give Virginia Cavaliers a chance to try to win the game, especially as the players wanted to win even more to maintain the winning streak.
Team Tar Heels continued to dominate the game and with good attacks and defense stopping the best players of team Virginia Cavaliers, so at the end of the game, Team Tar Heels secured another victory.
Tar Heels won the match 94 points against Virginia Cavaliers 66 points, it was a good game for the defense of Tar Heels and another good game for the attack with Jake, Jamison, and Carter.
In this 2nd half of game Jake can play for 20 minutes and get 17 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 5 steals, and 2 blocks, so he managed to do another double-double with more than 30 points and 10 steals as well.
"And so the game ends with another victory for the Tar Heels team, the game sequence is further increased and the Tar Heels team favoritism is most evident this season to win the NCAA tournament."
"That's right, this season alone is 17 straight wins and that shows the strength of this current team without Zwikker and with coach Guthridge, Jake today made another double-double and a five-by-five, that shows how he improved even comparing last season when he broke several records."
"Certainly, and Coach Guthridge showed how he understands the team he has and how strong even the players of Tar Heels are, he put Makhtar N'Diaye in place of Shammond Williams and the team's defense improved and the attack was well too."
"True, we will continue to watch the matches to see how many games the Tar Heels team can stay without losing."
After that victory the players were happy and relaxed going back to the dorms, the next game would be only in 4 days, but it would be a guest game so players had to recover before the next game to perform at their best.
Only Jake was more worried after the next game, even though he wasn't as worried as the others in the game because of the great losing streak and had confidence that with him on the team they wouldn't easily lose, Jake couldn't help but worry about the next game.
That's because this game would be the team's first defeat this season from what Jake remembered, of course with the Tar Heels team winning the NCAA tournament everything was different, but he still had to be more prepared for it.
Especially since it would be a game in which Team Tar Heels would lose overtime after equalizing for 40 minutes, it showed the strength that Team Tar Heels had even without Jake playing.
So Jake went to Coach Guthridge to tell him that the Tar Heels team had to be careful in the next game, Coach Guthridge took Jake's warnings seriously and decided that the Tar Heels team would have to train harder in the coming days.
Of course, the players wouldn't know it was because of Jake's warning, but no one would even care if they did because they all knew that Jake wanted only the best for the team, and they also knew that Jake also did his racing training almost every day.
Coach Guthridge would also continue with N'Diaye in the team because the next game's opponent would also have a skilled Center who would take advantage of this failure in team Tar Heels, Carter could play in the next game part-time and Williams another part of the game if necessary.
Another thing Coach Guthridge asked was for Jake to attack with everything at the beginning of the game and try to make several three-point plays and thus increase the team's advantage early in the game.
Jake naturally accepted, he really wanted to win this next game because he felt that if he won this game the sequence of games would be easier to win too, the team Tar Heels trained a lot of defense and attack with Jake.
So after a few days of training came the day of the next game, this game would be with the visiting team Tar Heels making it even harder, yet they would have to try to win this game.
The opposing team in this match was the Maryland Terrapins team who had a great last season and this season would be great for them too, the Maryland Terrapins team was of the same style as the Tar Heels team and had a great team so they could win more.
When a team had only one or two very good players that team would not be a tough opponent if the opposing team had a good defense, but when a team like Maryland Terrapins had good players who could make a difference it was harder to beat such a team.
"Welcome to everyone who followed this game with us, another great game today with two very good teams and with an uncertain outcome."
"The Tar Heels team comes from a 17-win streak this season and has been without a game for over a year, while the Maryland Terrapins team comes from some wins and losses this season, but they have a very good team."
"The Tar Heels team is the favorite to win today's game because it comes from a great winning streak and Jake and Jamison are considered the best players today."
"But I wouldn't be surprised if the Maryland Terrapins team won this game and ended up with the Tar Heels team winning streak, because they have a good team and play at home in that game."
No one knew what this game would be like, but everyone was waiting for an exciting game, so early in the game, the Tar Heels team seemed to want to put pressure on the attack, the defense at Jake was strong enough to keep him from firing from the outside.
It seemed that Maryland Terrapins coach hoped that Jake would be more used in this game to increase the advantage for Team Tar Heels, but even with a strong defense against him Jake made a feint and soon got rid of the player who was defending against him.
Jake stepped forward and pretended to go forward using speed and stepped back out of the three-point line and tried an outside shot to hit and make the first 3 points for the Tar Heels team.
The Maryland Terrapins team advanced to attack and try to reduce the score quickly, but after a passing error the ball was passed to Jake again and he quickly advanced, no one could run as fast as Jake and he made 2 points more with a calm dunk.
Following the Maryland Terrapins team missed the attack again and Jamison got the defensive rebound and went to Jake to arrange the counterattack after the ball passed through some players of the team Tar Heels returned to Jake's hands off the three-point line.
Jake made a feint and made a high pass for Jamison who hoped for this and jumped to catch the ball in the air and make a dunk and complete the alley-oop and score 2 more points for the Tar Heels team.