Chapter 415 1998 ACC Tournament 3
With Jake doing this unexpected block the crowd at the Greensboro Coliseum got excited and started cheering more for the Tar Heels team and applauding Jake's move, some reporters who were more lucky to try to photograph Elliot's layup managed to photograph the block on the basketball Jake's backboard.
"What an incredible move by Jake in defense we could see now, a turnover by Shammond Williams whose pass was intercepted by Laron Profit ended in a dangerous counterattack by the Maryland Terrapins team."
"Laron Profit and Rodney Elliot were on the attack in this quick counterattack by the Maryland Terrapins team, only Jake who is the fastest player on the Tar Heels team managed to come back to defend."
"But against two players it was difficult to defend and so everyone thought it was almost certain that the Maryland Terrapins team would score both points."
"But when Elliot got the ball and tried to lay it out, Jake seemed to be expecting it and quickly jumped together to block on the basketball backboard and stop the Maryland Terrapins team from scoring."
"This was certainly one of the most incredible defensive moves I've seen in recent years at College basketball."
After this good defensive play by Jake, the Tar Heels team was more excited to attack and the Maryland Terrapins players were a little discouraged, after all, in almost the whole game they had to make moves to escape Jake's defense and in a play with this Jake got a block.
In another move the Tar Heels team was on the attack and Carter advanced the ball to the three-point line, Carter held the ball and passed it to Jamison who was further on the left, the Maryland Terrapins defense soon pressed in defense against Jamison and he passed the ball to Jake further back through the middle.
The defense of the Maryland Terrapins team soon paid more attention to Jake in the attack and a player went to defend against him, Jake did not try any feints and passed the ball to Williams who was more open on the right.
The player who was defending against Williams was further away to defend if Jake managed to get rid of the player who was defending against him, so Williams was free to try the shot from outside and score 3 more points for the Tar Heels team.
With the Tar Heels team playing so well they managed to win at the end of the game with the Tar Heels team making 85 points against 66 points of the Maryland Terrapins team, in the final part of the game after that block of games the Tar Heels team managed to increase even more plus the advantage.
In this 2nd half of the game Jake played for 20 minutes and had 17 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block, even though Jake trying to defend well the Maryland Terrapins team did his best to avoid where he was defending and so Jake had few defensive moves like that block.
"What a great victory for the Tar Heels team in this game that was very disputed and the two teams did their best to achieve the victory, but the players of the Tar Heels team were playing very well and Jake managed to lead the team to another victory."
"That's right, the Tar Heels team was very good in that game, Carter, Jamison, Williams and even Okulaja were well in the attack in that game and Jake was fine too and even not being able to stand out in defense because of the Maryland team's game strategy Terrapins even managed to make that incredible block that gave the Tar Heels team more confidence to win the game."
"The players of the Maryland Terrapins team were playing very well in this game too, it was a more intelligent risky strategy to make attacks far from where Jake was defending, with that they managed to avoid several steals and blocks that Jake could make in that game and still press the Tar Heels team."
"But the Tar Heels team has great players and since last season they have been the best team in College basketball and so they have this sequence of 57 straight wins, now let's see if the Tar Heels team can win the ACC tournament again this season."
After that victory, the Tar Heels team players were very happy and excited, they were in the final of the ACC tournament and could win again and they would play against their biggest rival who was the Duke Blue Devils team that had not won against them in over 5 years.
Certainly against a rival like this the players would be more willing to win and would play even better, Coach Guthridge was not so excited about this because he knew the players were very tired after that game.
This was the first ACC tournament that the Tar Heels team would play with him as the head coach, so it was only natural that he would be a little insecure and expect a weaker team in the final, but of course he knew that the players on the Duke Blue Devils team too they should be tired and so they had a good chance of winning that game.
Jake was confident that if his teammates played as well as they did today they would win that final for sure, Jake had confidence in that and hoped to win the ACC tournament and then the NCAA tournament.
The players couldn't even sleep well that night and the day of the final game had arrived, everyone was looking forward to winning that final against the Duke Blue Devils team and winning the ACC tournament.
Before Jake went to the game site he received a call from his mother, Eva said she had closed the restaurant and would go to the final game with Anna to hope for Jake's victory, he was very happy to know that and could play with more happiness knowing that there would be support in the crowd.
Jake soon told this to his teammates, Carter and Jamison who were very close friends with Jake, knew well that he liked his mother very much and was not ashamed to say that to others and Jake was respected by friends for being like that.
This was a team full of good players and leaders like Jamison, Carter and Jake was also one of the leaders of this team and their support for always having good performances in all games, as well as seeing Jake happy and excited to play even better in this game they also gained more confidence.
Jake was always excited when his mom watched his final games in middle school, but as she was busy and couldn't see many games from him at university it was even more special, while Jake was excited he got another call.
"Hi, Jake, how are you?"
"Hi, Kate, I'm doing great, we're going to have an important game today, the final of the ACC tournament."
"I know that, I've followed a lot of your team's games whenever I have time, I know you play really well and you're the best college basketball player this season and also last season and your team won the NCAA tournament last season."
"I didn't expect you to like basketball that much, it's really cool to see that you follow the games of the Tar Heels team, so I can play more willingly knowing that I have you rooting for me."
Jake was really surprised to learn that Kate watched the Tar Heels team games, even though many Americans were in the habit of watching College basketball games he didn't expect Kate who was so busy watching the games.
"I'm not that much of a basketball fan, I started watching the Tar Heels team games when I heard that you played on that team, I called to say I had some time today and came to watch your final game here at Greensboro Coliseum."
Jake was really surprised to hear that, he was surprised to learn that Kate watched the Tar Heels team games just because of him and even more surprised to learn that she had come to the Greensboro Coliseum to watch the Tar Heels team final game.
He was already happy to know that his mother had come to the Greensboro Coliseum to watch the game and now he was even happier, he always wanted to meet someone who could follow his games just like his mother did and Jake knew how Kate she was busy and had to cancel several appointments to watch that game.
"I'm really happy to hear that you came to watch my game in the final, my mom also just called me saying she came to watch the game and I was already happy, now I'm even happier and more excited to play well in this game and win."
"I know how hard it must have been for you to find time to come and watch the game, Kate, really thanks."
"I had already decided some time ago that I would watch your game in the final of the ACC tournament, luckily as your team has a great winning streak your team was already expected to reach the final and I was able to prepare myself a long time before coming watch that game."
Then Jake talked to Kate for a while and then he had to hang up because he had to get ready for the game, he couldn't tell his teammates that Kate had come to watch that game because Kate wasn't his girlfriend yet.
But everyone could see that Jake was more focused and excited than usual for this game, they still thought that Jake was like that because his mother had come to watch the game, everyone knew that Jake was the most important for the team to achieve victory and that's why everyone was more confident too.
The opponent of this game was the Duke Blue Devils team, who hoped to win this game anyway, so they would break this shame of not winning for more than 5 years and win the ACC tournament in addition to ending the Tar Heels team's winning streak, any rival would want to win that game.