Chapter 35 Two-game losing streak, start a new winning streak
Since defeating UCLA at home, the players of the University of Southern California have become more cooperative with each other, and the overall strength of the team has also improved to a higher level.
The tactical coordination among the team members is becoming more and more mature.
Especially after Lian Dao's speed increased, although he still suffered a bit against flexible small forwards, he was able to complete most defenses through strength and positioning.
Although the 69-point CIC is not very stable, it also plays a big role at critical moments.
Lian Dao has finally taken off the label of "no CIC" and replaced it with the label of "unstable CIC".
From January 14th to February 14th, the team played against six teams: Arizona Sun Devils, Arizona Wildcats x2, Washington State Cougars x2, Stanford Cardinals, California Golden Bears, and UCLA.
In these eight games, USC has a record of 6 wins and 2 losses.
Among them, they defeated the Arizona Wildcats and Washington State Cougars at home at the Galen Center, and lost the game on the road by a narrow margin.
The second game against USC's old rival UCLA was held at UCLA's home stadium, Pauley Arena. USC completed a season doubleheader against UCLA.
Coach Ben Howland was evenly matched with USC in the first half, but when Lian Dao moved to the fourth position in the second half and started a defensive counterattack, UCLA went straight into a state of defeat.
Especially Lian Dao developed a mid-range shot from the fourth position, which made Ben Howland shake his head repeatedly.
Apart from UCLA, the team that caused the most trouble for USC was the Arizona Sun Devils.
Apart from James Harden, the only player on the Arizona Sun Devils who later entered the NBA was Jeff Ayers.
There are no other particularly outstanding players.
And it was such a team that, under the leadership of James Harden, actually started with a 14:2 record.
At first, Lian Dao was a little uncomfortable looking at James Harden without a beard, but Lian Dao could tell that he had started to grow a beard.
There is already a ring of down on his face that is not particularly long.
But looking at James Harden now, he feels less like a college student and more like a high school student.
If he were to go to a nightclub with his current face, I guess all nightclubs in Arizona would not let him in.
Did this guy grow a beard later to go to nightclubs?
USC didn't underestimate James Harden because of his looks.
Last season he led the Arizona Wildcats to a record of 21 wins and 13 losses. This year they retained the same lineup as last year and even better.
USC has been focusing on the Arizona Wildcats for several years.
But the result was this guy's fault. He relied on breakthroughs and shooting to draw fouls, and got 6 free throw opportunities in the first half.
In the second half, Lian Dao and Demar switched defenses, and Lian Dao relied on his height and wingspan advantage to defend him in a wider range.
But Lian Dao's speed was at a disadvantage against Harden.
As a result, this guy kept breaking through and drawing fouls.
In the last ten minutes, Vucevic was sent to the bench because he had committed five fouls.
At this time, the scores of the two teams were evenly matched. At the last moment of the game, Lian Dao completed the victory with a super long three-pointer.
The University of Southern California also created the best start, winning 17 consecutive games!
Although the winning streak at the beginning made all the players excited, the pressure on all the players was also obvious.
All the team members were already tired, but they were holding their breath and did not dare to relax.
After training, everyone will stay in the training hall to practice more!
Head coach Tim is both happy and a little worried. What he thinks is that everyone is working hard to expand the winning streak; what he worries about is that once the team loses, the players will be discouraged, leading to a losing streak for the team.
Finally, against the Washington State Cougars with Klay Thompson, long-term pressure and the opponent's defense caused the USC team to feel completely useless in the first half.
The freshman Kelai is far less powerful than he was with the Golden State Warriors later in life, and he has not yet mastered the skill of Buddha's Light.
But at this time, his three-point shooting had begun to take shape, and what impressed Lian Dao most was not his three-point shooting, but his running position.
At this time, Kelai had developed his own running method.
He can use the cover of his opponents and teammates to get out of space, and then shoot cold arrows from the outside.
Except for Clay and their point guard, the main players of the Washington State Cougars are all over 203 centimeters tall.
In this game at Freer Court Arena, USC had no touch at all.
In particular, the Washington State Cougars launched a double-team defense against Lian Dao at the beginning. They had a three-point shooter on their team, and they were very aware of the power of a three-point shooter.
This also resulted in Lian Dao never having a good shooting opportunity from outside the three-point line. He forced two shots and found that the confrontation consumed most of Lian Dao's energy, causing him to have no shooting feel.
Lian Dao is not obsessed with regaining his touch, but continues to assist his teammates by passing the ball.
But in the first half of this game, it seemed like the entire team was missing their shooting sights, and their shooting percentages were horribly low.
At the end of the first half, we were directly behind by 26 points.
It was hard to find the shooting feeling in the second half, but the hole dug in the first half was too big.
And when both teams have three-point shooters, the point difference depends on the shooter's shooting percentage.
Unfortunately, Lian Dao's shooting percentage in the first half was really low.
So the game was lost to the Washington State Cougars on the road by 7 points.
After losing to the Washington State Cougars, USC lost to the Arizona Wildcats.
Two consecutive losses!
Against the Stanford Cardinal, the California Golden Bears and the Arizona Wildcats at home, USC stopped its losing streak and won three straight games.
When playing against the Washington State Cougars at home, USC led by a huge margin and achieved its fourth consecutive victory!
On February 14th, the University of Southern California played the second game against the Washington State Cougars. This time, the University of Southern California played at home, with the fury of revenge, and all the players were full of fighting spirit.
At the beginning of this game, Lian Dao played without the ball and got open opportunities through teammates' screens or opponent's screens. Daniel Hackett was always ready to pass the ball to Lian Dao.
Whenever Lian Dao gets a chance, Daniel Hackett will pass the ball in time.
In this way, the University of Southern California, playing at home, established a 13-point advantage in the first 10 minutes.
In this game, Lian Dao also showed everyone his strong scoring ability.
The Washington State Cougars forward of the same height simply couldn't prevent Lian Dao from breaking through in disguise.
Every time, Lian Dao's disguised dribbling moves knocked him out of position.
Lian Dao has a feeling of casting, even if he is a mid-range caster, he can do whatever he casts.
Until the end of this game, USC maintained a big lead.
In this game, Lian Dao got the highest score so far.
Total 42 points, 6 assists and 6 rebounds.
Made 12 of 18 three-pointers.
The three-pointers are only three short of tying the NCAA record for the most three-pointers made in a single game.
In 1996, Keith Vinnie made 15 of 25 three-pointers in a game between Marshall and Morehead State.
At the end of the game, Clay Thompson stopped Lian Dao.
"Can we swap jerseys?"
Exchange jerseys? It's a dream come true. At this time, besides Griffin, he is the second NCAA player to exchange jerseys with Lian Dao.
"Of course, I'd be honored!"
"Don't think that I am convinced by you, I just want to defeat you in the next competition!"
Clay Thompson was worried that Lian Dao had misunderstood the purpose of exchanging jerseys, so he explained to Lian Dao while taking off his jersey.
"Of course not. I'm waiting for your challenge, but the premise is that you want to enter the playoffs of the Parker 10 League."
"I'll be waiting for you in the playoffs!"
I believe the Washington State Cougars can make the playoffs, but I don't know how many rounds they can survive.
The two people unfolded each other's jerseys in front of their bodies, looking at each other and laughing.
Probably the sympathy between Sagittarius!
It was this scene that Hadland captured with his camera, and it became a photo that was later talked about by fans of the two men.
College basketball is like this, passionate and pure; it is possible that two strangers who have never met will become sympathetic friends because of a basketball game!