The lineups of both teams are the same as the previous starting lineup.
There are still a few minutes to prepare before the game starts.
UConn's Hall of Fame head coach Jim Calhoun smiled as he looked at the USC lineup.
He saw that Lian Dao was playing at the small forward position, so Jim Calhoun was still preparing to play inside tactics.
Give the ball to Hashem as much as possible.
Once USC plays a 2-3 zone defense, it will hand the ball to outside shooters. The University of Connecticut is known as a training base for talented shooters.
So he's not worried about UConn's outside shooting at all.
After Jim Calhoun gave instructions to all the players, the game just started.
"All!"
With a whistle from the referee on the sidelines, Hashim used his height advantage to push the ball back to half court. This was one of the few times that Vucevic failed to win the ball.
Lian Dao came to the restricted area immediately.
Hashim was a little surprised when he looked at Lian Dao on the inside, but he didn't care.
When Lian Dao got closer to Hashem, he realized that he was half a head shorter than him.
And this guy looks quite thin in the video, but I didn't expect that he has a lot of muscles.
There are two theories as to Hashim's actual future in the NBA.
One is that he missed the best period to increase the ball. Many people think that it was the stacking of the Grizzlies inside that ruined this genius.
The other way is that this guy is fundamentally unable to adapt to the NBA and is a second-place importer.
Lian Dao also faced Hashim for the first time, and he also wanted to test how far this guy's confrontation could go.
Lian Dao first used 6 points of strength and took the initiative to fight without the ball.
There was no push, but Hashem started to have trouble getting stuck.
So another two points were added, and this time Haim's steps were a little messy.
This is how Lian Dao knows the extent of Hashem's power.
That was easy for Lian Dao. He directly used his strength to push Hashim out of the penalty area.
Lian Dao is much shorter than Hashim. If two people of this height are in the penalty area at the same time, Lian Dao will suffer a lot in blocking and defense.
If Hashem is allowed to receive the ball in the penalty area, the defense will basically fail.
And by pushing Hashem out of the penalty area, Lian Dao can do more things.
This is how Hayes defended Stoudemire alone.
As long as the strength is sufficient and the defense is flexible, it is absolutely possible to deal with Hashim and the weak opponents.
AJ Price also discovered a problem at this time, and his defender became DeMar.
Facing Demar, who was taller, stronger and equally fast, he didn't have a good chance to attack for a while.
So, he passed the ball to Hashim who was leaning against Lian Dao.
After Hashim caught the ball with Lian Dao, he wanted to turn around and attack the penalty area.
But he immediately realized that he had no room to turn around.
His turning route was blocked by Lian Dao.
So, he quickly changed his attack method and played a post-up game, but then he realized that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stand up to Lian Dao.
And at this time, he discovered that no matter how he moved around, Lian Dao could keep up with him at all times, leaving him no chance to enter the inside line.
Seeing that he had no chance to attack, Hashim wanted to pass the ball back to the outside and let them reorganize their attack.
But his passing was not good. Looking at AJ Price, who was closely followed by DeMar, he had no chance to catch the ball. This made him not know who to pass the ball to for a moment.
And during this moment of hesitation, the ball was snatched away by Lian Dao, who had quick hands and quick eyes.
That's right, it's robbery.
Because the moment he grabbed it, Hashim was directly pulled to the floor by the force of the pull.
"Oh, at this time, Hashim was like a kid, with no ability to fight back."
At this time, Jeff Van Gundy was very excited about Lian Dao's quick steal.
After Lian Dao stole the ball, he passed the ball directly to DeMar who was about to leave. There were two players from Southern California who were about to leave at the same time. In addition to DeMar and Gibson.
Because Gibson is guarding the opponent's small forward, he is positioned outside.
The only player on the UConn Huskies who can quickly return to defense is AJ Price.
DeMar looked at AJ Price, who was running alongside him, and threw the ball back without looking at him.
Gibson received the ball and immediately followed up with a dunk.
Jim Calhoun was stunned when he saw USC's defensive counterattack.
He was stunned, not because of this move and change of defense, but because he really didn't expect Lian Dao's strength to be so great, and Hashim had no chance in the inside attack.
Jim Calhoun wanted to call a timeout right away, but held back. It was just the start of the game, and calling a timeout at this time would also have a great impact on morale.
Jim Calhoun resisted calling a timeout. He could only wait and see whether Hashem could make a breakthrough in the next offense.
But Jim Calhoun obviously thought too much. This time Hashim wanted to get rid of Lian Dao and enter the penalty area to catch the ball.
But no matter how he moved, he found that he had no chance to escape the defense.
At this time, AJ Price saw that Hashim really had no chance, so he took a shot against DeMar from the outside.
Because of DeMar's interference, AJ Price's release point was very high.
"Don!"
Sure enough, the ball hit the basket neck directly.
When Hashim saw it, he wanted to turn around and grab the board.
But he soon discovered that he couldn't jump at all.
That's because Lian Dao was close to Hashem, and the entanglement of his arms and body caused most of the power to hang on Hashem's body.
It would be weird if he could jump.
Vucevic easily grabbed the rebound over Jeff Adrian.
Southern California defended its opponents for two consecutive possessions.
But this defensive fast break was impossible.
The main reason is that Vucevic's movement speed is a bit slow.
Lian Dao reorganized the offense after receiving the ball from the outside.
The University of Connecticut Huskies did not send Hashim to defend Lian Dao, and they did not dare to let Hashim defend Lian Dao.
Because that's equivalent to the UConn Huskies' inside line being completely empty.
Defending Lian Dao are Jeff Adrian, their power forward, and small forward Jerome Dyson.
The opening scene was a double-team, Jim Calhoun took Lian Dao very seriously!
In fact, Jim Calhoun also wanted someone to be able to prevent cheap rice alone.
However, conditions do not allow it, and neither Jeff Adrian nor Jerome Dyson has the ability to prevent cheap rice alone.
Jeff Adrian is 201cm, Jerome Dyson is 190cm.
If either of these two were to guard Lian Dao alone, Lian Dao would dare to make a direct three-pointer from the outside.
Double teaming, as long as you can pass the ball, you will have a chance.
And Lian Dao's passing is not bad.
Lian Dao directly passed the ball to Gibson from behind the three-point line.
After Gibson received the ball, Hashim quickly stepped forward to cover the ball. Gibson did not stop and passed directly to Vucevic under the basket.
Vucevic scored an easy dunk.
4:0
The opening was a crushing score, which made Jim Calhoun unable to sit still.
He can't care so much now, he needs someone on the outside who can score.
So I immediately called a timeout.
This season's UConn lineup is very similar to the Magic during the Howard era, with stars everywhere.
As long as USC can limit the one-star Hashim alone, then half of the game is basically won.
As for the shooter, he is the other half. If the University of Connecticut is full of outside touches, then the probability of USC winning the game will be very small.
This is also the reason why Jim Calhoun must now let the University of Connecticut play with touch from the outside to reduce the pressure on the inside.