Chapter 323 1997 NCAA Division I Mens Basketball Tournament 11 (1/2)
”Just as you said the Tar Heels team played very poorly at the beginning of this second half, it could be said that besides Jake it was the worst game of that team this season and what's worse in the Final Four game against a strong team like Arizona Wildcats team.”
”True, it can't happen to either team playing a part of the game as badly as the Tar Heels team has been playing, but we have to also say about Jake's 15 points in those first 10 minutes of the second half.”
”Anyone who hears about this thinks he's playing quietly, but no, sometimes there are two players in defense against him, and Jake can find space to try the three-point shot, even though he missed two shots off, the moment the team lives in the game, Jake's 15 points is even more important.”
Coach Smith called the whole team to talk after asking for a break, only Jake received no scolding from the coach, after which the players seemed to have cheered up a bit.
Jake knew that in the second half the Tar Heels team could not play very well, so he just tried to make the right plays with Jamison and Carter who were playing better in today's game.
In another move Jake received the ball and advanced calmly, after passing the middle of the court he passed the ball to Carter, Carter advanced the ball and passed to Okulaja, Okulaja held the ball and passed to Jake behind the three-point line.
Jake made a feint that deceived Bibby and made an alley-oop for Carter to catch the ball in the air and make a dunk to score 2 points for Team Tar Heels, the end of the game was coming and Jake made 2 alley-oop with Jamison also in this second time.
Thus at the end of the game the team, Tar Heels won by 92 points against 52 of the Arizona Wildcats team, Jake played for 20 minutes in that second half and made 22 points, 4 assists, 9 rebounds, 6 steals, and 6 blocks.
Coach Smith did not want to risk a difficult game like this and let Jake play the 40 minutes of the game, and it was the right decision because Jake was the one who ensured Tar Heels's victory in that game.
”What an exciting game, even though not playing well, the Tar Heels team managed an easy win with a great performance from Jake and a good game from Carter and Jamison.”
”This was certainly a game in which the team Tar Heels only won because Jake was in the team, he made a quadruple-double in that game with over 40 points scored, so what Jake did in the first half of the first half we can see how he led the team to this victory.”
”After this game where Jake led the team alone to the NCAA tournament win and final, I think there's no doubt that he deserves the best player of the year at the university and the NCAA Tournament MVP award.”
”True, we hope that the players from the Tar Heels team will play better in the next game, only if all players perform well will the Tar Heels team have a chance to win this NCAA tournament.”
After this end of the game the team Tar Heels returned to university, all the way Coach Smith said nothing to the players and with that everyone was more nervous, even with that win and the team going to the NCAA tournament final, no one was happy about it for the team's performance.
Only Jake was more relaxed and was quite happy with the team going to the NCAA tournament final, he naturally knew that the team would not perform well in this game and just hoped that because of it they could play better.
So he was undecided about whether the team could win this game even with him playing, which is also why he told Coach Smith to ask the players to defend against Simon after all the team played this game well and helped to win.
Jake was already preparing well before to have to take responsibility and play very well in this game, he made another quadruple-double and the most important was that the team won.
Also, with Carter and Jamison playing very well in today's game it made it much easier for Jake to play so well and for the team to win, Jake always thought that with two other players besides him playing well they could win almost any game.
As soon as everyone got to college Coach Smith found everyone at the Dean Smith Center to talk to the players, everyone on the team besides Jake was nervous, even Carter and Jamison who had made a great game were nervous about this conversation.
”I'll have to say, after this game I couldn't help but be disappointed with our team, even if I didn't expect much from you in this game I would still be disappointed, so imagine how I was even more disappointed when I expected you to were the champions of this NCAA tournament?”
The players were all quiet and ashamed as they listened to what Coach Smith was saying, the worst for them was that they had betrayed the coach and fans' confidence in this game.