Chapter 419 - 1998 NCAA Tournament 1 (1/2)
Just as commentators had hoped the Tar Heels team continued to dominate the game at the start of the 2nd half, Coach Guthridge let the starting players play the first few minutes to further increase the advantage and soon started to replace again.
Jake was really playing very well and also hit a lot of three-point shots, which left the players of the Navy Midshipmen team with no hope of winning that game and the Tar Heels team can dominate the game even more.
So the Tar Heels team won with 112 points against the Navy Midshipmen team's 48 points, it was a great victory because Jake didn't need to rest and still scores several points in three-point plays.
In this 2nd half of the game, Jake played for 20 minutes and made 21 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals, with this triple-double Jake ensured an easy victory for the Tar Heels team and his teammates were able to rest more in that game.
”Another victory for the Tar Heels team, a really dominant game that was an easy victory for the Tar Heels team that moves on to the next game with many chances to win with the rested players.”
”Jake made another triple-double making 40 points again, this is not surprising anymore because we are used to it, but it is incredible for a player to make 40 points easily in an important game like this, Jake hit 10 shots from three points in that game to achieve this.”
”Jake certainly has the record for the Tar Heels team and perhaps all the college basketball teams with the most points in an NCAA tournament game this season, what was the maximum he achieved in an NCAA tournament game anyway?”
”It was a game last season against the Louisville Cardinals team in which he had 53 points and 18 assists, he sure has the record for points, assists, and steals in games, Jake just doesn't have the record on average for points because of Austin Carr. ”
”The Navy Midshipmen team had no chance of winning this game even though they played well, now we will continue to follow up to see if Team Tar Heels wins the NCAA tournament this season again.”
After that first game, the players on the Tar Heels team were more confident to win this NCAA tournament, Jake was concerned about the next game, but he was confident that the Tar Heels team would win more easily.
The Tar Heels team had only light training the other day to not tire the players and Jake can see that everyone was fine for the next game, Jake hoped that the opposing defense would put more pressure on him in the game so that his teammates would have more freedom to make the stitches.
Coach Guthridge called Jake after training to say he had some concerns for the next game because of the next opponent and Jake spoke what he remembered that could cause the team's defeat in the next game.
It was Coach Bill Guthridge who chose Jake for this Tar Heels team, so Coach Guthridge had a lot of confidence in Jake, especially now that the Tar Heels team was having such a good season and Jake was primarily responsible for that.
If the Tar Heels team won this season, Coach Guthridge knew that Jake would be responsible for that, Coach Guthridge knew that Jake thought about leaving the team this season even though Jake didn't say anything.
But Coach Guthridge thought Jake was right to do that, after that season the whole team would almost go to the NBA or some players would end their time at university, Jake had already won two ACC tournaments and an NCAA tournament, no one could say that he was unimportant and helped the university.
So another day passed and the day of the next Tar Heels game in the NCAA tournament came, the players were confident, but did not underestimate the opponent because of that and were focused to win.
The opponent in that game was the Charlotte 49ers team, that team was also having a good season and played in a conference with strong teams which made them a more difficult opponent.
Jake told Coach Guthridge that they had to be especially careful with Sean Colson, DeMarco Johnson, and Diego Guevara, he himself would defend against Sean Colson and defend against Diego Guevara when he was playing.
If the two were playing it was for Shammond Williams to defend against one of them, the other players had to put pressure on defending against DeMarco Johnson so that they could hinder the Charlotte 49ers team's attacks.
”Today we are going to watch another NCAA tournament game this season, the Tar Heels team that has been having an incredible season and is fighting to win the NCAA tournament again this season plays against the Charlotte 49ers team.”
”In the last game, the Tar Heels team had an easy win with an excellent performance by Jake who made 40 points, in addition, the players of the Tar Heels team were able to rest because the coach Guthridge put the reserves to play longer.”