Chapter 427 - 1998 NCAA Tournament 9 (1/2)

Just as Jake and Coach Guthridge expected the Utah Utes team coach had to ask for technical time to organize his team's defense, Coach Guthridge didn't even need to explain to Jake what he had to do.

The other players on the Tar Heels team who thought it strange that they hadn't scored any points in 6 minutes of play and didn't even try to score any points, but they understood Coach Guthridge's strategy and could see that it was working.

Coach Guthridge just spoke to N'Diaye who seemed to be having a difficult time defending against Doleac from the Utah Utes team, the coach understood how difficult it was for N'Diaye to defend against such a good Center, but it was important that he try to hinder Doleac and not doing too many fouls to avoid being kicked out of the game.

Jake wanted to defend against Miller, but Coach Guthridge said that Jake could defend against Miller, but he had better try some steals and not just keep defending against Miller.

The Utah Utes team came back after this time-out from their coach pressing more in the attack, they had to finish this 1st half by winning the game because they knew that the Tar Heels team did not lose games that they finished the 1st half by winning.

In another attacking move by the Utah Utes team, the ball went through all the players and returned to Miller, Jake soon went to press on defense against him, Miller could not get rid of Jake and had to pass the ball to Doleac.

Doleac received the ball and managed to spin quickly even with N'Diaye defending against him, so Doleac managed to make the layup and 2 more points for the Utah Utes team and N'Diaye did not try the block to not make the foul which was the decision right in that move.

The players of the Utah Utes team were doing well in this game and were able to put a lot of pressure on the Tar Heels team that was in the attack, luckily Jake managed to get some steals and was getting in the way of the Utah Utes team's attack.

The Utah Utes team's defense began to defend more against Jake and sent two players to the three-point line to defend against him, so Jake and the Tar Heels team finally had more space to make plays within the three-point line.

In another move the Tar Heels team was attacking, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Carter on the left before passing through the middle of the court, Carter advanced with the ball and passed the ball to Okulaja on the right before reaching the three-point line.

The Utah Utes team defense soon pressed against Okulaja who had to pass the ball to Jamison who was further behind, Jamison passed the ball to Jake who was further behind, the Utah Utes team defense came with two players to press against Jake.

At that point, Carter and Jamison had entered within the line of three points and Jake passed the ball to Carter ahead, Carter advanced with speed and managed to make the dunk to make 2 more points for the Tar Heels team.

This encouraged, even more, the fans who were rooting for the Tar Heels team, the Utah Utes team coach knew that the Tar Heels team would do that, but he couldn't let Jake continue making so many three-point shots and just rely on luck.

The Tar Heels team can attack with more freedom and thus ended the 1st half by winning with a small advantage on the scoreboard, the Utah Utes team was also playing well and was slightly behind the Tar Heels team in that game.

In that 1st half of the game Jake played for 20 minutes and had 23 points, 4 assists, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals, even Jake was having a difficult time defending against the Utah Utes team and was only able to make 2 steals and catch some defensive rebounds.

”End of the 1st half of this exciting game, the Tar Heels team finishes the 1st half of the game by winning with a small advantage and achieved this with great difficulty and a strange attack strategy with Jake trying 6 shots from three points in the first 6 attacks of the team Tar Heels.”

”It was the same thing that happened in some part of the last game and it helped to break the defense of the Utah Utes team that had to defend better against Jake who scored 15 points and that gave freedom to the other players on the Tar Heels team.”

”The Utah Utes team also had an excellent 1st half defending very well and attacking very well too, if it weren't for Jake Smith they would certainly have won that 1st half with a good lead on the scoreboard.”

”Michael Doleac is playing very well and scored several points even with Makhtar N'Diaye from the Tar Heels team defending against him, and other players from the Utah Utes team were also very good at the beginning of the game making several three-point shots and hitting not letting the Tar Heels team to get an even bigger advantage at the start of the game.”