super heavy artillery

Chapter 94 Adversity
The University of Arizona Wildcats is a traditional strong team, the famous players who come out of this team are mainly known as guard players.Such as Mike Bibby, Gilbert Arenas, Jason Terry, Richard Jefferson, Iguodala, Steve Kerr, Luke Walton and many more.Some of these players continued to thrive in other positions in the NBA after retiring.

Arizona's performance in the NCAA over the years is also very good.They have been named to the NCAA Final Four four times. In 1997, they defeated the University of Kentucky under the leadership of Mike Bibby to win the NCAA championship.In recent years, he has been one of the finalists of the national championship almost every year.

So it makes sense that the Associated Press can rank Arizona seventh among all teams.After all, in recent seasons, their performance in the NCAA National Championships can be described as very good, much better than UCLA.

In fact, UCLA didn't even make the top 25 this season.If it weren't for the outstanding record in the first two months, they defeated such strong teams as Kentucky and North Carolina one after another.Even on this list, they may not be ranked.Alford himself actually knew this situation.But he still feels that people haven't really seen his current Bruins team clearly, and he feels that those related people see the problem too complicated.Whether it is strong or not, it just depends on the record!
Of course, Alford thought that his team was better than the Wildcats of the University of Arizona, but in actual actions, he did not underestimate the opponent.He still studied this team carefully, and then figured out the relevant coping strategies.There is quite a sense of "despise the enemy strategically, and attach importance to the enemy tactically."

However, no matter how well prepared, it can only be a factor in winning the game.The performance of the players is the key that directly affects the trend of the game.

With the whistle of the referee, the game began.

UCLA sent Alex to scramble for the ball. His excellent jumping and judgment can always beat many taller center players than him.

Unfortunately, it was a bad start.He didn't grasp the timing of his jump today, he was a little behind the opponent.

Arizona got the ball in the first possession.Their defenders pushed the ball towards their own frontcourt, and the other players settled down at a very fast speed.The Wildcats' style of play is just like their name, very wild and fast.

However, the UCLA players' reactions were not slow, especially Alex, Holiday and An Luo, the three UCLA's defensive cores, returned to their defensive areas almost immediately.With their efforts, they successfully stopped Arizona's attack.

Arizona 14 missed a layup under the interference of Alex.The rebound was collected by Holiday, who rushed in.

In an instant, the offensive and defensive momentum was reversed.The soles of Holiday's feet rushed up as if he was stepping on a hot wheel.At this time, he showed his excellent breakthrough, passing ability and broad vision.Alex gave him a pick-and-roll cover at the top of the arc, and Holiday, without the interference of the defender, rushed into the penalty area with an acceleration.Then throw the ball from the waist of the opponent's inside big man to An Luo who penetrates the bottom corner, and the latter hits a three-pointer.This is a small tactic they often use. Although it is simple, it has been tried and tested.All three of them can complete the finish, plus two players with excellent ball passing ability, it is enough to deal with many different situations.

The home team took the lead, and the scene was naturally full of jubilation.This is a perfect start, and everyone is happy to see such a wonderful performance.

But soon, the entire Parley Stadium fell silent.What happened next was completely beyond everyone's expectations.

The Arizona players in the away game were not overwhelmed by the momentum at home. They took their time and played very patiently.Super rookie Alonzo Trieri scored 5 points in a row from outside shots. Facing Alex's defense, he appeared calm and played resolutely.

Of course, what surprised everyone was not the outstanding performance of Arizona players, but the performance of UCLA itself.

They have a huge problem on the offensive end.First, An Luo missed a three-pointer at the top of the arc, and then Prince was blocked for a layup. What's even more exaggerated is that Alex passed the ball directly to Alford.Arizona took advantage of an 8:0 spurt and pulled the score to double digits.

Seeing that his team was about to be taken away by others, Alford quickly called a timeout.In fact, during this period of time, the players did not have any major problems in terms of tactical execution.All the things arranged before the game were played out, but the performance of the individual players was too poor.So he was very angry, he didn't save face for these guys at all, and scolded them bloody.

These lads keep their heads down and they all know what they're doing.Especially Alex, he not only failed to restrain the opponent's striker, but also made a huge mistake, so he was very annoyed.

"Don't be depressed, buddy!" An Luo patted Alex's butt and said to him: "The game has just begun, and we don't have the advantage in every game, but the final victory must belong to us .”

After returning from the timeout, An Luo finally stood up, and his three-pointers and mid-range shots made achievements.But it could only be to suspend the stalemate. Others still didn't stand up, and An Luo could only barely bite the score.

Arizona played more and more smoothly, and their backcourt general Gabe York started his scoring performance.Three-pointers, fast-break shots, breaking through the restricted area...

In many cases, the more you want to do something well, the worse it will be, and the situation will be full of problems.

UCLA's players on the field are such an official portrayal.They want to change the current passive situation, and they want to find their own correct way of playing.So they are very anxious, but often, when they are anxious, bad things happen.As a result, UCLA made more and more mistakes, and Arizona constantly seized the opportunity to fight back.

With Holiday making a mistake, Gabe York completed the offensive and defensive transition directly after a steal, and Arizona has led by 13 points.In the 12 minutes of the game, UCLA scored only 18 points and made 10 turnovers.

Alford sees a problem with the players, and in fact he's gotten a lot better with the little guys.Although there are constant mistakes on the offensive end, the defense is still very tenacious.Otherwise, it should be 20 points behind now.But this afternoon is not an option, so he sent his own rotation lineup, led by An Luo, to deal with Arizona's second team.The other four need to calm down a bit.

(End of this chapter)