The next afternoon, the team members took the school bus to Tucson, where the University of Arizona is located.
Tucson is the second largest city in Arizona after Phoenix. It is more than 100 kilometers away from Phoenix and takes an hour and a half by car.
The bus stopped directly on campus, and they got off and went to the McKale Center, the main arena of the University of Arizona.
The game is at 7pm, about four hours before kickoff.
When Xu Yong got off the bus, he saw many fans at the entrance of the arena, most of them students, and many members of the public.
And after entering the arena, they could still hear the cheers of the fans.
Following the sound, they walked to the entrance of the main stadium and found that the Wildcats were training inside, with many fans already sitting in the stands on both sides.
The University of Arizona is already a wealthy school, and since there is no NBA team in Tucson, the Wildcats are almost the only home team for local basketball fans and are quite popular.
At this moment, Pella came over to greet a few people. Their training venue was in the training hall.
When they arrived at the training hall, they found that the door was still locked. It took more than half an hour for someone to come and open the door for them.
Moreover, the training hall was also in a mess, and they had no choice but to clean it up themselves.
The University of Arizona is giving them a little nemesis treatment.
However, this encounter did not discourage the Devils players, but instead further inspired the players' fighting spirit.
They were all holding back their energy after being scolded by Sandek yesterday.
That night, the arena, which can accommodate nearly 4,000 people, was packed with fans. Even the aisles and entrances were packed with fans.
Their faces were filled with excitement, and they were holding various noise-making tools such as air sticks and whistles.
The atmosphere of the NCAA is much stronger than that of the NBA, especially after the game reaches the critical regular season stage.
However, when the Devils players came out of the tunnel, including Xu Yong, they were stunned for a moment.
They saw a large number of spectators, nearly one-third of whom were wearing Arizona State University color T-shirts (burgundy and yellow), waving team flags, or holding team logos high!
The results of the invitational tournament not only built up the confidence of the Devils players, but also gave the Devils fans something to look forward to.
When they saw this, the Devils team members were so surprised that they were already gearing up and eager to give it a try.
At the same time, at the other end of the team, the Wildcats players have also come out of the tunnel.
"Guys, let's make a big news, shall we?" Bayless glanced at Harden and Xu Yong opposite, and then said.
They want to get back the humiliation they suffered that day in Tempe. They can win by 30 points but never win by 28 points.
Hill and Budinger nodded in unison. They had already held it back long enough in two months!
After the warm-up, the scene entered into the opening ceremony.
The NCAA opening ceremony was introduced by all members.
The Devils have 14 people, and the starting five are the last to appear, namely No. 13 Harden, No. 3 Ayers, No. 12 Derek Glaser, No. 44 Jaylen Shipp, and No. 23 Xu Yong.
The Wildcats have 14 people. The starting five are: No. 13 point guard Nick Wise who is 1.78 meters tall, No. 0 Jerry Bayless, No. 5 small forward Jawan McClellan who is 1.93 meters tall, and No. 34 2 Chase Budinger, No. 01, and Jordan Hill, No. 43.
After the opening ceremony, the game was about to begin.
With the debut of the starting lineup of both sides, the cheers at the scene also reached a climax.
The regular season opener, the derby, is a game that neither side can afford to lose.
Jump ball from Hill and Ayers in the center circle.
With a whistle, Hill used his wingspan advantage to move the ball back to the Wildcats' half, and the game officially kicked off!
Wise controlled the ball and advanced to the frontcourt.
"Come on Wildcats!"
The fans in Tucson show their enthusiasm.
Amidst the cheers, Hill asked for a screen in the high post, and Wise jumped right into it.
With a height of 1.78 meters, he can start in a wealthy team, and his speed is his biggest advantage.
The Devils tightened their defense, and Wise broke into the penalty area and threw the ball directly to the top of the arc without much attention.
Budinger ran to the top of the arc through continuous screens, received the ball and shot a three-pointer.
"Uh-huh!"
The knife falls from the hand!
The cheers at the scene instantly turned into cheers.
It was neither Bayless nor Hill who took the lead for the Wildcats, but Budinger, who had no sense of presence in the wild game that day.
They gave the Devils a surprise right off the bat!
After scoring the goal, Budinger looked at Xu Yong proudly, trying to find a hint of surprise on the opponent's face, but he soon discovered that Xu Yong's expression was calm.
This made him feel happy, but he was also secretly amazed.
Considering that he had no performance that day, Xu Yong should be at least surprised to see such a silky three-pointer from him.
Of course Xu Yong would not be surprised. Budinger is a former Rockets player. How could he not know about three-pointers?
During the Devils' round, all kinds of interference sounds immediately sounded, and the whistles were very harsh. This was much louder than the away games they played in the invitational tournament.
Glasser took the ball to the frontcourt and organized the attack.
Harden used Xu Yong's cover to come out to catch the ball, but Budinger immediately switched in front of Harden and directly blocked Harden's breakthrough route to the left.
The Wildcats did a good job of targeting before the game with their decisive defense change and Ka's defensive approach on the left.
Seeing this, Harden directly broke through from the right, went to the basket and withstood Hill's strong rise, causing the latter's defensive foul.
The Wildcats were very targeted, but they still missed Harden's ability to draw fouls.
The ability to draw fouls here is not a "touch of porcelain" in the future, but a real destructive force, which is commonly known as destructive power.
Harden's weight combined with his breakthrough speed is an absolute "human bomb."
The scene was agitated, and the NCAA left the field with five fouls. Hill receiving a foul so early was not a good thing for the Wildcats.
Because it was a shooting foul, Harden went directly to the free throw line.
Despite the huge noise at the scene, he made the first free throw to help the Devils score the first point.
He also had his second free throw, and this goal was equal to a goal.
Looking back, the Wildcats repeated their old tricks. Wise changed back and broke into the basket to score the ball again, but this time Budinger's shot after receiving the ball...
"boom!"
He was directly blocked by Xu Yong!
And the ball went out of bounds on a Wildcats player, and the ball was exchanged to the Devils!
The scene was agitated. Why did the rhythm of the opening of the game feel a little wrong?
Budinger's eyes were even more unbelievable. His shot point was so high, how could Xu Yong cover it? !
Then when he looked at Xu Yong, he found that the latter still had the same calm expression.
This look really... made him panic for no reason.
The camera showed Xu Yong at this time. Xu Yong's expression was calm, as if the block just now was not worth mentioning.
It's really not worth mentioning, because the Wildcats played the same strategy twice in a row, and either they were stupid or they thought they were stupid.
With Wise's height, he would normally have no vision to pass the ball to Budinger. This is why he failed to guard Budinger in the first round.
Since there is no vision, it is obviously a fixed tactic.
After realizing this level, it becomes much easier to defend.
As long as he goes around the pick-and-roll in advance and gets caught by surprise, isn't that covered?
Fortunately, Xu Yong was just thinking and not talking, otherwise Budinger would have had to vomit blood.
For college students like them, who can read the tactics so quickly and make the best response in the second round?
You are reborn, you are noble, you are amazing!
But this does have something to do with Xu Yongshengsheng.
Xu Yong's career before his rebirth was as a basketball commentator, which greatly improved his ability to read the game. In addition, playing in the United States after his rebirth allowed him to put those understandings into practice. Now his reading, judgment, experience, and reaction All have been raised to a very high level.
In other words, he hasn't practiced defense very deliberately, but his defense has reached a pretty good level.
Budinger's hating was not unfair.
The game continued, Glasser advanced to the frontcourt with the ball, and this time passed the ball directly to Harden, and then signaled to open up the space for singles.
At this time, it was McClellan who was guarding Harden. He was the defensive leader of the Wildcats and also blocked Harden's breakthrough route to the left.
Harden decisively broke through to the right this time, but at the moment McClellan followed, he suddenly changed direction and pulled back to the left.
McClellan was knocked down!
Compared to speed, Harden's real killer move is rhythm!
There was a lot of excitement at the scene.
Harden has already gone straight to the basket.
Hill saw this and came forward again, but he was not stupid. This time he did not strike again, but raised his long arm high to interfere with Harden's shooting sight.
Harden jumped up to meet Hill, but instead of a layup, he turned sideways and pulled the ball directly with his left hand...
"Bang!"
He hit the ball into the basket through Hill!
At halftime of the Wildcats, head coach Kevin O'Neill was stunned.
Although Bayless brought him a lot of information about Harden two months ago, and he paid enough attention to it, it was obvious that he still underestimated Harden's ability.
Harden's ability to read the game is completely different from that of a rookie. It is very difficult to defend someone who is so talented and plays with brains.
Moreover, there is Xu Yong.
While he was stunned, Xu Yong completed another steal.
Harden is killing everyone on the offensive end, and Xu Yong is everywhere on the defensive end.
Harden threw the ball to Xu Yong during a fast break. Xu Yong caught the ball in the air and scored a dunk, which also caused Wise's pulling foul!
Harden and Xu Yong worked together to launch a 6-0 offensive, giving the Wildcats an even bigger surprise.
The boy from the same state who was pushed to the ground and bullied by them is about to rise!
