Gan Guoyang's understanding of defense has already surpassed many contemporary college students and even professional players.
He always looks at the overall situation, rather than the gains and losses of one city or one place. Bellman even laments this point and thinks that Gan is his defensive philosophy mentor to a certain extent.
Although Bellman thought Gan Guoyang was right, he still asked him to take a break.
But not even a minute after Gan Guoyang sat on the bench, the spectators stopped watching.
In addition to Gonzaga University students, many Spokane citizens came to Kennedy Stadium today.
In an era when the Internet had not yet appeared and NBA live broadcasts were a mess, local fans had never seen a player like Gan Guoyang play with such passion and violence. In their school history, there had never been a player who played 10 minutes and dunked 5 baskets. .
There is no NBA team in Spokane, and traveling to Portland or Seattle is expensive, and many ordinary people will not have the opportunity to go there to watch games.
Gan Guoyang's 10-minute performance has conquered Spokane fans, making them feel that this "Sonny Gan Memorial Day" is really commemorative.
"Let Gan come on!"
"We want to see Gan!"
"Gan should come on stage, otherwise what's the point of the game."
In the audience behind Gonzaga's bench, people kept shouting for Gan Guoyang to come on the stage.
Bellman had no choice but to take advantage of a dead ball opportunity and replace Gan Guoyang.
Gan Guoyang reappeared happily. Mulligan on the opposite side saw this and asked Thornton, who had just come off the field to take a rest, to go into battle.
Thornton's butt was not even hot from sitting. He had just finished sorting out his messy emotions, but he was about to do it again.
"Fake..." Thornton didn't dare to go against the coach and could only curse silently in his heart.
After 10 minutes of competition and confrontation, he already felt that he and Gan Guoyang were fundamentally two levels of players.
Thornton is a typical white center in the 1980s. He is tall, strong, and slow. He has good skills but is limited to the inside. He basically has no mid-to-long-range shooting ability (as can be seen from his free throw shooting rate, which is only 50%).
In the college game, his 6-foot-10 height and good wingspan and weight are enough for him to deal with most undersized inside players.
However, Gan Guoyang was taller, stronger, faster, and more skilled than him. He had never faced Gan Guoyang's style of play before, and he had no sense of defense at all.
Gan Guoyang reappeared and chose to catch the ball at the top of the arc. Thornton felt flustered when he thought of Gan Guoyang's consecutive inside dunks at the beginning, so he left two steps away to defend.
As a result, Gan Guoyang raised his hand and took a long shot, which hit directly.
When he took the shot, Thornton glanced back. When he saw the ball hollowly entering the net, he lowered his head, shook his head, sighed, and ran to the baseline to serve.
"Hahaha, this guy can also shoot from a distance! What a fucking genius, cough, cough, cough!"
Fitzgerald laughed until he was coughing on the sidelines. He has always been a cheerful person with a mixture of mood and anger.
Coach Deron said: "It's not the first day he came to Gonzaga. Didn't you see him practicing long shots every day during training?"
"Training and official competition are two different things! Besides, I thought his hand would get worse if he gains strength."
"It will get worse, so he practices shooting more times every day."
All Thornton can think about now is when this game will end.
How do you guard against this No. 11? He can dunk when he rushes in, and he can shoot long distance if left outside.
What skills did he not demonstrate? Everyone, please say hello to me. Anyway, I'm riddled with holes and I'm a pathetic creature.
Gan Guoyang really has skills that he has not yet shown, but he is not going to show off all the weapons that he has devoted himself to training for a year in today's game.
Near the end of the first half, Gan Guoyang blocked his second shot in the first half on the defensive end.
This time he slapped the ball directly into Stockton's hands, and immediately rushed towards the frontcourt after landing to participate in the team's fast break.
The Anteaters retreated quickly, but this time Gonzaga's fast break didn't stop because there was no time.
Stockton made a precise pass to Gan Guoyang. Gan Guoyang received the ball at the top of the arc, dribbled the ball inside, stretched his long legs, entered the three-second zone and started to take off.
Three Anteaters came over to encircle him. Thornton predicted that Gan Guoyang would take off with his left foot and lay up with his right hand, so he rushed up from the right rear of Gan Guoyang to cover, adjusting his steps to try to cover him.
As a result, Gan Guoyang took off with his left foot and made a left-handed layup. Thornton missed the ball and the ball easily entered the net. He scored two points at the buzzer and the first half ended.
The score was 51:32. Gonzaga University led the Anteaters by 19 points. It can be said that the outcome of the game is no longer in suspense.
Gan Guoyang's adaptable layup with both hands and feet is just one of the little tricks he has trained hard over the past year.
Seeing Gan Guoyang's unpredictable scoring methods, Thornton left the court and went to the locker room with his hands on his hips and his head lowered. It was a deeply shocking half-time game.
The scary thing is that there is only half a half left in this game.
Because it was the first game after joining Gonzaga and it was Sonny Gan Memorial Day, even if he led by 19 points at the beginning of the second half, Gan Guoyang did not relax and play casually, but continued to play seriously and dunk whenever he could.
After being beaten for most of the game, Thornton slowly recovered and began to fight against Gan Guoyang desperately. He even tried to prevent Gan Guoyang from scoring with two vicious fouls.
This is also the difference between college games and high school. College players, especially the main players in their junior and senior years, are all outstanding young people who have experienced tempering. They have been selected through a big selection. Their will and competitiveness are much better than those in high school. Young men need to be tougher and stronger.
But Thornton's struggle was of no use other than losing momentum. He was sent off for five fouls, ending this top-notch torture at the beginning of the new season.
Gan Guoyang stood on the free throw line and made two free throws. His score reached 35 points, as well as 12 rebounds and 4 blocks.
In college games, it is not easy for a player to score 35 points.
The first and second halves are only 20 minutes each, with a single attack lasting up to 35 seconds. Zone defense is allowed, the game is slow-paced, there are no three-pointers, and center players naturally have difficulties in controlling the ball.
Last season the top ten players in the NCAA in scoring average were all guards and forwards.
The last center in a college game to easily score 30 points in a single game was Dan Issel of the University of Kentucky.
Since 1970, no center has averaged 30 points per game in college games, and there are even few centers in the top ten scoring lists.
Coaches of all teams are using the center as a defensive core and offensive supplement. After all, in a university where zone defense is the main focus, it is much more difficult for a center to score than in the NBA, which only allows one-on-one defense.
After the free throw, Bellman replaced Gan Guoyang.
The fans in the audience gave him endless applause, cheers and whistles.
Gan Guoyang waved to the fans, and the cheers did not stop completely until the final whistle sounded.
100:77, the Gonzaga Bulldogs achieved a big victory, defeating their rival Anteaters who suffered a heavy defeat last season.
Gan Guoyang made a perfect debut.
After the game, the mayor of Spokane delivered a brief speech and awarded a commemorative medal to Gan Guoyang to establish the unshakable status of "Sonny Gan Memorial Day" in Spokane.
Gan Guoyang received the medal amid applause. Looking at the bronze medal with his name and No. 11 jersey printed on it, he had the illusion that he was about to retire.
Later, Gan Guoyang gradually learned that this method of naming a local memorial day after someone is very common across the United States.
The main significance of the anniversary is to provide a reason for everyone to engage in social activities.
He also learned from Bernard King that when the University of Tennessee recruited King, the local town arranged a "Bernard King Day". King was so moved that he decided to stay in Tennessee and play football. .
Gan Guoyang said the same thing. Fortunately, he is quite satisfied with Gonzaga University and the Bulldogs.
