Gan Guoyang jogged all the way and entered the stadium from the passage of the Memorial Stadium.
There are many fans coming to watch the game at Memorial Stadium tonight, and they are mainly young fans.
This event was born in 1956. It started as a small invitational tournament held by Oregon State University at this school.
Later, they invited the University of Oregon to become a co-sponsor, hoping to expand the influence of the basketball program through a major event and attract and cultivate local youth basketball enthusiasts.
The number of teams has expanded from the initial 4 to 8. The competition arrangement is very intensive, with 3 games in 4 days and multiple games in one day. A ranking competition system is implemented. The 8 teams will eventually be ranked 1-8.
The boom of this event effectively developed the basketball market in Oregon and eventually led to the Trail Blazers settling in the Rose City.
With the ticket package, young fans can watch several games a day for four consecutive days. It can be said that tickets for the "Far West Classic Basketball Game" are one of the best Christmas gifts for local children.
The game on the court is in progress, the score is 37:55, Gonzaga University trails Oregon by 18 points.
Bellman stood on the sidelines and watched the situation on the court, with his arms folded and his face solemn. He did not notice Gan Guoyang's appearance on the sidelines at all.
The situation is extremely unfavorable for the Bulldogs. During the long trip in August, they clearly beat Oregon, but in the classic game, the University of Oregon seemed to be a different team.
After all, the classic game is different from the warm-up game. The Oregon Ducks’ winning percentage and number of championships in this event are second only to the Oregon State Beavers. They play at home with the right time, place, and people, and the scene is full of fans cheering for the Ducks.
"Bobby, take my place."
Gan Guoyang shouted, and Bellman came back to his senses and realized that Gan Guoyang was back.
"I thought you froze to death on the road. In this situation, what's the point of going there?"
"Nonsense, of course it makes sense. We are only 18 points behind. We can save some."
Just as he was talking, the University of Oregon hit a mid-range shot, and the score difference reached 20 points again.
Bellman called a timeout, and the Bulldog players returned to the bench. Seeing Gan Guoyang back, everyone looked much better.
"Who said you didn't need me to come? Who told me to go back to Spokane directly? John, let me see your technical statistics..."
Stockton wiped his sweat and said: "Gan, deal with No. 40. None of us can deal with him."
Gan Guoyang glanced at the Ducks' bench. Standing there was a tall white center, No. 40, Blair Rasmussen, Oregon State's core insider.
Gan Guoyang has played against him before. He is a typical tall white man, 7 feet tall, strong, with solid skills and good low-post attack power.
But last time Gan Guoyang scored 33 points on him and limited his scoring to single digits.
Gan Guoyang did not play for most of the game tonight. Rasmussen performed well, scoring 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks, completely suppressing the Bulldogs' inside performance.
The timeout ended and Gan Guoyang came on as a substitute. He moved his body a little.
When Rasmussen saw Gan Guoyang on Bulldog's side, his eyes and figure froze obviously.
"Oh, Gan, you're in time for the game. I thought you wouldn't play today." Rasmussen came over to say hello.
"You must be happy if I don't hit you. Are you a little disappointed when you see me doing it?"
"No, no, no, no, you can fight, very good."
"It's bad to lie. I'm going to put one on your head right now."
"Don't be like this, Gan..."
Before he finished speaking, the Bulldogs sent a sideline ball. Gan Guoyang provided a screen for his teammates and then ran to the right to catch the ball.
At a 45-degree position, Rasmussen did not rush to defend. He was afraid that Gan Guoyang would hold the ball and rush to the basket for a dunk.
Gan Guoyang chose a mid-range jumper, which felt pretty good and hit two points.
"Didn't you say you wanted to dunk?"
"Who asked you to lie first?"
Rasmussen had no choice but to serve from the baseline, cursing in his heart, why is this guy back?
Originally, the Ducks had definitely won this game, but Rasmussen's performance was even better. After the game, it was certain that he would score 20+10.
Unexpectedly, the Bulldog devil came back halfway. Rasmussen still remembers the painful memory of being beaten by Forrest Gump under the basket in a warm-up match at home in August.
As soon as Gan Guoyang returned, the offensive and defensive postures of both sides immediately changed dramatically.
In order to chase points, the Bulldogs began to use full-court and half-court press defense to pressure the ball carrier and disrupt Oregon's first pass.
The disadvantage of pressing defense is that it is too strong and easy to break, and it is strong on the outside and weak on the inside. Once the opponent survives one or two waves of your pressure and gets rid of your external defense line through continuous passing and cooperation, your defense will easily have big holes.
Either there is a huge gap on the outside, or the basket is completely missing.
Only when Gan Guoyang was around, his ability to cover in the three-second zone allowed his teammates to confidently and boldly carry out gambling-style pressure defense to put pressure on opponents.
The Ducks, who had not adapted, made a mistake. Stockton stole the ball, passed the ball to Anderson on the front line, made a layup, and scored 2 more points.
Rasmussen could only serve from the baseline, but Gan Guoyang rushed over to interfere.
"I bet you will make a mistake. Be careful. If you make a mistake, you will lose points."
Gan Guoyang kept exerting psychological pressure on Rasmussen because he knew that he had just debuted and was in average form, so he had to use his opponent's mistakes to find form.
As expected, Rasmussen made a serving error and the ball was intercepted by Jeff Leinart. He passed the ball to Gan Guoyang, who dunked with both hands under the basket.
"I said, I will deduct one! You really made a mistake, don't worry Lars, you are still ahead by 14 points, the balance of victory is on your side."
Rasmussen no longer wants to talk to Gan Guoyang. There is no center in the entire Pacific Northwest who is as tormenting as Forrest.
The Ducks coach felt bad and called a timeout to rearrange the offense and defense.
The young fans at the scene were cheering hard for the Ducks.
If the Ducks win this game, they can compete with the Beavers in the finals for the Far West Classic championship.
Teenagers in Portland who love college basketball are either Ducks fans or Beavers fans.
During the timeout, Gan Guoyang chatted with the young fans on the sidelines and asked them loudly, "Why don't you support the Bulldogs? We are playing great! Do you know that we will definitely win this game?"
The young fans shouted that it was impossible, and a few high-quality fans even raised their middle fingers at Gan Guoyang.
Gan Guoyang smiled and shook his head. After re-appearing, he first gave the Ducks a big block in defense, and then hit consecutive hooks in offense - three hooks in a row. The difference between the two sides suddenly narrowed to 10 points.
However, when he passed by the group of young fans just now, he was called a technical foul by the referee for giving them the middle finger in return, sending the Ducks players to the free throw line.
With 3 minutes left before the end of the game, the Bulldogs successfully defended. Stockton got a backcourt rebound and passed a super long pass to the frontcourt. Gan Guoyang received the ball and was unguarded.
He touched the back of his ear with his left hand, grabbed the ball with his right hand and stretched his arm lightly, and made a "listening" style dunk, which evened the score of both sides at 66:66. After Gan Guoyang came back, they beat their opponent 29:9.
Gan Guoyang's dunk amazed the young fans at the scene. Although they still supported the Ducks, many people began to hope that the Bulldogs could win.
Forrest Gump is so cool playing basketball, and this dunk is even more cool.
And many years later, when Karl Malone often made this dunk action, Stockton always thought that Forrest Gump did it first.
