"Defense! Defense!"
UConn inbounded from the sideline, and the crowd, led by the DJ, loudly cheered on the home team.
The chants were perfectly synchronized. If not for the youthful faces on the court and the team logo on the floor, you would have thought this was an NBA game.
As the world's premier professional league, the NBA was exceptionally skilled at creating a live-game atmosphere.
St. John's University's players looked as if they had been pumped full of adrenaline, defending with extraordinary ferocity.
UConn moved the ball around several times without finding a good opportunity. In the end, the ball reached Smith, but his forced Mid Range shot failed to fall.
Johnson boxed out O'Riaqi for the Defensive Rebound, and UConn's offense came up empty.
Conley brought the ball into the frontcourt. After a round of ball movement, it returned to his hands. He ran a pick and roll with Diesel, then made a Return Pass. Diesel caught the ball and fired directly over Walker.
Walker leaped to contest him, but Diesel's shot struck the front rim and bounced high into the air.
O'Riaqi reached for the Defensive Rebound, but Johnson jumped higher. He rose for the putback and Tipped the ball into the basket over O'Riaqi's head again!
Ollie spread his hands toward O'Riaqi from the sideline. This was already the second straight time he had failed to stop Johnson.
"Alex, force him outside the Three-second zone. He can't run Isolation Offense," Tang Tian said as he ran over to O'Riaqi.
This Johnson was a standard big, strong Black American player, but the rough-and-unpolished kind. Otherwise, he would not have gone undrafted.
O'Riaqi nodded. Tang Tian had already told him this during their previous meeting, but with the atmosphere in the arena so overwhelming, he had forgotten.
0-4.