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The round changed, the Hokies attacked, and Selinborg found that the opponent changed its defense.
Curry went to the bottom corner to defend Hammon, and Graves went to face Zabian.
But the situation remained unchanged as the team was helpless against the Bulldogs' defense.
Zabian did not continue his steady dribble this time, but passed the ball to Jeff Allen early; otherwise, he would have looked foolish.
Jeff Allen tried to challenge Butler one-on-one, but this was obviously not a wise choice. His mid-range jump shot was severely interfered with and went out of the frame.
In the penalty area, Lewis struggled physically with Drew, trying to grab the frontcourt rebound.
As the defender, Drew pinned him firmly behind him and occupied the most advantageous position.
But Lewis immediately discovered that Drew's movements were very strange. He was not rushing to grab the rebound at all. Instead, he was pushing backwards. The two of them were getting farther and farther away from the penalty area as they struggled.
Just as he was wondering, Curry rushed into the restricted area from the baseline and easily grabbed the rebound with the help of Drew's positioning.
Lewis' eyes widened, full of disbelief.
Is there such an operation?
Just now, Drew had already gotten into position, but he didn't even look at the falling basketball. He was focused on fighting with him, which allowed Curry, a guard, to come all the way from the bottom corner to grab the rebound.
Isn't this just going far away instead of near?
Selinborg on the sidelines was also a little confused.
As a coach, he looks at the game differently than Lewis does.
In the previous play, after Drew grabbed the rebound, he only needed to pass it to Curry, and the Bulldogs would have another chance to launch a fast break.
But Drew deliberately avoided the fight for the rebound and gave the rebound to Curry.
Selinborg looked at Liam in confusion. Was this a new tactic he had arranged?
He became alert and prepared to respond at any time.
But in the subsequent plays, the Bulldogs did not come up with any new tricks, except that other players were more decisive in shooting after receiving Curry's passes, and the inside players grabbed fewer rebounds.
As a result, the Bulldogs' offensive success rate dropped significantly.
After all, many players shot directly and were easily disturbed by defenders.
The inside players focused on positioning themselves, allowing Curry to grab rebounds, which also gave the Hokies time to retreat and the Bulldogs' fast breaks, which they were good at, were not played, which slowed down the offense and defense.
But the situation still hadn't changed for the Hokies.
They still couldn't score consistently against the Bulldogs' defense.
The Bulldogs missed one, then they missed two, and instead of narrowing the gap, it widened.
With 10 minutes left in the game, the Bulldogs led the Hokies by 18 points, 60:42, and the balance of victory gradually tilted towards them.
At this time, Liam replaced Graves with Ben Slaton and put up a double point guard lineup.
Curry no longer held the ball, but switched to off-ball offense.
He came out from the baseline with the help of Campbell's screen, then made a counter-run, got rid of Zabian's pursuit, received a pass from Ben Slaton, and made a three-pointer.
Selinborg's heart trembled. What he had been worried about finally happened.
After the first double-team, he was worried that Curry would switch from having the ball to not having the ball, so the Hokies would not be able to carry out targeted defense on him, and Curry would easily score high points.
But before this, Liam had never asked Curry to change his playing style. Even though he was double-teamed, he insisted on holding the ball, which gradually put Selinborg's heart at ease.
He thought that Curry would not play without the ball in this game. This is also good. You win the game, and I also have face. It's a win-win situation.
Why did Curry start playing without the ball again?
Selinborg was very confused. Since the second half, he couldn't understand the Bulldogs' tactics.
He frowned and thought, and subconsciously looked up at the big screen in the air, which was replaying Curry's previous goal, with his statistics next to it.
"6 points, 14 assists, 12 rebounds, wow, so many assists and rebounds..."
Selinborg muttered to himself, then stared at Curry's data column and was stunned.
Before he knew it, Curry had a double-double.
Swish!
At this moment, Curry grabbed the rebound with the help of Drew's positioning and then got a shooting opportunity by running without the ball and hit an ultra-long three-pointer.
Only then did Selinborg realize that Liam was helping Curry to improve his stats!
I have already finished collecting assists and rebounds, and now I am starting to collect points.
Is this a triple-double?!
Selinborg was shocked. This was the quarterfinals of March Madness!
You actually let the players rack up stats on the court?
Still so efficiently?
He looked at the court, where Drew and Campbell formed a circle under the basket, trying their best to block the people behind them, allowing Curry to easily pick up the falling rebound.
Drew turned around and grabbed an offensive rebound in the Hokies' half, made a tip-in, and knocked Lewis off balance.
Selinborg was so angry that his liver was trembling. You don't even bother pretending?
You can't even grab the backcourt rebounds, so why are you so enthusiastic about grabbing the frontcourt rebounds?
He wanted to call a timeout immediately, and he must severely curb this bad habit of brushing data!
But when he thought of Curry's data, Selinborg's face was dejected, and he took his foot back.
Curry was about to get a triple-double, and it was too late to call a timeout.
Sure enough, after a missed three-pointer, Curry made a layup with an open cut and scored his 11th point of the game!
In the subsequent game, Selinborg completely gave up and replaced all the substitutes with the next dead-ball opportunity.
I wonder if you still have the nerve to keep Curry on the court to rack up stats?
He clearly underestimated Liam.
Liam only did one thing—he asked the players to reduce the intensity of their defense.
At this time, the Bulldogs' lead had reached 24 points, and there were only 8 minutes left in the game, and it had entered garbage time.
As the Bulldogs' defense was a little lax, the tempo of the game suddenly accelerated, the confrontation was close to zero, and both sides played against each other. Curry continued to score points, and his rebounds and assists also increased.
Finally, after 4 minutes, Selinborg couldn't stand it anymore. He ordered the players to commit fouls and send Butler to the free throw line.
Liam now had no choice but to replace the starting players, leaving only Butler on the court to take free throws.
If Curry is left on the court, it would be too blatant.
Finally, with a missed shot by Julian Beko, the game ended and the Bulldogs beat the Hokies by 23 points, 83:60, breaking the best record in history and entering the Elite Eight for the first time!
Curry made 6 of 11 shots and 4 of 7 three-pointers in the whole game, scoring a large triple-double of 16 points, 15 assists, and 14 rebounds, 11 of which were scored in the second half. This is also the first triple-double of his NCAA career!
In addition to Curry, other players of the Bulldogs also scored effectively. Butler scored 16 points, Graves contributed 14 points, Campbell added 12 points, and Julian Beko scored 11 points. A total of 5 players on the team reached double digits in scoring. This was also the Bulldogs' most efficient offensive game since entering the Round of 64, with an overall shooting percentage of 57%, completely dismantling the Hokies' defense.
On the other hand, among the Hokies, only Jeff Allen scored in double digits among the starters, with 13 points, but he shot only 34%, reflecting the struggles of the entire team's offense.
Facing the Bulldogs' defense, the Hokies players spent most of the game dribbling steadily and passing the ball hesitantly. Everyone transformed into English gentlemen, wishing to give every offensive opportunity to their teammates.
This resulted in the most common scene on the Hokies' offensive end being a series of dribbles and passes, with one receiver taking a rushed shot that inevitably missed.
The Bulldogs won a complete victory on both offense and defense!
Liam came to the technical table leisurely, while Selinborg lingered on the bench for a moment before approaching.
For a coach, this was the most embarrassing moment.
Liam smiled slightly:
"Coach Selinborg, you almost had Curry under control."
Selinborg's expression froze, forcing a smile:
"I'm quite satisfied with my players' performance; they managed to limit Curry to 16 points."
"I also want to thank you for the tactics you arranged, which allowed him to achieve his first triple-double. This game means a lot to him," Liam smiled. "You know, many people think that Curry isn't a real point guard. I believe this game is a strong rebuttal."
"Haha, is that so..." Selinborg's face became even grimmer.
Did I go to such lengths to clear Curry's name?
Liam noticed the change in Selinborg's expression and felt a sense of satisfaction. He didn't plan to stab him again and turned around to walk back.
However, just as he turned, Selinborg called out loudly behind him:
"Coach Liam, how did you discover Curry's potential?"
This question lingered in his mind.
So many coaches were not optimistic about Curry, and Coach K even bluntly stated that he wasn't suited for the NCAA.
When everyone was condemning him, why did you, a young man, think so highly of Curry?
Liam paused momentarily but didn't stop or answer the question, walking straight back
End of this chapter
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