November 10, 2013
"And welcome once again to the Rupp Arena, in which the Wildcats of the University of Kentucky will face the Norse of Northern Kentucky, a game in which two teams from right here in Kentucky will face each other," the voice of Tom Hart could be heard through the screens while the cameras gave panoramic views all around the arena.
"I'll say, but if we are completely objective, the Wildcats team under the command of Calipari has a clear advantage in front of the Norse under the command of Dave Bezold," added the voice of analyst Jon Sundvold, who was at the side of Tom.
"In the previous game, Aaron Reed surprised everyone with a triple-double, and now we will see if his performance was just luck or if they are flashes of what the boy can do," Tom said, so that the cameras finally placed themselves over the court upon seeing how the players came out of the tunnel and began with their respective warm-ups.
Catching one of the basketballs, Aaron began to feel the rubber around his hands while he placed himself at the free-throw line, and with a completely orthodox posture, he launched a triple which went cleanly into the basket.
Still with his hand in the air, Aaron saw how the ball went through the hoop while the multitude of fans applauded in response, while Aaron caught a new ball and repeated the action, completely tuning his shot.
"Man, you are on fire," said Andrew, who found himself at his side and also began to practice his own shots.
"You don't do so badly either," Aaron said, seeing how he also began to basket the shots and kept moving around the 3-point line and kept tuning his shot all around the perimeter.
Asking for another ball, Aaron began to dribble the ball through his legs in rapid succession until finishing running and giving a convincing dunk over the basket.
That action caught the attention of some of the Norse players, who found themselves practicing on the other half of the court and turned their gaze unconsciously only to see how Aaron's feet touched the ground again while he high-fived Julius, who found himself next to Aaron.
Finishing with the warm-ups prior to the match, both teams returned briefly to their locker rooms for the last technical details on the part of the coaches, to then place themselves in line in the players' tunnel.
In front of them was the main referee Lee Cassell, who upon seeing that the moment had arrived came out with the players behind him so that then the 5 starters of both teams put themselves in positions.
Also at that moment, the initial lineups of both teams were shown on the screens of the entire Rupp Arena.
Kentucky Wildcats
PG: Andrew Harrison
SG: Aaron Harrison
SF: James Young
PF: Julius Randle
C: Aaron Reed
Northern Kentucky Norse
PG: Cole Murray
SG: Jordan Jackson
SF: Tyler White
PF: Todd Johnson
C: Jalen Billups
With the ball in his hand, referee Lee entered the central circle while both Aaron and Jalen Billups, the center of NKU, put themselves in position, preparing themselves for the jump ball of the game.
Without saying any other word and seeing how both players were ready, Lee simply took the whistle to his mouth while he launched the ball as high as possible.
With both players throwing themselves into the air with extended hands, Lee took a few steps backward while he saw how the hand of one of them tapped the ball and gave start to the game.
With his feet touching the ground, Aaron wasted no time and began to go up along with the rest of the Wildcats players, with Andrew controlling the ball while he looked for the best way to basket without problems.
Once Aaron placed himself in the paint, Jalen put himself at his side while with his hands he tried by all means to keep him at bay and avoid him being able to turn and cause a dunk.
That scene did not pass unnoticed by Andrew, who began to dribble the ball between his legs while having one of the NKU players in front of him, also impeding him from being able to penetrate rapidly to the basket.
With Julius and the rest also marked, Andrew took a rapid decision and did a step-back to be able to give a jump backward and launch a jump shot, seeking to basket from the perimeter of the basket.
But perhaps it may have been because of his haste or the lack of preparation that the shot ended up rebounding on the rim to then go out, with both Aaron and Jalen fighting for the rebound.
Seeing the direction toward where the ball was heading, Aaron disposed himself to fight for the rebound of it, but Jalen, taking advantage of the fact that one of his teammates also found himself in the paint and covered the vision of the linesman, blatantly pulled Aaron's jersey, interfering with his jump and winning the rebound.
Before that so blatant action, Aaron raised his hands in the direction toward the linesman while making signs to his jersey as if saying, "He pulled my jersey." Before that, the referee simply made signs to him that he had seen nothing and that the game should continue.
Without wasting time, Aaron went down toward the defense as fast as he could, while his teammates already put into practice the defense, isolating the passing lines that the player in possession of the ball had.
Putting himself in position, Aaron placed himself in position while Aaron Harrison took charge of marking the person he had in front, who gave bounces around his legs, seeking any possible opening.
With the possession clock advancing, the player in question decided suddenly to give a repentant acceleration while he pushed with his shoulder slightly toward Aaron Harrison, who upon being taken unprepared attempted to turn as fast as possible, not wanting to lose his mark.
Taking advantage of the lapse of time he had won, the player stopped suddenly while he jumped and threw the ball from mid-range, adding the first points of the encounter.
2-0, NKU ahead by two points.
After that, the players wasted no time nor got discouraged, with Andrew picking up the ball ready for the inbound, passing the ball to Julius while the 5 players went up toward the other half of the hardwood, ready to reduce the advantage.
Aaron immediately placed himself again in the center, but this time, before Jalen could do anything, Aaron rapidly gave him a slap on his hand. "I won't fall twice for that," was the only thing Aaron told him, without even turning around to see the expression that Jalen was giving him.
Back with the situation with the ball, Julius found himself still in possession with the ball while he had the small forward of the other team, Tyler White, in front of him without even giving him enough space for a shot.
"Get aside," bellowed Julius while he attempted to get rid of the player he had in front of him.
"Hey," Aaron shouted while he rapidly called for the ball with Jalen at his back.
Julius, seeing how the possession time was close to reaching 0 and trusting fully in Aaron's abilities, crashed against Tyler with the objective of taking him out of balance to then pass him the ball straight toward the paint.
Receiving the ball with his back to the hoop and having Jalen at his back, Aaron did not enter into panic while he gave bounces to the ball and kept at bay the player who found himself at his back at that moment.
"I'll tell you what's going to happen," suddenly Jalen heard how the voice of the boy he had in front began to speak to him. "I'll make a fake toward the left to then turn toward the right and finish with a dunk," he told Jalen, as if that were a kind of prediction of what was going to happen at that very moment.
Suddenly, Aaron leaned his body straight toward the left just as he had said it, before which Jalen did not react at first, thinking that the boy he had in front was a complete arrogant for telling him exactly what he was going to do.
But upon seeing how his body leaned completely toward the left, a thought crossed Jalen's mind. "He is bluffing," was what he thought upon seeing how Aaron's body indeed seemed as if he were going to turn toward the left.
Perhaps that was his plan; telling him that was nothing more than a way to bewilder him so as to thus be able to basket the ball without any problem, so he also began to lean toward the left, seeking to avoid Aaron from penetrating straight toward the basket.
But contrary to what he thought, immediately Aaron, supporting himself on his left foot, twisted his body, spinning to the contrary direction to which Jalen had leaned. "Oh no," Jalen thought with panic while he attempted to turn toward the right, but having his center of gravity completely unbalanced, he could do nothing else than see how Aaron passed by his side and gave a jump to finish with the ball basketed in the hoop.
2-2, tied score.
"Woahhh," were the shouts that were heard all around the Rupp Arena for seeing the team score, but the most important thing was because of Aaron's action, which began to repeat itself again in slow motion through the screens of the arena and on the televisions of all the viewers who had the match tuned in.
"And that is a play that is not seen every day," Tom Hart rapidly said with the microphone in hand, while he saw, just like the majority of spectators in the arena, the replay of the last play performed by Aaron.
"And the most important thing is the way in which he moves in the paint," Jon Sundvold could not help but add, beginning to give a more detailed analysis about the play in question, which still repeated itself from different angles of the court.
"As you can see, at the moment in which he leans toward the left, it would seem as if he truly were going to turn in that direction, causing the player who marks him to also lean toward the same direction," he rapidly explained. "But then, thanks to his center of gravity and balance, he can recompose himself before the player in question recovers and spin in the contrary direction, without the rival player being able to do anything else than watch," Jon finished his analysis, while both he and Tom began to discuss other aspects of the game in question.
With the ball going through the hoop, Aaron began to retreat backward. "Did you not see it coming?" he told Jalen, who simply decided to ignore the comment that Aaron launched in his direction, concentrating completely on the game in question.
Without wasting time, the NKU team inbounded the ball and began to seek to attack rapidly the UK team, not disposed to allow them to score more points and for there to be a big point difference like what happened in the Wildcats' match against the Bulldogs.
Bouncing the ball, Cole Murray began to enter into the half of the Wildcats, causing the defense of the latter to become more compact.
"Pass it to me," Jalen said in the direction toward Cole, expecting to receive the ball so as to thus be able to slam it in the face of the cocky boy who found himself with him in the paint.
"Now you'll see," he thought while he received the ball and sought to confront Aaron physically so as to thus be able to turn and slam the ball against the hoop, but it seemed that the boy he had behind him had no motive to move, so the situation became tense with both players crashing below the rim.
Seeing that it resulted more difficult than expected to manage to go through Aaron, Jalen thought that the best option would be to pass the ball, reason for which he searched with his gaze for whom to pass it to, locating Jordan in the right corner of the perimeter.
Thinking that that was the best option, Jalen decided to launch the ball toward that direction, but James Young, attentive to that, immediately put his hand in, managing to touch the ball with his hands before it went out of the limits of the hardwood, causing a sideline inbound for NKU.
Upon seeing that and the way in which the players found themselves playing the game, the spectators both in the arena and those who watched the game on TV knew that this would be a good game.
Authors thought's
What did you think of today's chapter? Give me your opinions and thoughts.
Don't forget to check out my other fic on my profile
Don't forget to subscribe to my Patreon to get more than 10 chapters in advance! https://www.patreon.com/c/merchant17
I created a Discord server! For those who want to join, the link will be here and on my profile https://discord.gg/fWZudwMkR I also added some character images on Discord, so go check them out!
For everyone subscribing to my Patreon: if you're using an Apple device, avoid doing it through the app! Apple charges a commission, and you'll end up paying more. It's better to subscribe through the website instead.
I would also love to hear your thoughts on both stories so far, and if you have any suggestions!