But right then, Zeller boxed out Oriakhi, and Henson leaped from the free throw line, tipping the ball in for the score.

The North Carolina fans in the stadium erupted in cheers.

Jordan also applauded for North Carolina.

2-2, the two teams were tied.

"Taylor, pay attention to your positioning. He can't out-rebound you if he can't jump," Tang Tian reminded Orlander after seeing that play.

UConn's offense continued to let Walker go one-on-one against Marshall. Marshall tried hard to defend, but his defense was indeed lacking, and Walker blew past him.

Walker drove to the free throw line, Zeller came out to help, and Walker directly passed the ball to Oriakhi under the basket. The latter jumped to shoot, but Henson flew in to block, hitting his arm. Oriakhi had two free throw opportunities.

The noise in the stadium was deafening, UConn was completely playing on the road.

But Oriakhi withstood the pressure and made both free throws, scoring another 2 points for UConn.

You could feel that UConn's players were giving 120% against a strong opponent.

In North Carolina's frontcourt offense, Barnes took one shot over Tang Tian without success. After receiving the ball, he stopped attacking, passed it to his teammates, and then pulled Tang Tian to the weak side.

His basketball IQ was indeed outstanding.

Marshall made a great pass to Bullock, but the latter missed the mid-range shot.

Just then, it was Henson again, leaping to grab the offensive rebound, and then drawing a foul on Oriakhi.

The North Carolina fans cheered. This was their style of play, the offensive rebounds they grabbed made their opponents question their lives.

Calhoun stood up and called Lamb over.

Henson's free throw opportunity, the first one missed amidst the UConn fans' heckling. His season free throw percentage was just over 50%, a pretty bad percentage.

A short whistle came from the sideline, and Lamb came on to replace Orlander.

Calhoun's original idea was to use the height advantage of Oriakhi and Orlander to protect the rebounds, but Orlander's boxing out in these two possessions was too poor.

Unless there's an absolute advantage in jumping ability, boxing out accounts for at least 70% of the success of rebounding.

Rather than letting Orlander lose rebounds like this, it was better to let Tang Tian return to the power forward position and give it a try.

UConn's substitution came early, and the North Carolina fans were a bit excited.

Such an early adjustment showed that Calhoun had already rejected his starting lineup, which was definitely a good thing for North Carolina.

Henson made the second free throw, the score on the court was 3-4.

"Defense! Defense!"

The consecutive offensive rebounds ignited the emotions of the North Carolina fans. More than 30,000 people cheered for North Carolina in unison, the momentum was overwhelming.

UConn advanced to the frontcourt again. North Carolina switched defenses at this time, Bullock came over to guard Walker, and Marshall switched to defend Napier.

After seeing this, Tang Tian took the initiative to set a high pick-and-roll.

North Carolina didn't switch, Walker passed the ball back to Tang Tian, Henson was a little too late to get around the screen.

Tang Tian caught the ball and shot directly with space.

"Swish!"

A clean shot, a three-pointer made.

The cheering on the scene stopped abruptly. This three-pointer was like a basin of cold water, extinguishing the fire in their hearts.

UConn led 7-3.

North Carolina's famous coach Roy Williams looked serious on the sideline. He was optimistic about the game before, but he didn't expect UConn to give him such a shock at the start.

In North Carolina's offense, Zeller and Henson used an off-ball screen to switch onto Tang Tian, then posted up directly.

Barnes couldn't push Tang Tian, but that didn't mean he couldn't.

Marshall held the ball high, making a comfortable lob pass inside.

Zeller directly posted up after receiving the ball.

He weighed more than Tang Tian by more than ten kilograms, and in theory, he should be able to easily push him in, but it wasn't that simple when he actually started to play.

He couldn't move Tang Tian even after bumping him several times. It was a case of having a body weight but not being able to exert force.

This was also why Tang Tian said that Kansas's inside strength was stronger than North Carolina's. Zeller was the typical soft white big man, while Henson was thin and weak. Both of them had talent, but their physical resistance was not good.

Zeller couldn't move Tang Tian after bumping for a while, so he chose to turn towards the basket. Compared to his 2.13 meters height, his technique was quite refined.

However, Tang Tian wasn't at a disadvantage in terms of resistance, so he wasn't afraid at all. He took up the position and locked his lower body to prevent him from moving inside.

Zeller stopped the ball after turning around. Because there wasn't much time left on the shot clock, he could only choose a hook shot.

Tang Tian reached out to interfere.

"Bang!"

Zeller's shot hit the back rim and bounced up.

Zeller wanted to grab the rebound, but Tang Tian boxed him out so he couldn't jump, and he couldn't reach the ball even when he stretched out his hand.

Oriakhi was also blocking Henson, and the ball fell directly into Tang Tian's hands.

Ollie clenched his right fist on the sideline. After losing defensive rebounds for two consecutive possessions, they finally protected it this time!

After grabbing the rebound, Tang Tian turned and passed to Napier.

Napier dribbled behind his back to shake off the defender. Walker had already crossed the center line at this time, and he made a long pass with a flick of his hand.

After catching the ball, Walker had a clear path and directly made a fast break layup to score.

9-3!

The North Carolina fans in the stadium were in a commotion.

UConn's fast break was too fast!

This was the effect of the dual point guard lineup, the ball was released quickly and passed accurately. If Tang Tian or Lamb had the ball in the backcourt, they wouldn't be able to do this.

Turning around, Barnes realized that he had a mismatch, called for the ball in the frontcourt and posted up Lamb. Lamb wasn't strong enough to hold him.

Barnes turned towards the basket at the low post, Tang Tian switched over to defend.

Barnes quickly passed the ball to Zeller under the basket, Zeller was about to shoot, but Oriakhi came to help defend and covered him with his hand.

UConn's players cooperated tacitly, and their help defense rotation was watertight.

Zeller didn't dare to shoot after being blocked once before, and wanted to pass the ball to Henson, but the space under the basket was too small. When he passed, he brushed against Oriakhi's body, resulting in a turnover!

Tang Tian reacted quickly, and once again dove to the ground to grab the ball. This time, before the North Carolina players could react, he passed the ball to Walker while on the ground.

Walker took the ball, turned around and shook off Marshall, then started a fast break directly.

When Walker went on the fast break, Lamb also rushed out of the three-point line.

In the two-on-one situation in the frontcourt, Walker, facing Bullock, passed the ball to Lamb, and Lamb flew up for a layup.

11-3!

UConn launched a series of fast breaks, their momentum was like a rainbow!

Roy Williams called a timeout.

On the UConn side, the players received enthusiastic cheers from their teammates on the bench when they went off the court.

……

The Suns narrowly lost to the Bobcats. After the game, Carter didn't even take a shower and directly opened his tablet to watch the live broadcast.

The Suns' players also gathered around one by one, they were also very concerned about this focus battle.

But when they saw the score floating at the bottom of the window, they couldn't help but be stunned.

"Vince, did you open it the wrong way?" Steve Nash stroked his long hair and asked suspiciously.