Chapter 127 Unforeseen Circumstances

St. John's University called a timeout.

Walker went to Tang Tian as he went off the court, offering a forceful slap of the hands.

Tang Tian had teased him yesterday, and this was his response in action: I'm not playing, it's to conserve energy for the game, not because I'm scared!

Tang Tian smiled. Walker getting his form back was the best possible thing for UConn.

When the timeout ended, St. John's University's offense was led by Conley, organizing from the outside.

Under the basket, a fierce battle was taking place. Johnson and Oriakhi were fighting tooth and nail for position.

Finally, Johnson managed to get inside position, and Conley threw a high lob pass. Johnson turned to shoot, drawing a defensive foul on Oriakhi.

This was true traditional center play.

Johnson made one of two free throws.

The score was 9-7, UConn leading.

Walker brought the ball up the court and continued to run pick-and-rolls with Tang Tian.

Having regained his form, his pick-and-rolls with Tang Tian began to show their power once again.

Double-team Walker, and Tang Tian could shoot, and almost never miss.

Don't double-team Walker, and Walker's consecutive scores from the previous stretch were the result.

This move was almost unstoppable.

St. John's University chose to double-team Walker, but the double-team came from the weak side. Their forward abandoned Smith and collapsed into the paint.

Walker passed the ball to Smith, who had an open look, but hesitated to shoot.

As a role player, after missing his first shot, he didn't have much confidence in his shot.

The ball went to Lamb, who tried to force his way past the opposing center, but Diesel interfered and he missed. Johnson grabbed the defensive rebound.

The crowd erupted in cheers. After Walker's consecutive scores, the home team had finally made a defensive stop.

Back on offense, Johnson continued to battle Oriakhi in the paint. Diesel passed the ball inside, and Johnson shot, missed, but drew another foul on Oriakhi on the putback.

Oriakhi was a white big man with height, but he was at a disadvantage against Johnson's black, rough, and tough style.

UConn's inside game wasn't strong. Oriakhi couldn't handle Johnson, and Forsythe, the substitute, was even worse.

Calhoun frowned.

Although Johnson's technique was rough, his hard-nosed play was as damaging as Monroe's.

Johnson had two free throw attempts.

Two players from St. John's University and three from UConn stood on either side of the free throw line.

"Alex, we'll switch on the next possession," Tang Tian said to Oriakhi opposite him.

"Clang!"

Johnson missed his first free throw.

He frowned and looked at Tang Tian, feeling like he was being verbally interfered with.

Oriakhi, a much bigger guy, couldn't guard him, and Tang Tian, a forward, was saying he was going to guard him?

Oriakhi looked at Tang Tian in confusion. He didn't know what Tang Tian was up to.

"You already have two fouls," Tang Tian reminded him.

Oriakhi finally realized and nodded.

"Swish!"

Johnson made his second free throw.

Still one out of two.

He couldn't help but smile after the free throw, looking very pleased.

Tang Tian was right. The coach had told him during the timeout to play hard and try to get Oriakhi out of the game.

Now that Calhoun wasn't substituting, it meant they had found UConn's weakness, and as long as they played a few more possessions like this, St. John's University would regain the initiative.

As for Tang Tian saying he was going to switch, he didn't believe it. After all, the two were too different in size. He thought Tang Tian was just trying to interfere with his free throw.

But unfortunately, getting Oriakhi off the court was St. John's University's goal. Like before, drawing fouls was more important than making the free throws.

"Roscoe, if you're open, set an off-ball screen for Jeremy," Tang Tian said to Smith as he walked forward.

Smith nodded.

Tang Tian had played so many games for UConn, and so many successful reads had earned him the trust of his teammates.

And Smith really didn't want to shoot. He was a bit lost when he was open, so Tang Tian's words gave him something new to do.

UConn's offense was still initiated by Tang Tian and Walker's pick-and-roll. Walker continued to penetrate.

St. John's University's help defense came faster and more decisively this time.

Smith was once again left open, but this time he didn't stand still waiting for the ball. Instead, he followed Tang Tian's instructions and moved to the high post to set an off-ball screen for Lamb.

Lamb used the screen to cut to the basket and get open.

Walker flicked the ball out of the double-team.

Lamb caught the ball and had a good scoring opportunity, rising up and shooting directly.

"Swish!"

His form was very consistent, and he made another mid-range shot.

"Nice!" Ollie shouted excitedly from the bench.

Calhoun breathed a sigh of relief. Tang Tian, the on-court coach, was really good, saving him at least half of his energy.

11-8, the game remained close.

Conley dribbled the ball to the frontcourt, still slowly signaling for Johnson to get position inside.

But at that moment, something unexpected happened: Tang Tian switched onto Johnson!

"What is Tang doing?" Ollie was stunned. Tang Tian was playing out of the ordinary, and this deployment was outside of the coaching staff's plan!

Calhoun didn't say anything.

Originally, nCAA coaches had much more power than nBA coaches. Players on the court basically executed the coach's intentions strictly.

But there were still some privileged players, such as Walker. He was not only UConn's core but also the team's brain on the court, able to decide what tactics to use based on his own reading and judgment.

Besides Walker, UConn now had another one, Tang Tian.

However, unlike Walker, this privilege was only Calhoun's tacit approval because he recognized Tang Tian's high basketball IQ and really regarded him as an "on-court coach."

So Ollie questioned it, but he didn't say anything.

On the contrary, he was very curious about Tang Tian's reasons for doing so. If it was simply because Oriakhi had two fouls, he would definitely remind Tang Tian not to do it again.

Johnson was amused. He didn't expect Tang Tian to really come. After getting position in the paint, he turned his back and called for the ball directly.

Conley threw a high lob pass.

After catching the ball, Johnson felt Tang Tian exerting force from below, and he was quite strong.

It seemed that although Tang Tian was light, his strength wasn't bad.

This was probably why he dared to switch with Oriakhi.

But this really underestimated him. He was a 120-kilogram center after all!

He mustered his strength, turned, and directly pushed into Tang Tian, ready to dunk.

"Bang!"

The two had a physical confrontation.

But another unexpected scene happened.

Tang Tian was knocked to the ground by Johnson, sliding backward for a long distance.

Just as Johnson turned around, the referee blew his whistle.

The referee took a step with both feet, straddling his legs, facing St. John's University's half of the court, clenched his right fist, and lightly punched his open left palm, making a standard offensive foul gesture.

There was a commotion in the arena.

Tang Tian saw the referee's gesture and looked at Johnson, who looked blank.

Surprise?

Unexpected?

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