The preseason begins soon, and USC's preseason opener is against the UC Irvine Anteaters.
UC Irvine belongs to the Big Western Conference and ranked fifth in the Big Western Conference last season. UC Irvine was weak before and is weak now.
Specifically how weak it is, let's put it this way, I haven't entered March Madness before, and I haven't had an NBA star.
And most of the players are juniors and seniors with average talent.
For USC, playing against such an opponent in the opening game is more about training and fine-tuning the lineup.
The game was held at the USC Galen Center Basketball Arena, not the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as we often say.
Many people think that the basketball venue of USC is the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, but it is not. As the main venue of the two Olympic Games, the significance of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to USC is self-evident. But the Memorial Stadium is an outdoor stadium, and it is not suitable for use as an indoor basketball venue.
Southern California has a dedicated basketball venue - Galen Center.
The Memorial Stadium is mainly used for outdoor competitions of USC, such as: USC rugby home stadium, baseball home stadium, football home stadium, and outdoor competitions such as track and field competitions. Its role is more like the Bird's Nest Outdoor Stadium.
Although the Galen Center is not as large as the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, it can accommodate 9,000 to 18,000 people, which is a standard basketball venue.
The starting lineup for the opener is: Marcus Simmons, DeMar DeRozan, Dwight Lewis, Ty Gibson, Keith Wilkinson.
In the first game, DeRozan was the starting shooting guard and Gibson was the starting power forward.
This game is an away game. As soon as you enter the arena, you can see that the auditorium is basically full of people. The arena is full of people, and various whistles and shouts come and go. Even if this scene is compared with the NBA, it is not too much.
The game hadn't even started yet, and the atmosphere alone made people excited.
When it started, the cheering and shouting of the fans at the scene made the eardrums hurt.
This is the basketball culture in the United States. This is still at the beginning of the season. If it was March Madness, the scene would be bigger than the NBA. Even on the day of the NCAA Finals, all NBA teams did not play, conceding for the NCAA Finals.
This is the first time for Lian Dao to enter the arena after his rebirth. Entering the NCAA arena again and feeling the strong basketball atmosphere again, Dao is still very excited.
"The NCAA league is open, and the novice task 2 is released:
1. Won the "Parker Ten League" division champion.
2. Defeat the opponent in the competition in the division and get a game jersey (must be a player who can enter the NBA, or an active player in the NBA)
award:
1: Randomly increase the potential of a talent value to 94.
2. One jersey talent draw. "
Hearing the sound of the system again after more than two months, Lian Dao's consciousness went deep into his mind to check the task.
Task 1 is okay to say, this is the goal of Lian Dao and the team, but task 2 is not easy to do. You must first defeat the opponent, first the team wins, and secondly, the statistics must be better than the opponent, and the opponent will enter the NBA in the future .
"Hey, sickle, what's the matter, are you a little nervous? Take it easy buddy, you can do it!" Seeing Lian Dao standing there in a daze, DeRozan patted Lian Dao's shoulder and encouraged him.
"Um, I'm fine, I'm just too excited."
Lian Dao withdrew his consciousness from the system and followed DeRozan to the bench.
At the beginning of the game, Wilkinson got the ball through a jump ball, and DeRozan went directly to the basket and jumped high, dunking successfully. Conversely, Gibson made a big block on the defensive end to change the opponent's layup, and passed the ball to Marcus. Marcus directly assisted Lewis with a long pass and scored a layup.
The fans at the scene were stunned. Is this the top 15 seeds in the country? So strong!
This defensive counterattack is the epitome of the whole game.
Although the opponent is also scoring, the score has continued to widen. Although the opponent has a lot of defensive experience, the opponent's defense line is fragmented after repeated physical confrontations. This game perfectly illustrates: experience is really worthless in front of absolute talent.
They blasted 80+ points over the Anteaters.
An NCAA attack is 35 seconds, and the game time is 40 minutes, with 20 minutes on and off the field.
The result of this game rule is a slow pace and low scores. Very few teams reach 70+ points in NCAA competition, most are around 50-60.
In the end, USC won 85:52 and got the opening game.
Four of USC's members scored in double figures, and other players also scored. DeRozan scored a team-high 24 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists. Except he is Gibson, who scored 21 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.
Lian Dao played as Lewis' substitute for 15 minutes. He made 4 of 5 3-pointers and scored 12 points and 6 assists. No rebounds or blocks.
The good start of the opening game made all the players full of confidence, and there will be successive victories in the next one.
The strength of the teams in the first four games of the preseason is relatively weak, which may be due to the consideration of running the lineup. In these three games, Lian Dao averaged 15 minutes per game, 8.4 points, 2 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 2.3 blocks per game.
Until the fifth preseason game, USC met the rival Missouri Tigers.
The opponent used a 23 zone defense at the beginning of the game. DeRozan was blocked by the opponent's power forward twice in a row, and the outside shooter never stole away.
Breaking the zone defense requires 3 points from the outside line, and the outside line feels cold. Just strengthen the defense and cut off the opponent's attack.
However, USC's defense today was not good. It was sieved by the opponent's small forward DeMarre Carroll, and the opponent showed confidence in the first half, and the outside line continued to fire. As a result, USC fell behind by 17 points at 25:42 at the end of the first half.
In fact, USC's overall strength is stronger than the opponent's. The reason for falling behind in the first half is because the first four games went so smoothly, basically leading all the way to the present. All the team members are a little arrogant. The offense has no touch, and the defense is not focused, which leads to the continuous expansion of the score.
Back in the locker room, Tim was furious and sprayed directly.
"Your defense is worse than the old lady sweeping the road, Lewis, are you sleepwalking on the court?"
After Tim finished speaking, he took out the tactical board, "Sickle, in the second half, you go on the court. I only have two requirements for you: defend the opponent's striker. Two, I will give you unlimited firepower, but you have to give me the score. Come back. Do you understand?"
"Yes, don't worry, coach, that guy on the opposite side can't stop me." Lian Dao was also excited when he heard Unlimited Firepower. Patting his chest confidently assured the head coach Tim.
Finally, I can let go of my hands.
…
During the timeout, the two commentators on the commentary booth were not idle, they were chatting and analyzing the current situation for the fans at the scene.
"So far, the Missouri Tigers are leading, and the Southern California Trojans have not entered the state. They seem to be disrupted by the opponent's zone defense, and their outside touch seems to be frozen." Announcer Smith analyzed.
"They rely too much on the offensive end to break through with the ball, and no one on the field stands up to organize the offense. It feels like they are constantly playing singles. This method is not bad for teams with weak defense. UU Read www.uukanshu.com But once you encounter a strong defensive team, it will cause a mess!" Another commentator, Haskell, also agreed with his old partner.
"The most important thing is that Southern California has not been doing very well on the defensive end. He made the opposing forward DeMarre Carroll suddenly become a sieve. DeMarre Carroll's current statistics are 6 of 8 shots. With 15 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks, the efficiency is amazing!" Smith went on to analyze and supplement the defense of both sides.
"I don't know what kind of tactical adjustments coach Tim will make during the halftime break in the second half? I think we can wait and see." Harsco also continued.
"The game is about to start, let's see what adjustments the coaches of both sides have made." Smith watched the players from both sides start to enter the field, so he sat up straight.
"The Missouri Tigers are still the same team. They haven't made too many adjustments to the lineup, but USC has replaced their starting small forward Lewis and replaced them with an Asian player, Lian Dao." Haas Ke looked at the lineup of the two sides in the first half and said.
"I saw this No. 1 player in the previous game. He has a good three-pointer and pass. Coach Tim should want this kid to break the deadlock through outside shots and three-pointers." Smith took the staff and handed it over Looking at the data of Lian Dao's previous games, he said.
"Yes, his dribbling is also pretty good. He graduated from Walnut High School, but his high school head coach commented on him: he has a good dribble and three-pointers, and his physical confrontation ability is poor. It is not mentioned that he can also organize Pass the ball." The commentator Hucks also added.
"Hahaha, it's possible that this kid saved a hand."
"Well, I hope this wonder boy can help USC open up the situation."