While Jinguji Takeshi and Mitsui Hisashi were talking off the court, Coach Anzai walked around the crowd of onlookers in the stadium and silently came to the rest area. He waved to the players who greeted him, and then sat down on the chair next to Mitsui Hisashi. After laughing a few times, he cast his eyes towards the court.
"Competing with junior high school students..."
"Mitsui, is this the training schedule for today?"
Coach Anxi asked gently after he sat down, but Mitsui Shou subconsciously jumped up from his seat after hearing this and immediately said, "I'm sorry, coach. I'll stop the game right away and start today's training!"
Facing the nervous Mitsui, Coach Anzai smiled and waved at Mitsui, saying in a relaxed tone: "That's not what I meant. You don't have to react so strongly."
"Sit down."
"Although Sakuragi and the others are high school students, strictly speaking, they have not been in high school for long."
"It doesn't matter if I compete with junior high school students."
Coach Anxi poured himself a cup of tea, held it in his palm, blew away the tea leaves on the surface of the tea, and took a sip.
Mitsui Shou looked at this and breathed a sigh of relief, then sat back in his seat with peace of mind.
On the court, the five players from Teiko Junior High School and the five players from Shohoku took their positions in the center circle. The referee from the previous match was also recruited by Teiko's coach Sanada, who agreed to help referee another game.
In the center, Murasakibara Atsushi and Nango Koichiro stood face to face. Although Nango had some advantages in height, there was not much difference in their physical conditions when standing next to Murasakibara Atsushi. However, apart from him, the gaps in other positions were somewhat obvious.
Akashi Seijuro, who is 158cm tall, is half a head shorter than Kiyota Nobunaga, who is 178cm tall. It is very obvious when they stand together. But this is not the biggest difference. Kuroko, who is 155cm tall, stands in front of Katsume Ichiro, who is 185cm tall. He is a little short, just like a child standing in front of an adult.
Even though Aomine and Midorima had excellent height in junior high school, they were still far behind Sakuragi Hanamichi and Oda Ryumasa.
When Sakuragi Hanamichi walked in front of Aomine Daiki, he even stretched out his hand to indicate the height difference between them, with an ambiguous smile on his face.
"Hey, hey, hey, isn't this gap too big?"
"Is it necessary to fight a match like this?"
"You middle school students are still overestimating your abilities! With such a huge height difference, is there any point in having this competition?"
The spectators on the sidelines were talking about the huge height difference on the court. After the players from Teiko Junior High School stepped onto the court and faced the players from Shohoku, they felt the terrifying pressure brought by the height difference.
"So tall... As expected of a high school basketball player, worthy of Xiangbei High School."
"It's completely different from the pressure brought by junior high school students. It's really interesting!"
Aomine Daiki raised his head and looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi who was standing beside him without any fear.
When he thought about competing with this kind of high school student, he felt the blood in his body boiling.
“Beep!”
With a whistle, the referee threw the ball high into the air. Nango Koichirō and Murasakibara Atsushi jumped up one after another and reached out to touch the basketball.
Nango Koichiro, a freshman, was already 192cm tall, and his timing for the jump ball was much better than Murasakibara Atsushi's. As soon as the basketball showed signs of falling, Nango jumped up.
However, Nanxiang, who had excellent timing, failed to touch the basketball. Murasakibara Atsushi, who was shorter than him, was the first to arrive and touched the bottom of the basketball, then pushed the ball towards his own backcourt.
"oh!
”
The unexpected jump ball result caused the spectators on the sidelines to exclaim in surprise. Nango Koichiro, who fell back to the ground, was also stunned. He did not expect that the opponent's explosive power would be so strong.
"We actually lost the jump ball... If I had known, I would have been more serious..." Nanxiang sighed in his heart and retreated towards the backcourt of Xiangbei while looking at the basketball.
"Huh?" However, Nan Xiang had only taken two steps back when he let out a light exclamation, stopped, and then exerted force and quickly rushed to the front.
It turned out that the basketball that Murasakibara Atsushi pushed to the backcourt was not caught by Teiko's students. Akashi Seijuro wanted to catch the ball, but was pushed away by Kiyota Nobunaga, and the basketball was firmly grasped by Kiyota Nobunaga.
"Quick attack!"
There was no need for Kiyota Nobunaga to remind him. The moment he got the basketball, Sakuragi Hanamichi and Katsume Ichiro had already rushed towards the front court from two directions.
Kiyota, who had the ball, just feinted and then quickly dropped the ball and rushed forward. Although Akashi completely saw through Kiyota Nobunaga's actions, facing Kiyota's strong attack, Akashi, who was 20cm shorter than him, was unable to resist and was instantly passed by Kiyota Nobunaga.
The playing style of students at Xiangbei High School is different from that of junior high school students.
When Kiyota Nobunaga broke through, he did not avoid physical contact at all. On the contrary, he would even actively seek physical confrontation when breaking through. This kind of breakthrough method was simply not something Akashi could resist. Even if he saw through Kiyota's moves, he still could not resist it.
Soon, Kiyota Nobunaga dribbled the ball into the frontcourt, and at this time, Sakuragi Hanamichi had also quickly penetrated into the inside, and Aomine Daiki, who was defending him, tried his best but could only barely follow behind Sakuragi. The two people, one in front and one behind, were several body lengths apart.
"This red-haired one runs so fast!"
“I can’t keep up!”
Aomine Daiki tried to stick to Sakuragi's back. For the first time, this thought came to his mind. However, at this moment, Sakuragi Hanamichi, who was running in front of him and cutting into the inside, suddenly slowed down and looked up into the air.
Aomine Daiki, who noticed something, also raised his head and looked at the basketball flying towards the inside. Tong Kong shrank slightly: "Could it be..."
Before Qingfeng Daiki could think about it, a soaring red figure was reflected in his child's hole.
"Boy, this is the strength of a high school student!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi shouted, stretched out his hand, grabbed the ball in the air, and dunked it into the basket. The huge force of the dunk made the entire basketball stand creak.
Sakuragi fell back to the ground and turned his head to glance at Aomine Daiki, raising his chin slightly: "Can you... see the gap between us?!"
After he finished speaking, Sakuragi Hanamichi began to return to the court.
"Finally, you, a fool, didn't waste this wonderful pass from my genius!" Kiyota Nobunaga and Sakuragi Hanamichi who was returning to defense punched each other to celebrate. They looked very happy, but they were saying sarcastic words.
"Wild monkey, what did you say?!"
"How could this genius not be able to catch a pass of this level?!"
Sakuragi's seriousness could not last for five seconds. He lost his composure due to Kiyota Nobunaga's ridicule and lost his domineering look.
“Awesome… Awesome!”
"This Xiangbei player is really strong!"
Aomine Daiki, who was only in the first year of junior high school, had never seen such an alley-oop dunk in an official game. Unlike Murasakibara Atsushi's dunk without holding the ball, Sakuragi Hanamichi's dunk was too visually impactful.
Players of Aomine Daiki's age always have an inexplicable expectation and yearning for dunks like Sakuragi Hanamichi. He also hopes that one day he can soar in the air like a player like Sakuragi Hanamichi.
"Hey, Aomine, it's our turn to attack!"
Kuroko Tetsuya woke up the stunned Aomine Daiki and pointed at the Xiangbei players who had already taken their positions in the front court. Aomine Daiki realized it later and the dullness on his face disappeared. He clenched his fists and looked at Sakuragi and others on the other side of the court with a burning look on his face, with a look of excitement.
“This is what basketball looks like in my mind!”
"Shohoku High School! Shohoku High School!
”
Seeing that Aomine ignored him, Kuroko scratched his hair in confusion, patted Aomine Daiki on the back, and trotted to catch up with Akashi who had already received the serve from the baseline. After a brief pause, Aomine quickly ran to the front court, and soon passed Akashi who was holding the ball and Kuroko who was covering the ball holder.
Seeing that Aomine seemed to have recovered, Akashi quickened his pace.
"Man to man!"
"Don't lose to those junior high school students!"
When Kiyota Nobunaga saw the Teiko team approaching the front court, he clapped his hands and shouted to the players. The Xiangbei defense line, which had been shrinking, was instantly opened up.
When the Teiko players approached the three-point line, Katsumi Ichiro and others quickly followed up and kept up with the players they needed to defend. Kiyota Nobunaga directly faced Akashi at the top of the arc, calmly bent his waist and blocked Akashi with one hand, blocking Akashi's sight.
"He is taller than me, so I definitely can't force him."
"Whether you are attacking or passing the ball, you need to create enough space!"
Facing Kiyota Nobunaga, who was taller than him and had longer arms than him, Akashi immediately made a judgment in his mind. After a series of behind-the-back dribbles, he suddenly made a mistake in his steps, dribbled in mid-air, and made a fake change of direction to rush forward directly.
"!" Akashi's series of movements from dribbling to breaking through were very smooth. Kiyota Nobunaga was also stunned when he saw this, but his reaction was very fast, and he slid to catch up. While he was following, Akashi made an abrupt stop and pulled back, and in the blink of an eye, he changed directions continuously.
The excellent change of rhythm created a gap between him and Kiyota. This difference in position made Akashi feel that he had an opportunity. He immediately passed the ball and took a long shot from one step inside the three-point line.
However, the basketball had just left Akashi's hand when Kiyota Nobunaga's face appeared in front of Akashi. The basketball was directly blocked by Kiyota Nobunaga and fell on the floor behind Akashi.
"What?!" Akashi couldn't help but let out a low cry when his shot was blocked. Obviously, he had already put some distance between himself and the opponent, which should have been enough space for the shot!
Before Akashi could react, Kiyota Nobunaga had already passed him, grabbed the ball, and rushed towards the front court.
With Sakuragi Hanamichi and Katsume Ichiro distracted, neither Midorima nor Aomine tried to stop Kiyota Nobunaga who was rushing towards the basket, and Akashi Seijuro lost the opportunity to chase Kiyota Nobunaga due to a brief moment of distraction.
Seeing that Kiyota Nobunaga had already entered the basket, Aomine and Midorima slowed down their pace and slowly walked towards the basket, preparing to pick up the ball and serve after the opponent's layup.
"Bang!
”
However, at this moment, a loud noise suddenly came from under the basket.
What all the junior high school students could not have imagined was that Kiyota Nobunaga, who was only 178cm tall, actually jumped up after the ball and slammed the ball into the basket with one hand.
The sight of Kiyota Nobunaga dunking the ball made Aomine Daiki and Midorima open their mouths in surprise. Even Kuroko, who had been keeping a poker face, was now stunned. Akashi also widened his eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing.
However, the players of Xiangbei were already used to it and applauded and cheered for Kiyota Nobunaga.
"Dunk....dunk?!"
"This person... is about the same height as us, right?!"
After the dunk, Kiyota Nobunaga quickly returned to defense. When passing by Aomine Daiki, Aomine unconsciously compared his height with that of the opponent. Aomine was horrified to find that the opponent's height was similar to his own, and even if he was taller than him, it was only a limited height.
However, the 175cm tall Aomine Daiki can only grab a standard basket, let alone a slam dunk. It is no problem for him to dunk a beverage bottle, but he is far from being able to grab the ball and slam dunk.
Defeating a beverage bottle may not sound like a great feat, but Aomine Daiki is only a freshman in junior high school. What he can do is something that only very few people of similar height can do.
For someone like Kiyota Nobunaga who was less than 180cm tall to be able to perform such a slam dunk, there might not be many people who could do it across the country, let alone in junior high school or high school.
"Junior high school student, you seem to have some misunderstanding about the explosiveness and jumping ability of high school students."
"If you shoot at that level, I'll block you ten times out of ten!"
Kiyota Nobunaga was in a good mood after completing a block and a slam dunk, and his popularity had completely overshadowed Sakuragi Hanamichi. When he passed by Akashi while returning to defense, he spoke to Akashi in a tone that was like teaching a younger generation a lesson.
"Although some of the students in their class are called once-in-a-decade geniuses, the gap between them and high school students is still too big."
"What's more, Xiangbei High School is not a weak school. Although this school was only in the top 8 in IH last year, there is no doubt that they are a super powerhouse with the strength to compete for the championship."
"The talents of the Xiangbei players are terrifying. The red-haired player's jumping ability is not what a high school student should have, and the guard's jumping ability is also exaggerated and terrifying."
"And it's obvious that the strongest players of Xiangbei High School didn't even play."
"I shouldn't have agreed to this from the beginning... Now, I just hope the players don't get hit too hard by these high schools."
Coach Sanada, who was standing off the court, was watching the two attackers and one defender of Shohoku on the field. He began to grumble in his heart and felt vaguely regretful for his previous decision. From time to time, he glanced at the rest area on the other side, where Takeshi Jinguji, Mitsui Hisashi and others were sitting next to Coach Anzai.
A player of Jinguji Budou's height cannot be ignored even if he is sitting on the bench. Moreover, as the supervisor of the junior high school basketball team, Sanada has some knowledge of high school basketball. He knows both Jinguji Budou and Mitsui Hisashi.
On the court, the middle school students began to organize a new round of attack.
Logically speaking, the two consecutive slam dunks by Xiangbei should have greatly hit the confidence of the junior high school students. However, the players of Teiko were in a very good mental state, and even seemed more excited than when the game just started.
Such positive emotions somewhat surprised everyone in Xiangbei.
What Sakuragi Hanamichi and the others didn't know was that the junior high school team they were playing against was the strongest team in the county. In previous practice matches, Aomine and his team had to win by at least 30 points. Since entering junior high school and joining the team, the five-man team from Teiko had never suffered a single defeat.
Even in the games against them, the opponents often gave up before the halfway point.
People like Qingfeng actually long for an opponent deep down!
Although the opponent of Xiangbei High School is a bit of a supermodel, it is also what Aomine Daiki and his friends have always desired.
"It doesn't matter if we lose... Basketball is only interesting when we play against opponents like this!
”
Aomine Daiki's eyes sparkled with an unprecedented light.
It has been who knows how long it has been since Aomine Daiki last felt the feeling of climbing!
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