Harvard vs Illinois (3) - The Showstopper

Tremaine Mills has long waited for this moment to arrive.

This hardwood floor, the bright lights, the capacity crowd, the lingering sense of adrenaline, and the unbridled passion let out for victory.

His heart had finally returned home.

Tremaine let the ball roll to the ground without picking it up from Deshaun's inbounds pass. 

Once he touched the ball around the middle of the court, countless emotions surged into his mind.

"Oh how I missed this." Tremaine dribbled the ball like he always did. Cool, calm, and collected.

Freshman Harvard guard Taiki Kawashima aggressively went up to him on defense. No one in the Illinois lineup realized that this new person was another one of the reasons why Taichi moved to the east coast.

Tremaine doesn't care about any of his opponents at this point in time. He knew that they were not his match once he's serious.

Overconfidence?

It was probably the old Tremaine speaking, but after one hesitation move, Taiki slapped the ball out of his hands.

'Focus, Tremaine! You cocky shit!' He instantly regretted it.

Tremaine scampered in search of the ball, however, Taiki Kawashima was already on the loose with the ball in his hands. Tremaine refocused and gave chase to Kawashima, whose wind up to the basket was slow, and as he laid it in, Tremaine did something he would never forget in a while.

He gathered a massive amount of momentum from the quick burst of speed he got from his burners after losing the ball, until Kawashima was just a step ahead. 

Kawashima's slow lay-up, gave him just a sliver of time to test if he can stop the points off his own turnover.

A little more hang time!

Tremaine's average arms, and massive hands, were stretched to its absolute limit. He even wondered if someone took a photo of him during this moment they'd see how angry his muscles, and veins were. 

Everything around Tremaine somehow appeared to move a little slower, including himself. 

As Mills rose higher and closer to the underside of the backboard, his hands went ever closer to the ball still rising in the air.

Deshaun, who was still pretty far away from the thick of the action, marveled at how his friend somehow found vertical propulsion from his feet to chase the ball down up top.

Tremaine, swatted the ball out of the air like a fly, sending it bouncing out to the free throw line. His head also slightly clipped the underside of the board.

Instantly, the Fighting Illini bench lit up! Some of them stood up in disbelief of the ridiculous chase down block their 5 foot 11 guard did. Some had their hands on the sides of their faces, and some had their mouths open in awe.

Deshaun gathered the ball and threw a missile from halfway down the court to Jaylen on the wings.

He fought his opponent face up, and launched an unhinged three ball.

Bang!

Deshaun gave Jaylen a high five following that tough basket. Jaylen even gave Tremaine a nod and salute from afar.

Tremaine hated himself for turning the ball over in his first ever NCAA possession, but most of the people that saw him liked the grit and the inevitable reaction that followed. An emphatic chase down block that defied the limits of his athleticism.

This time though, he had to defend again. 

As much as that earlier block was highlight reel worthy, Tremaine's overall defensive capabilities still isn't his strong suit. Sure, he might make the odd splash play like that one, and a few steals, also his defensive awareness on screens and switches are good, but his physical limitations limit him against explosive opponents. 

Throw in his incomplete adaptation to the body of his 17 year old self, and you got a player who's an average defender at best, and a defensive liability at worst.

In just a single face-off, Tremaine realized that the player he's guarding was more dynamic than what he thought at first. He's not to be underestimated at all.

'This guy resembles someone I met a while back.' Tremaine stood at the ready at arm's length away from him, while the Crimson point guard made several hand signals to direct the offensive set. 

A rugged screen came in from his left, and Tremaine chose to duck under it to avoid the screener. It was probably a good thing that Khalil Ogwuzeni's defensive awareness covered for the glaring mistake Tremaine unconsciously made.

Taiki's deceptive change of direction dribble took out Tremaine, but attracted the attention of Khalil Ogwuzeni. The rookie remained in cruise control, as he slowly retreated and then attacked Khalil once he pulled him out far enough to leave him in the dust. 

His straight line speed with the ball was immense.

Tremaine kept on guarding the bruising big man, who rolled a second later than intended, with the delay coinciding with Taiki's drive. He could only do his best to hound him, and possibly disrupt the incoming pass.

He saw Khalil struggling to keep up, so he instinctively switched over to double down on Taiki, a gamble that could pay off.

However, the gamble failed, and it only left the big man wide open.

Taiki nutmegged Tremaine and the bounce pass ended up at the hands of the roller, who comfortably dunked it into the basket.

Tre's two minute audition was not going well.

He once again held the ball during the next possession, this time not making the same mistake of being complacent. The Illini moved the ball around flawlessly, but was unable to find a crack on the suddenly tight defense.

With a few seconds left on the shot clock, the ball found its way back to him like a homing missile. However, he was a lot closer to the halfcourt line than the three point arc.

From the far corner of the bench, Ryan Brown saw Tremaine's mouth curl up into a devious smile. 

In situations like these, decisiveness, and confidence is key.

Tremaine fired a pulled up three from several feet beyond the arc, like he's a reincarnation of Steph Curry, brimming with confidence, and swagger. If there's one thing he learned from playing overseas for more than a decade, it was that when everything had been thrown out of the window, the most essential thing that a player should have is confidence. 

In front of Taiki's outstretched hands, Tre— with a second on the shot clock— confidently launched a deep one.

If an assassin manages to escape after failing once, you could bet your life he will not fail a second time.

A perfect stroke, a perfect release, and a perfect follow through. Everything was picture perfect.

Tremaine's first basket was truly sublime.

***

Extras:

Kristian Geis was watching the game with DJ Johnson. 

There was a lingering sentiment inside him that he should've been the one that had been called up. But he put his head down, and promised the coach he'd earn his playing time soon.

He congratulated Tre of course, but made him promise that he would make the most out of the playing time he could be getting. Or else, he'd obviously be angry.

Now, upon seeing Tremaine Mills turn the ball over on his very first possession, DJ was almost unable to stop him from yelling German curses out loud.

"Chill out, Kris! It's just one play! Maybe the nerves are getting to him!" 

"Nerves? What nerves?" Kristian was livid. "Since when did that guy have anything other than nerves of steel? He's just wasting the chance he's been given!"

The two bantered but didn't take their heads off the screen.

That's when DJ and Kristian went slack jawed.

5'11 Tremaine Mills just went up the ladder and spiked the ball out of the air like it's a volleyball.

Maybe he's not wasting his chance after all.